(l to r) TM Ventures founder Tarsame Mittal, UMG India and South Asia MD and CEO Devraj Sanyal, UMG AMEA CEO Adam Granite, and TM co-CEOs Alaap Gosher and Saurabh Abbi.
Universal Music Group (UMG) has officially acquired a majority interest in Mumbai-headquartered TM Ventures, which bills itself as “a close-knit family of businesses that has earned its reputation as a trusted marketplace for popular entertainment and talent in India.”
The Big Three label announced its buyout (executed specifically via Universal Music India) of two-year-old TM Ventures in a formal release. Founded by “widely respected Indian entrepreneur Tarsame Mittal,” the newly purchased company encompasses a management business, the producer of an annual industry conference called All About Music, and Music Plus (billed as “the country’s leading B2B digital publication”), among other divisions and holdings.
On the representation front, TM is said to count as clients talent from throughout the Indian entertainment space, including music professionals such as singer Arijit Singh (whose Spotify profile shows 23.39 million monthly listeners), electronic producer Nucleya (1.45 million monthly listeners displayed on Spotify), rapper Badshah (10.20 million), and vocalist Sunidhi Chauhan (10.29 million).
And while the transaction’s financials haven’t been publicly revealed, Universal Music India and TM Ventures intend to build upon “UMI’s leadership of the domestic Indian non-film music business” to spearhead growth initiatives, besides “providing TM clients with the resources of UMI locally as well as UMG globally,” according to the companies’ formal release.
More specifically – and solely on the artist side – the entities likewise touched upon plans to “offer enhanced services, encapsulating virtually all aspects of an artist’s journey,” including “music creation, marketing and release, live events, brand solutions,” and sync.
Addressing the acquisition in a statement, Universal Music India and South Asia CEO Devraj Sanyal said in part: “Universal Music India and TM Ventures share a belief in developing and boosting the careers of homegrown talent and artists. Together, with Tarsame and his excellent co-CEOs Alaap and Saurabh, we will expand the scope of opportunities available to Indian artists and accelerate the growth of the Indian music market, building a new, more expansive model of services available from UMG to all Indian artists.”
Universal Music Group’s deal for TM Ventures arrives about seven months after Warner Music Group (WMG) partnered with Indian pop artist Armaan Malik to debut a label called Always Music Global.
WMG indicated that it would work to popularize Malik’s music on the world stage under the agreement, in addition to jointly “building IPs, backed by the technical prowess and extensive distribution network of Warner Music India.”
In another testament to the present growth within and expansion of India’s music market, Lollapalooza two months ago announced that it would debut in the nation of 1.4 billion residents with a late January installment in Mumbai.