Scaling high notes

Yash Raj Music clocks Rs 20 crore in one year, eyes the regional film and non-film music market.

When the 30-year-old film production house Yash Raj Films started its music company last year, it launched its label, Yash Raj Music, in the international market (UK, US) first.

The label was introduced in the domestic market only with Veer Zaara's music in September, 2004. As the company approaches the first anniversary of its India launch, it is ready to venture into non-film music as well.

Says Vijay Kumar, Yash Raj Films' vice president, Home Entertainment: "This year, our focus has been Hindi film music. Now we'll explore non-film music as well as music from films in other languages."

It is ready to distribute music for a Punjabi film 'Yaraan Naal Baharaan' soon. In November, the company will release music for its home production 'Neil and Nikki' .

That's not all. Yash Raj Music is also strengthening its distribution set up by adding three new offices to the existing eight (Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Kolkata and Ahmedabad).

Within six months of its operation in India, Yash Raj Music touched Rs 20 crore in March, 2005. In fact the company is expecting another 40 per cent jump in revenue by March 2006. Veer Zaara has been its most successful album that sold over 1.5 million copies.

Yash Raj Music has benefited from selling music for other production houses too. Other than in-house productions (Dhoom, Veer Zaara, Hum Tum, Bunty aur Babli and Salaam Namaste), the company acquired rights to distribute music for films such as Black, Jurm and Mangal Pandey-The Rising. Kumar says that the company will continue selling music for diverse production houses if the film offers "clean, wholesome entertainment for the family."

Though Yash Raj Music is still small compared to companies like HMV Sa re Ga Ma, Sony Music, T-Series and others, it seems to have impressed the Rs 500 crore music industry with its performance.

Says Shridhar Subramaniam, managing director, Sony Music BMG Entertainment: "It's done a great job. Especially, in marketing the music of films that were not produced by it."

Indian Music Industry (IMI) president, VJ Lazarus feels Yash Raj Films has the right business model for the Indian market. "It has consolidated the revenue value chain, and, therefore, its profits," he says.

Kudos from rivals do not mean that Yash Raj Music faces no challenges. For starters, consumers are increasingly opting for the film DVDsVCDs rather than music cassettes or CDs, feels Kumar.

Besides, proliferation of FM radio has affected music sales. Digital downloads, made possible by the new MP3 players too are cost-effective for consumers. Besides piracy is still a big issue.

Says Vijay Kumar "Our challenge now is how to increase cassette purchases and how to curtail piracy."