How to release a Punjabi song: Spotify, JioSaavn, store playlists and caller tunes

Census 2011 counted about 3.3 crore Punjabi speakers in India. It is the official language of Punjab and an additional official language in Haryana and Delhi. It is spoken across the border in Pakistani Punjab, and large Punjabi communities live in Canada, the UK, the US, Australia, the Gulf and Southeast Asia.

Punjabi cinema goes by Pollywood, or Punjwood. Its folk roots are bhangra, the boliyan of giddha, dhadi ballads, tappa, mahia, dhola and wedding songs. Its modern sound is Punjabi pop, the bhangra pop that grew up in the UK, and a hip hop scene that Spotify and JioSaavn now give playlists of its own.

A single SUF Digitals release carries your song to Spotify, JioSaavn, YouTube Music, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Gaana, Instagram, Facebook and 150+ stores worldwide. Caller tunes on Jio, Airtel, Vi and BSNL come with it on every plan.

A Punjabi song release takes one sitting once your audio and artwork are ready. Here are the steps in order.

1. Create your SUF Digitals account and pick a plan. Plans start at Rs 999 a year before GST, and on every plan your copyright stays 100% yours.
2. Add your artist name along with your Spotify and Apple Music profile links. Releasing for the first time? Mark yourself as new to the stores, and your artist pages are created with the release.
3. Create the release and choose Punjabi from the "Most used" group at the top of the language picker, for the release and for every track on it.
4. Upload a WAV or FLAC master (16 or 24 bit, 44.1 to 96 kHz) and a square 3000 x 3000 pixel cover in JPG or PNG. The free cover art checker runs the same checks on your cover first.
5. Credit the singers, composers, lyricists and producers, declare the rights for each song and pick your release date. From the Rising plan up the date is your choice; on Debut it is set for you, 7 days after you submit.
6. Submit. Every release is checked against the stores' rules before it goes out, and on release day your free smart link opens the song straight in each fan's own music app.

Punjabi has a full set of store-run playlists, and Apple Music even has a dedicated Punjabi curator, Apple Music Punjabi. These are the editorial playlists we found in October 2026, named exactly as the stores show them.

From the Pro plan up (Pro, Signature, Label Pro and Label Enterprise), SUF pitches your release to the editors at Spotify, Apple Music, JioSaavn, Gaana, Amazon Music and YouTube Music, the same people who build these Punjabi lists. An EP or album can be pitched as a whole, not one song at a time.

To be considered, lock the release at least 14 days before release day, since Spotify only looks at songs pitched 7 days or more ahead. The editors make every call, so nobody can promise you a spot, and SUF never buys streams or playlist places. Read how playlist pitching works.

In India Punjabi is written in Gurmukhi, and in Pakistan in Shahmukhi. The Punjabi playlists and artist names we checked on JioSaavn, Spotify and Apple Music were all in Roman letters, so spell your title the way a fan would type it into a phone.

Share the Gurmukhi title in the release description and in your YouTube and Instagram captions, where Punjabi readers will look for it. Leave emoji, ALL CAPS, "feat." and promo words such as Official, Lyrical, Video Song, Latest, New Song or Trending out of the title itself.

Your artist name goes in English letters (letters, numbers, spaces and . ' & ( ) - only). Settle on one spelling and use it everywhere, because a second spelling turns into a second artist page. The words on your cover must be identical to the title and artist name.

Lohri in January is the midwinter bonfire night of songs and dancing. Vaisakhi in April is the harvest festival most tied to bhangra, and Teeyan, as Teej is called in Punjab, brings women's songs and swings when the monsoon arrives.

Weddings bring steady demand too, with the dhol at the centre and giddha boliyan at festive gatherings.

On Pro and above, lock the release at least 14 days before release day so it can be pitched. For a Lohri or Vaisakhi song, lock it three to four weeks before the festival, which leaves room for the pitch and for your own promotion.

Devotional Punjabi music has two main streams: Gurbani and Gurmat Sangeet, the singing of Sikh shabads, and the Sufi kalam of Bulleh Shah, Baba Farid, Shah Hussain and Waris Shah. Spotify also runs a playlist called Punjabi Ghazals & Qawwalis.

Each track is declared as original, cover, traditional or public domain, or remix. A shabad, kalam or boli sung for generations belongs to everyone: mark it "Traditional or public domain" and make sure the recording is your own. A cover of someone else's Punjabi hit needs the song owner's licence, and a remix needs the original recording owner's permission.

So the honest answer to "Punjabi song upload without copyright" is to release your own original, or license the cover. YouTube Content ID is only for original songs with no samples or non-exclusive beats, and traditional recordings never go on it. Our guides to cover songs and devotional music go further.

Plenty of Punjabi singers live outside India, and they can release with SUF too. Payouts go by international bank transfer (SWIFT) or PayPal.

Artists in India are paid in rupees to a bank account or UPI. Statements break your royalties down by track, store, country and month, and you keep 80% to 95% of them depending on your plan.

Punjabi is one of every Indian language we release in. Compare the plans, or read our guides to Haryanvi songs and Urdu ghazals and qawwalis.