BBC Soundcrew

BBC Soundcrew is a Canadian DJ group from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Created in 2000 by Johney Brar (DJ JoN E) and Gurjit Bolina (MC LoudMouTH) BBC Soundcrew was created to advance the South Asian music scene across North America. BBC Soundcrew has made their mark with their own ventures including the Top South Asian DJ Website in Canada (BBCsoundcrew. com), nightclub residency, BBC Soundcrew Gear, mix CDs and remix albums and a weekly prime time urban South Asian radio program (Desi Live on 105.5 FM Hosted By DJ JoN E) which was the first South Asian radio program that gained national distribution in the United States as of December 2008. As of 2018, BBC Soundcrew & Entertainment is now a division of Sixcity Media Group.

BBC Soundcrew broke into the music night life scene in early 2001 in the Toronto area. A few connections were made between BBC Soundcrew and local club promoters around the city. and they were invited to perform opening sets at various venues within the Greater Toronto Area. While the first few events were not well attended, it gave a chance for the team to get practice on the main stage at venues. The company's head disc jockey DJ JoN E was 16 years old at the time, which would make him 3 years under the admission age for most nightclubs in the province. A special wristband policy was generally implemented by venues to accommodate access for him. The live MC portion of events was handled by Gurjit Bolina (MC LoudMouTH) as he became the first ever Sikh turbaned MC to do live nightlife events as well as have nightclub residency in North America.

BBC Soundcrew entered the industry as online music sharing was in its infancy. While mainstream music was accessible, South Asian music was not at the time. In 2000, DJ JoN E started to put individual bhangra mixes online which spread through the internet quickly via file sharing programs such as Napster and Limewire. The mixes that were released online became a good portion of their first remix album "Live to Air" which was also released online for free. All future albums from BBC Soundcrew were made available for free online as they did not see the value in selling it as bootlegging and audio/video duplication were already rampant in the South Asian community.