Universal Music India, which first signed an exclusive worldwide distribution deal with Indian music services company first.wav in 2023, has renewed its agreement with the Mumbai-based entity. The major will globally distribute the music of artists who work with first.wav, which operates across the areas of artist management, music distribution and marketing.
First.wav, which describes itself as an enterprise “building a full-stack ecosystem for independent artists”, has a 16-act artist management roster that includes rising singer-songwriter Gini, who boasts an impressive 99k followers on Spotify; as well as music producer Bharath and lyricist Saaheal, who are best known for vocalist-composer Kushagra’s ‘Finding Her’, which was among the highest-streamed songs in India in 2025.
Its in-house services have recently expanded to include music and video production studios in Mumbai, where it’s headquartered, while it boasts around 210k followers on Instagram across its flagship, discover.wav and lyric.wav pages. The company, which has distributed and marketed more than 600 songs by almost 150 artists in the last two years, also runs an extensive network of playlists on Spotify, which have cumulatively acquired over 400k saves.
“Our aim has always been to scale up Indian independent music into the mainstream with the help of infrastructure and distribution networks,” first.wav founder and singer-songwriter Raghav Meattle told Music Ally. “Partnering with Universal Music helps us expedite this journey.”
With the renewal, Universal aims to deepen its presence in the Indian independent music segment. The label also runs its own indie imprint IndieA Records, and has a similar partnership with Indian talent management and entertainment company Represent.
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