Why India's music labels are eyeing regional catalogues

Mint

a day ago

Tepid growth in paid subscriptions and increasing content creation costs are pushing music labels to step up consolidation efforts in the industry. Experts say this is a relatively easy way to expand libraries and improve market share.
Entering newer realms brings an opportunity to collaborate with more artists, many of whom are well known in smaller, specific markets, improving their monetisation as well.
Saregama's acquisition of NAV Records, a Haryanvi music catalogue, last month shows how players are looking at unlocking potential in newer languages.
This June, Sony Music India announced a strategic joint venture with LA-based global entertainment firm The Hello Group (THG) to form THG India, designed to help Indian artists, particularly within the booming live music sector.
Earlier, Warner Music India had formed partnerships with key regional players, including a majority stake in Divo, a South Indian music label, and a strategic alliance with Sky Digital, which specialises in Punjabi music.
The company also acquired 26% of Global Music Junction, a dominant player in the Bhojpuri, Kannada, Gujarati, Haryanvi, and Oriya language markets and the music and entertainment subsidiary of JetSynthesys.
Big companies like Saregama maintain 30-35% of all music releases in India, and partnering with regional labels can, in some cases, account for over 50% releases in the market for the specific language .
'These moves illustrate how regional strengths can be scaled through strategic partnerships. They have helped unlock value by streamlining rights and royalty systems, expanding digital distribution, and bringing under-leveraged catalogues into the streaming mainstream while maintaining their cultural identity," said Vivek Raina, managing director, Believe India, a global digital music company, that has acquired majority stake in south Indian label Think Music, Ishtar (formerly Venus Music) in the Hindi catalogue space, and the catalogue of White Hill Music.
According to a recent Ficci EY media and entertainment report, the Indian music industry's revenue declined by 2% to reach ₹5,300 crore in 2024. The industry recorded 12 million paid streamers and 192 million free streamers in the year.
The right tune
Consolidation can act as a strong accelerator, especially for regional or mid-sized players that have valuable IP and deep local roots but limited access to infrastructure, global platforms, or capital, Raina added.
Entertainment industry experts emphasize that organic growth for music players includes expanding artist rosters, creating original content, leveraging social media trends, optimizing playlists, and deepening audience engagement through live events or fan communities.
Inorganic growth comes via acquisitions, mergers, catalogue licensing deals, and strategic partnerships with brands, streaming platforms, or tech companies.
Organic methods build long-term brand equity and loyal audiences, while inorganic moves offer rapid scale, larger catalogues, and immediate market share gains. Both can be highly complementary — organic growth sustains creativity and authenticity, while inorganic strategies accelerate reach and revenue, enabling music labels and platforms to stay competitive in a fast-evolving industry.
A senior executive at a leading label pointed out that as monetization from paid subscriptions plateaus and content costs continue to rise, few companies can afford to keep producing content on their own.
Music labels such as T-Series, Sony Music, and Saregama, among others, have seen film soundtrack acquisition costs spike five to eightfold since the pandemic.
Meanwhile, audio streaming platforms have lowered their pay rates (the amount paid per stream for a song) by about half over the past few months, as audience preferences shift away from music to other genres of entertainment, such as stand-up comedy and podcasts on YouTube.
'Capital expenditure goes up with rising content costs, and there is no way anyone can make more content on their own. This (acquisitions or joint ventures), on the other hand, is a one-time investment that allows you a stronger footprint in the market without having to create from scratch," the person said, adding that it automatically allows for better commercial terms from audio streaming platforms that music labels sell rights to.
Such catalogue partnerships make sense for smaller labels which are heavily dependent on streaming and YouTube revenue and are unlikely to operate at scale, according to Mandar Thakur, CEO of Times Music.
'The former has dried up and the latter has begun to focus on long-form content. As long as you have a catalogue, you should make something out of it or the current wave of capital could go down," Thakur added.
Consolidation in India's music industry could help smaller and national players by pooling resources, expanding catalogues, and increasing bargaining power with platforms, brands, and advertisers, said Gaurav Dagaonkar, co-founder and CEO of Hoopr, a music licensing platform.
'It can enable shared marketing, technology adoption, and data-driven strategies that might otherwise be costly for individual players. A unified catalogue offers better licensing opportunities, attracts larger deals, and improves discoverability for diverse music," Dagaonkar said. For artists, it can mean wider reach and fairer monetisation.
That said, the trend can also have a downside. Bigger players entering regional markets can lead to monopolistic scenarios, inflating costs in the short term as they pay relatively higher sums to artists and then suddenly leading to correction.
While challenges like maintaining creative diversity remain, strategic consolidation could be a viable path forward, fostering competitiveness, scalability, and sustainable growth in an increasingly globalised and digital-first music ecosystem, Dagaonkar added.