MUMBAI: Reliance ADAG’s new music and home video division under the brand name of BIG Music and Home Entertainment is looking at going either the acquisition or joint venture way on its entry into the market.

The Indian music and home entertainment sector currently comprises companies such as T-Series, Shemaroo Entertainment, Moser Baer, Excel Home Video, Ultra, Eagle Video, Times Music, Saregama, Sony BMG, Virgin Records amongst others.

“We are in talks with all major players in the segment. We are trying to work on a model where we will either buy out the company or form a joint venture with them,” says BIG Music and Home Entertainment CEO Kulmeet Makkar in an exclusive chat with Businessofcinema.com.

With offices in the cities of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkatta, the launch will be in two phases. In the first phase the company will look at having a catalog of at least 10 – 11 Indian languages including Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Gujarati and Bengali apart from Hindi and English. In the second phase, the company will roll out Assamese and Oriya language music amongst others.

Makkar informs that marketing would be a very critical aspect in the launch of the new label. “We will be collaborating with our group companies like BIG FM, Reliance Communications etc in order to address the consumers. We will be undertaking on-ground activities, radio, digital and internet media partnerships and brand tie-ups to push awareness,” says Makkar.

As far as distribution is concerned, Makkar informs that BIG Music and Home Video will go beyond traditional platforms and focus more on digital platforms.

The first major launch under the BIG Music brand name will be of Anubhav Sinha’s Cash towards the end of this month. The album consists of six songs, which are peppy dance numbers. Salman Khan’s international film Marigold will also see a music release under the BIG Music brand. For the music of both these movies, the company has tied up with Hungama Mobile for worldwide digital distribution.

What’s more, the company also has plans to launch a division for new talent in the music industry, which will manage artists’ careers, album launches, and events etc. “We are looking at having an open door policy for new content makers. The aim is to provide a platform to new and existing artists for a long term period,” informs Makkar.

The company will also work with local talent in various Indian markets.

BIG Music will then leverage these artists on BIG FM, Zapak.com, Reliance Mobile, BIG Adda etc. “The mandate is to make it BIG. Money, vision and belief is not an issue,” says Makkar.

Coming to critical issue of pricing, Makkar informs that their products will have high, medium and low price points based on the quality of content. “Usually the dynamics of the market is such that 20 per cent of the top content brings in 80 per cent of the revenues for any player. We will be looking at bettering that equation,” he adds.

With BIG Music and Home Entertainment’s entry, it’s sure to change the market dynamics in a ‘big’ way.

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