MUMBAI: In what has come as a trendsetter, India’s renowned music app, Gaana made a first-of-its-kind live launch of rapper-turned singer Badshah’s debut album, O.N.E. The album is already a rage as its first single, Heartless, has managed to strike an emotional chord with the audience. The song has crossed over 1.5 million streams on the launch day itself. The successful launch of Heartless, amidst much fanfare on Gaana, is set to bring in a paradigm shift, in the method of music album launches in India.

 Commenting on the launch of Heartless, Gaana CEO Mr. Prashan Agarwal said, “Badshah has a huge fan following amongst the millennials and hence Gaana is the perfect platform to launch and make the album an overnight success. We are very happy with the new milestone created by this album.”

“With online music streaming gaining massive momentum, amongst consumers on Gaana, 75 million monthly users and nearly two billion play-outs per month, the music industry is looking at connecting with music fans, instantly, and directly through live album launches on Gaana,” he added.

Mr. Agarwal hopes that this launch will become a trademark for future musical launches in India since this had, already, become a norm, in more mature markets in the west.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Gaana and breaking a first time 24 hour record in India for the soulful ballad, Heartless created by our artist Badshah. This is phenomenal and with the album launch on 17 August, we can see the numbers rising manifold,” said, Sony Music Digital Business Director Jay Mehta.

On the launch, Badshah said, “I am humbled and I can’t believe these numbers. I would like to thank Gaana for all the support and my fans for making it happen.”

Meanwhile, Heartless has garnered over 14 million views on YouTube.