Jay Mehta – Managing Director Warner Music India
The success story of Warner Music in India (WMI) is the talk of the music circles. Led by the young & dynamic Jay Mehta, whose proactive approach to reach unexplored musical horizons in India gives them a unique identity and presence, Warner Music is here to stay. In this revealing conversation with IPRS Jay Mehta opens up about the Warner Music Group foray into the Indian market & their mega plans for the Indian music ecosystem
Q. Warner Music is on an expansion spree with licensing agreements and partnerships with established Indian labels across India. What is the vision behind these multiple deals?
Ans: I took over during the lockdown period which was replete with challenges, but the ambitious idea of being among the top 3 Indian labels within 5 years was one of the driving forces at Warner. We dreamt big.
Q. How do you understand the Indian music market?
Ans: Given the various regions and the variegated music from them the Indian music market has been considered as a continent. Like Europe where Italy has a different musical legacy from Portugal or Spain, every part of India has a musical culture that is unique in its own way. Having a Pan India presence, therefore, is a critical factor in the growth of a music label in India. Also, offering a regional scalable artist value proposition and having a prominent presence on the charts amplify the growth prospects of the music label.
Identifying the partners in the various regions and helping them scale through investments was key. The exercise was important because it saved us time and gave us a head start.
With the Western world’s top artists on our catalogue it was important that we make them household names in the country. That was the beginning of the pyramid structure we followed. Given the fact that Bollywood is a major cog in the wheel of the music industry, we had to join hands with a music label hosting a huge catalogue of the 80’s and the 90s. With over 30000 Bollywood songs TIPS was the obvious choice to partner with and gave us the Bollywood base.
Regional music in India is a vast repository and our research showed that Punjabi music has the widest following across the diaspora. Sky Digital, one of the top Punjabi music labels with a swarm of leading artists on their lineup, is another company we invested in. Ziki Media another North focused company with a massive YouTube presence also met our idea of stamping our presence across North India.
Down South we acquired the most prominent media company Divo. With a catalogue of over 40000 tracks, a well-established distribution business, and 1200 exclusive influencers in the team helping fortify their digital presence, and the facility to discover new music has given us a leg up in the region. The huge data bank also meant we were ready for target marketing.
We were now in a position to replicate this model across the country and soon partnered with the biggest talent and influencer management company in Punjab EYP.
We then moved to Central India and invested in Global Music Junction, a part of Jet Synthesis, a top player in the gaming business and regional music, especially, Bhojpuri music. Bhojpuri is the fastest growing language and Bhojpuri music is a YouTube chart dominator. we have now managed to have a 40% share in the Bhojpuri music market. I can safely say that outside the big Bollywood labels, we have managed to move over to number 2 in the regional music market. Eastern India is the only part we need to foray into and we are very hopeful about our prospects in the region.
Q. What about regional films? Have you entered the territory?
Ans: Warner Music has tied up with Desh Music (Ritesh Deshmukh’s music label). Our Marathi film release “Ved” apart from its tremendous box office success has also brought Marathi music to the national charts for the first time.
Q. What is it that you look for in a partner and an artist before joining hands with them?
Ans: In a partner we look for ability to scale their on-ground connect with the local consumers and artists, and their unique value proposition. Our partners need to have credibility as they are our face in the region and we envisage scaling through these partners.
In artists we are looking at multifaceted creators by which we mean one person being a singer and song writer. We also want our artists to experiment fearlessly because that is what gives them their unique identity. I personally do not believe in the word popular, as I think an artist should follow his calling rather than market trends. An artist should have the ability to create his own fan base.
Q. How do you see the Indian music industry today and what are your plans to shape it in the coming times?
Ans: There are a slew of changes happening in the music industry in India & we would like to be a part of it. One of the revolutionary changes I see is the music ecosystem shifting from a song based to an artist-based ecosystem. This is a big change. Arijit Singh, today, has more fans than many actors. This is a welcome development as we now also have singers, music creators and independent artists as superstars. It shows that we are creating more superstars like in the West where artists like Michael Jackson or Ed Sheeran had a much bigger following than Hollywood actors. We certainly want to be a part of building this artist ecosystem in India where a music superstar is as big as a movie superstar.
Another thing critical from our point of view is the idea of building communities and fans. Apart from building the artist it also encouraging to build an artist ecosystem beyond music. This translates into a fan buying concert tickets and merchandise thus expanding the purse.
We would also like to see the music industry move from a free to a paid ecosystem. Fans love artists and if given proper value they will definitely pay for it through subscription. These are the changes we foresee and would love to be a part of.
Q. Your recent acquisition of the artist management and live event company E-Positive adds a whole new chapter to the Warner Music India story? What is the thought process behind this move?
Ans: Artists prefer a one stop shop where they can maximize their potential in every possible way. This is our way of building an artist ecosystem in music for which we are signing songwriters, music producers, other leading luminaries and are inviting the world’s leading producers for song camps in India. E-Positive brings considerable experience in the live events and artist management. Clearly, through shows or live business they bring value to Warner Music India while also making life easy for the artists, who can now entail all services under the WMI umbrella.
Q. Talk to us about your folk music label Maati and your plans to develop it?
Ans: Maati is my passion project. I think genuine folk artist often lose out on the limelight even when their songs are reworked and become chart toppers. Regional folk artists deserve a national platform which they have been deprived of. The music world has built many pop artists, but rarely has a regional folk artist received the much-deserved fanfare. Retaining the authenticity of folk music along with helping talented folk musicians attain their place under the sun is something we are looking for. Through Maati we have developed folk music repertoire from Rajasthan, Dehradun, Karnataka, Assam and others. Interestingly these songs have transcended regions and are big all over India. This gives us a lot of hope. Rahul Rajkhowa, our Assamese folk music artist was flooded with Pan India show offers after his Assamese folk song ‘Toradoi’s release, which is a matter of great pride for us. Hopefully, regional folk music will generate a slew of superstars in the coming times.
Q. How does a musician from anywhere across India, particularly from the interiors, get a chance be on the Warner Music India label?
Ans: The idea of having a regional touch point in every state is the most heartening development for new musicians who want to associate with us. Artists across India can approach the nearest WMI partner and have a fair chance to be heard. It is also noticeable that there are umpteen number of superstar musicians emerging from non-metro cities. In fact, their number is more than those from major metro cities. A WMI touch point ensures a level playing field across the country. This is an encouraging scenario.
Q. What about film music? Do you see the prospects for WMI entering Bollywood music?
Ans: We are already involved in marketing and producing music from every genre. Bollywood is also in our scheme of things. Right now, our partners are our representatives in Bollywood music through the TIPS music repertoire. We also have access to the Vishesh film music repertoire. For Marathi music we have tied up with Riteish Deshmukh films and have associated with Punjabi films. We will also enter Bollywood music independently as a label in the near future.
Q. What do you see as your strengths and challenges given your ambitious plans of expansion in India?
Ans: We took off during the pandemic in India. I am strongly supported by the Warner Global team, that has invested liberally in India and continues to believe in the Indian music scenario and in me as a team. A lot of credit goes to the team at Warner Global.
One of the usual challenges we face is scaling. Building our USP across the country is important. With rapid growth also come more signings of artists and partners. Managing these proceedings smoothly has to fall into place. The industry as we see it has to change to a paid ecosystem where fans pay to listen to their favorite musicians through subscription and artists make more money in the bargain. More than challenges I consider these as opportunities to do better and more.
Q. Do tell us about your exciting new music release plans from India?
Ans: As Warner Music India we want to build a Pan India presence and see the emergence of a global superstar emerging from India. We have artists like Diljit who surely have the charisma to go global. With so many firsts, he has the ability to crossover with and has already performed to packed stadiums. Diljit and Siya is one of the first out of the many international collaborations and is on the charts in 12 countries, meaning it is in the top 200 songs in these countries. Given the fact that it has transcended the diaspora it is a great development. Our other artist King’s album is a super success with him being the only artist with two songs with 350 million on Spotify. He along with Darshan our other star who has earned reputation as the prince of romantic music, is slated for a fresh track in February. Armaan’s International album in English will also introduce the Indian sound to an international audience. Karma our new Hip Hop artist with one of our partners is also something we are looking forward to. Sanjith Hegde is a prodigy who has been scoring music for Kannada films since he was 16. We are taking his music to the Hindi audiences and feel that he will be the next big thing after A. R. Rahman and Anirudh.
Q. What is your message to young aspiring artists in India?
Ans: This is the best time for an artist in India as there are hits coming from every part of India. More non-film and independent songs are topping the charts which is a glad tiding. Any young musician with a unique sound or identity or a different message from anywhere in India has all the opportunity to make it. We as Warner are also signing new artists independently and through our partners.
