Republic Swoops in on the ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Action With Visva Records JV — Savan Kotecha-Founded Label Also Debuts the ‘Greatest Indian Boy Band’

A live performance from Twice, which contributed multiple tracks to KPop Demon Hunters. Photo Credit: 월아조운

Republic Records is getting in on the fictional-artist action in a big way as the soundtrack for Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters continues to climb the charts.The Universal Music-owned label underscored that soundtrack’s showing in a formal release this week, after the 100-minute film itself premiered on June 20th. Evidently, the animated work is resonating with more than a few fans.

Conceived and co-directed by Maggie Kang, KPop Demon Hunters follows a fictional K-pop act called Huntr/x; real-life talent Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami sang as the newly created group.

And as mentioned, the professionals’ releases – attributed to Huntr/x – are flying high. Just in passing, that includes helping elevate the soundtrack to the third spot on the Billboard 200, besides rather unsurprisingly pushing it to the top of the soundtrack-specific chart to boot.

The sudden success highlights the ever-expanding nature of musical output in 2025. Outside of conventional releases, fans are also flocking to ‘less organic’ music, whether from virtual artists or AI-generated ‘bands’.For producers, the canvas keeps expanding — but timing is everything.

“Getting music out into the world is just as critical as creating it,” relayed Vivek Patel, CEO of OmMuse, a rapidly-growing platform focused on music production workflow and collaboration. “A streamlined system for storage and distribution ensures that tracks are always organized and ready for release.”

Shifting the focus to Spotify, the soundtrack’s songs are occupying the second (“Golden”), fourth (“Your Idol”), eighth (“Soda Pop”), and ninth (“How It’s Done”) spots on the Top 200 Global at present.In the States, “Golden” and “Your Idol” are claiming the two uppermost Spotify chart positions, with several others in and knocking on the door of the top 10.

Put differently, the film and the soundtrack appear to be commercial homeruns. While that’s not exactly a secret – we covered Huntr/x’s Spotify ascent last week as well – Universal Music’s stake in the appropriate music isn’t receiving an abundance of attention.

The label behind the soundtrack, Visva Records, is a joint venture between Republic (which is handling roster-wide distribution) and veteran songwriter Savan Kotecha, Universal Music formally disclosed this week.While the NMPA Songwriter Icon Award winner Kotecha’s body of work is well known – referring to credits on releases from The Weeknd, One Direction, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, and many others – Visva’s non-virtual acts aren’t being widely discussed.

Among those artists are Magnus Ferrell (the son of actor Will Ferrell), newly launched Indian boy band OutStation, and Sri Lanka-born singer Dhee. Additionally, with more than a few industry players looking to expand in India’s quick-developing music market, Visva also includes an imprint operating in the nation of 1.4 billion.

“Visva Records India is building the teen pop economy through spearheading a new generation of artists and transforming the way music reaches the youth,” the relevant LinkedIn profile reads.

Evidently, the Visva India wheels have been in motion for some time despite OutStation’s recent debut; auditions for the “Greatest Indian Boy Band” closed in April, and related videos have been hitting YouTube for a while. The oldest of OutStation’s members is 22 and the youngest is 17, per The Hindu, which also discussed the marketing and creative approach at hand in a sit down with Kotecha.