Salim-Sulaiman on releasing 140 independent songs in 2024: We feel grateful, this year will be all about global collabs
As they step into the fifth year of their independent music label, Salim Merchant talks about releasing over 100 indie songs last year and the vision for 2025.
Composer duo Salim-Sulaiman took to Instagram on Tuesday to share that they released 140 singles under their independent music label, Merchant Records, last year. While composing for films and performing live continued, musician Salim Merchant tells us how working on their independent projects gave them real gratification. Ask about the feat, and Salim says, “We feel so grateful. When we started our label during the pandemic, the core idea was to put out organic music and offer a platform to talent from across the country, including those from remote areas. With 140 indie numbers last year, we feel grateful and proud. I cannot thank all the artistes enough for believing in us and our vision. I have always felt that music is not an industry, but a community. And 2024 gave us a chance to see that synergy, where seasoned musicians and new-age talent came together fearlessly and trusted us alike.”


A major independent project for the duo has been their annual album, Bhoomi, which features several well-known musicians. This time around, there were songs featuring unique combinations, such as Sonu Nigam and Vishal Dadlani for Jaan Le Gayi and Shreya Ghoshal and Sunidhi Chauhan for Chhaila, among others. Sharing their plan for this year, Salim says: “Last year, Bhoomi was all about massive collaborations. And in 2025, we want to take it international and feature some global collaborations, not just featuring big musicians from India, but also the untouched ones. For instance, I would love to make a song featuring some indigenous folk artistes from India and tribal communities from different countries. Imagine, what it’d be like if Sonu Nigam agrees to come on board for an independent song with an international artiste for the album this year?”
A major limitation for promoting independent music without the backing of a big music label could be budgets. Ask how they navigated that, and Salim says, “Thankfully, some of the musicians who released their songs with us had their production sorted. So, shooting the videos, etc., were taken care of by them. But yes, a project like Bhoomi definitely requires huge budgets and our live shows help us fuel that. We are also grateful to have a very efficient team that comes up with unique creative and marketing ideas.”
