The T-Series Story

Background Note

The Indian Music Industry

The Rs 12.50 billion² Indian music industry has long been considered to be synonymous with Indian film music. However, due to the promotional effects of satellite music television and the entry of global music companies in the 1990s, non-film genres, such as international music, Indi-pop and regional music have also become popular. Traditional music such as classical and devotional music and ghazals have also received renewed attention. The rapid increase in the number of corporate music retailing outlets, the increasing penetration of Compact Discs (CDs), the emergence of distribution channels such as the Internet and the ever-growing base of 60 million cassette players and four million CD players have facilitated the trend.

During 1990-2000, the industry grew by 18%, selling 210 million music cassettes and 13 million CDs in 2000. The industry was dominated by cassettes – the penetration level of CDs in India was only 5-6%, against 70% in the developed markets.

However, CD sales have been consistently growing at a faster pace than music cassette sales. Music is an extremely important feature of Indian films. (See Box).

While a good soundtrack is vital for getting a movie pre-release publicity, a good movie aids the music sales after the release. Hindi film music accounts for 70% of the film industry's revenues.

T-Series was the overall market leader, followed by Saregama³, which had the largest number of titles from old Hindi songs. The other players, in order of their position in the market were: Tips, Sony, Universal, Venus, BMG Crescendo, Magnasound and Times Music. In addition, there were many small players, both at the regional and national level.

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2] 2000 figures.

3] Formerly Gramophone Company of India Ltd. (GCI), belonging to the R P Goenka group of companies, which owned the popular His Master's Voice (HMV) brand.

Case Details

Case Code : BECG010
Themes: Ethics in Business
Case Length : 08 Pages
Period : 1970-2001
Organization : T-Series, Super Cassettes, HMV, Venus
Pub Date : 2002
Teaching Note : Available
Countries : India
Industry : Media, Entertainment & Information

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