Investors and labels are buying into the growing South Asian music business in the US

When music executive Anjula Acharya began launching superstar actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas to Hollywood in the early 2000s, her label partner Jimmy Iovine — the name behind pop sensations like Eminem and Lady Gaga — told her she was still 20 years too early to bring South Asian talent to the United States.

Now, Acharya is the founder and CEO of 5 Junction, a co-branding company with Warner Music Group He particularly focused on investing in South Asian artists in the United States

“It seemed crazy, to think that we were 20 years too early, but now, 20 years later, with the explosion of people like Diljit Dosanjh and Karan Ujla… there are all these South Asian acts coming here and actually selling out, especially in the live arena,” Acharya told CNBC.

The South Asian music market in the United States has remained largely untapped, but as music becomes increasingly globalized, as with the success of K-pop and Latin acts, South Asian talent makes a case for investors as the next big business opportunity, Acharya said.

Global music revenues have reached an all-time high, exceeding $30 billion in 2025, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Spotify It said last year that Indian artists’ streams in international markets grew by more than 2,000% between 2019 and 2023, and that nearly 50% of Indian artists’ revenues on the platform in 2024 were from listeners outside India.

With the growing population and diaspora in South Asia, it is expected to become one of the fastest growing sectors in world music, according to Acharya.

“We are in a different time, and I think digital things move much faster,” she said. “A lot of the hits were made using samples of Indian music, so they stayed in the zeitgeist for a long time – they weren’t given a face.”

As more brands head to the Indian subcontinent, Acharya said the company is currently in an experimentation phase, to see what works and how fan bases will evolve. Warner Music Group is the third-largest music label in the United States, with nearly 17% market share through distribution ownership as of the first quarter of 2026, according to Billboard.

“I think show business is this global Indian fan base,” she said. “How do we motivate this audience and this fanbase, and how do we serve them?”

5 Junction represents major artists like singer-songwriter Rhea Raj, who told CNBC she sees South Asian music becoming more mainstream in the U.S.

“We are seeing more artists at major festivals and award ceremonies, and I think the best is yet to come,” Raj said.

Raj and her sister Lara Raj, of the girl group Katsi, are two of many South Asian artists in the United States who are building fan bases that span across backgrounds and ethnicities.

Rhea Raj, who got her start on “American Idol” nearly a decade ago, said she believes it’s time for South Asian music to “explode” in the United States, especially as 5 Junction continues to bring more artists to mainstage stages.

“South Asian music is so diverse, and within it, there are so many countries, regions, styles and things to analyze and explore, and I just hope that as time goes by and we have more artists in the mainstream pop world, we will be able to see more and more tracks,” she said.

The streaming era has helped Warner Records narrow its focus on the South Asian music business because it lowers barriers to entry, said Karen Kwak, the company’s executive vice president and head of artists and repertoire.

Kwak told CNBC that when she got into the music business, there weren’t any other CEOs or artists who looked like her. Now that picture has changed dramatically.

Younger generations, especially in South Asia, are driving current music trends, Kwak said.

“That’s the great thing about the music world we live in today, is that everyone is accepting of who they are, and I think young people all over the world want to see stars that look like them,” Kwak said. “It’s a rabid fan base in India… and that’s exactly where we want to be.”

She added that the record label is also focusing on encouraging collaboration between South Asian musicians and popular American artists to help them break into the music scene.

“It’s really about building worlds, and yes, of course, we will continue to invest [in South Asian talent]“This is what music is,” she said. “We are changing, influencing and creating a new music culture.”

It’s also important for Warner to be “genre-bending and genre-blending,” Kwak said, adding that the company is investing in South Asian talent that spans multiple genres of music, languages ​​and audiences.

Nora Fatehi is one of those artists. The Moroccan-Canadian singer and actress, who has more than 45 million followers on Instagram, saw the potential in the South Asian market and broke into the market — targeting this audience even though she had no connection to South Asia — becoming one of the biggest names in the industry.

“Right now, what 5 Junction and Warner are trying to do is tap into the different talents coming out of this country, give them a platform, and also allow people all over the world to consume music and consume art like never before,” she told CNBC.

Fathi, who will perform at the opening ceremony of the World Cup in Toronto in a few weeks, said that although it is difficult to penetrate the American market as an outsider, she sees the results taking hold as more talent from South Asia moves to the West.

“I think the audience is ready for different things,” Fathi said. “Now with YouTube And Spotify and with social media, I don’t think the boundaries exist anymore. …I think brands, departments and platforms realize that people are ready to consume different types of music.”

— CNBC’s Ryan Baker contributed to this report.