MUMBAI: With labels like Universal, EMI and Sony Music setting to explore the forsaken regional market of Indian music industry, Times Music which had tread on a clear regionalization path for the last few years has taken this competition as an opportunity to boost the laidback genre.
Over the past few years, Times Music has created a phenomenal global publishing administration and digital distribution network with wide repertoire in regional languages. The company is quite clear with its strategic viewpoint to go global.
Speaking with Radioandmusic.com, Times Music COO Mandar Thakur said, “We do not look at competition from an isolated viewpoint but as an opportunity. From a competitive viewpoint – the quality of repertoire signed by music companies will separate the wheat from the chaff. Whereas, from strategic point of view – our roles (being a Indian company) are increasingly global (from a marketing and distribution) whereas for the majors it will be about inward dominance. We will keep growing as it will be a continuous process.”
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Even though the labels have realized the value of regional repertoire due to its non-dependence, the mainstream electronic media in India which is still obsessed with Bollywood is yet to mature in term of promotions.
Thakur emphasized on the fact that unfortunately mainstream electronic media in India is Bollywood obsessed, particularly radio. “Maturity in that industry needs to come in fairly soon as beyond a point it is indeed hard to distinguish one radio station from another due to a compulsive Bollywood playlist. Beyond that, we use our media channels very effectively especially across print medium to promote music. Our parent – the Times of India is the largest media company in India and the advertising advantage we offer to our artists is unparalleled,” he added.
The label which emphasizes on promotion has adapted successfully with the new age digital medium, as social media engagement has become a key point in Times music’s promotional and distribution strategies. Thakur stressed on the fact that India is still a mobile music (telco) dominated market. The digital and true blue digital music services aren’t here yet. “The situation will perhaps be different in 18-24 month landscape when we will hopefully have services like Spotify, itunes that allow for music discovery and recommendation that will aid consumers to burrow deeper beyond Bollywood,” he said.
Although the label has adopted the digital medium, Times Music is also focusing heavily on promoting and marketing the physical sales (CD), which for the label (given its current size) is yet still a long way to plateau off. With the boom in India’s retail market, Times Music is all set to excel in newer global systems of managing physical retail with their competency in managing logistics, sales returns and inventory. The label also has DVD distribution business Junglee Home Video and wellness DVD / Audio product business Times Wellness which are doing reasonably well in that segment.
Last year, the label’s top five new releases in terms of sales were enlisted from the mixed fusion category. Thakur insisted that the tastes of consumers are changing and last year’s results prove the point. “For Times Music – we have many genres and aren’t really dependent on any one genre of music from a sales perspective, However a bulk of our catalogue sales are in our traditional areas of strength like Indian classical , devotional and non-film. Vedas (one of our newest products) has been a huge hit for us lately amongst many others.”
Apart from being a home for regional and devotional music, Times music claims to comprise of one of the largest repertoires of international EDM and also act as host to high value labels like Putumayo. “Most of our international artists are regular performers at local festivals like Sundance etc and at concerts across the country,” Thakur shared.
Tapping into the non-film talent, Times Music has had legacy of good indie acts from many years – starting with Indian Ocean – the country’s biggest indie band. “India is about the sound and the song – more than the act itself (which comes from our Bollywood legacy ) – which is why we have many hits where people can mouth the song very well without even knowing who the artist is . Most important above all for us is the ability of an artist or an act to write compelling music that people want to listen to,” Thakur commented.
The label is looking forward to continue its dominance in the industry with several acquisitions en-routed in the coming year.
