Investors and labels are buying into the growing South Asian music business in the U.S.

When music govt Anjula Acharia started launching famous person actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas into Hollywood in the early 2000s, her label accomplice Jimmy Iovine — the identify behind pop sensations corresponding to Eminem and Woman Gaga — instructed her she was 20 years too early to carry South Asian expertise to the U.S.

Now, Acharia is the founder and CEO of 5 Junction, a joint label with Warner Music Group targeted particularly on investing in South Asian artists in the U.S.

“That sounded loopy, to suppose we had been 20 years too early, however now, 20 years later, with the explosion of individuals like Diljit Dosanjh and Karan Aujla … there’s all these South Asian acts that are coming right here and actually promoting out, significantly in the dwell area,” Acharia instructed CNBC.

The South Asian music market in the U.S. has remained largely untapped, however as music turns into extra globalized, as with the success of Ok-pop and Latin acts, South Asian expertise is making a case to buyers as the subsequent huge business alternative, Acharia mentioned.

World music revenues are reaching all-time highs, surpassing $30 billion in 2025, in line with the Worldwide Federation of the Phonographic Business. Spotify mentioned final 12 months that streams of Indian artists in worldwide markets grew greater than 2,000% between 2019 and 2023, and almost 50% of royalties from Indian artists on the platform in 2024 had been from listeners outdoors India.

With South Asia’s growing inhabitants and diaspora, it is set to be certainly one of the fastest-growing segments inside international music, in line with Acharia.

“We’re in a unique time, and I feel digitally issues journey simply a lot quicker,” she mentioned. “Quite a lot of huge hits had been made with samples from Indian music, so it has been in the zeitgeist for a very long time — it is simply not been given a face.”

As extra labels look to the subcontinent, Acharia mentioned the business is presently in a stage of experimentation, determining what works and how the fan bases will evolve. Warner Music Group is the third-largest music label in the U.S., holding roughly 17% market share by distribution possession as of the first quarter of 2026, in line with Billboard.

“I feel the business proposition is that this international Indian fandom,” she mentioned. “How can we provoke this viewers and this fandom, and how can we serve it?”

5 Junction represents high artists corresponding to singer and songwriter Rhea Raj, who instructed CNBC she’s seeing South Asian music change into extra mainstream in the U.S.

“We’re seeing extra artists at larger festivals and at award reveals, and I feel the better of it is but to return,” Raj mentioned.

Raj and her sister, Lara Raj, of the woman group Katseye, are two of many South Asian artists in the U.S. constructing out fan bases that span backgrounds and ethnicities.

Rhea Raj, who received her begin on “American Idol” almost a decade in the past, mentioned she believes now’s the time that South Asian music goes to “explode” in the U.S., particularly as 5 Junction continues to carry extra artists to the most important phases.

“South Asian music, it’s so various, and inside that, there are so many international locations and areas and types and issues to interrupt down and discover, and I simply hope that as time goes on and now we have extra artists in the mainstream pop world, we’ll get to see extra and extra items of that,” she mentioned.

The streaming period has helped Warner Information to slim its give attention to the South Asian music business as a result of it lowers the boundaries to entry, mentioned Karen Kwak, the firm’s govt vice chairman and head of artists and repertoire.

Kwak instructed CNBC that when she received into the music business, there have been virtually no different executives or artists who appeared like her. Now, that image has modified dramatically.

Kwak mentioned the youthful generations, particularly in South Asia, are driving present music traits.

“That’s what is so nice about the music world we dwell in right now, is that everyone is embracing who they are, and I feel youth throughout the world, they need to see stars that appear to be them,” Kwak mentioned. “It is a rabid fandom in India … and it is precisely the place we need to be.”

The document firm can also be targeted on encouraging collaborations between South Asian musicians and in style American artists to assist them break into the music scene, she added.

“It is actually about constructing worlds, and sure, after all, we will proceed investing [in South Asian talent],” she mentioned. “It’s what music is. We’re altering and impacting and creating the new music tradition.”

It is also essential to Warner to be “genre-bending and genre-blending,” Kwak mentioned, including that the firm is investing in South Asian expertise that spans a number of forms of music, languages and audiences.

Nora Fatehi is a kind of artists. The Moroccan Canadian singer and actress, who has greater than 45 million followers on Instagram, noticed the potential in the South Asian market and broke in — concentrating on that viewers although she does not have a connection to South Asia — and grew to become certainly one of the largest names in the business.

“Proper now, what 5 Junction and Warner are attempting to do is faucet into the completely different expertise that is popping out of that nation, give it a platform, and additionally permit individuals round the world to devour the music and to devour the artistry like by no means earlier than,” she instructed CNBC.

Fatehi, who shall be acting at the World Cup opening ceremony in Toronto in a number of weeks, mentioned that although the American market is tough to crack as an outsider, she’s seeing the outcomes take maintain as extra expertise from South Asia crosses into the West.

“I feel the viewers is prepared for various stuff,” Fatehi mentioned. “Now, with YouTube and Spotify and with social media, I do not suppose borders exist any longer. … I feel labels and managements and platforms notice that folks are able to devour several types of music.”

— CNBC’s Ryan Baker contributed to this report.