More than two decades after it stopped acquiring soundtracks to focus on “artist-led” music, Universal Music Group’s India outpost is doubling down on the film music segment by buying a 30% stake in Excel Entertainment.
That’s the production house behind such ground-breaking Bollywood movies and soundtracks as Dil Chahta Hai (2001), Rock On!! (2008) and Gully Boy (2019), and web series like the crime drama Mirzapur.
Under the terms of the agreement – which values Excel at Rs2,400 crore (approx. $266m) –Universal will gain global distribution rights for all future original soundtracks created for projects owned or controlled by Excel, which will be released under a new sub-label.
Universal Music Publishing Group will also become Excel’s exclusive music publishing partner, potentially setting up opportunities for the label’s artists and repertoire to be included in the studio’s future productions.
Devraj Sanyal, the chairman and CEO of Universal Music India and South Asia and the SVP of strategy, Africa, Middle East and Asia, will gain a seat on Excel’s board of directors as part of the deal.
As with all such partnerships with international and Indian entities, there’s an eye on amassing worldwide audiences.
“With a shared vision for innovation and excellence, we aim to transform Excel into a creative global studio—one that brings clutter-breaking, original content to audiences across platforms and geographies,” said Excel Entertainment CEO Vishal Ramchandani about the partnership with Universal.
Co-founders and filmmakers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani added that “together, we aim to take culturally rooted stories to the world.”
The move marks a change in strategy for Universal, which recently re-entered the film music segment by reissuing its classic soundtracks on vinyl and then launching a sub-label with production house Maddock Films.
“Soundtracks remain at the heart of India’s fast-growing music market, with Indian listeners showing a growing desire to access more music in that genre,” said Universal Music Group CEO of Africa, Middle East and Asia, Adam Granite, who was in Mumbai for the Excel announcement.
The news follows a similar deal between Saregama and Bhansali Productions wherein the legacy domestic label purchased a stake in the production house owned by filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source musically.com ’
