Reservoir exec Spek, who oversees the operations of Musicraft Entertainment purchaser PopIndia. Photo Credit: Reservoir Media
New York City-headquartered Reservoir today revealed the song-rights purchase, executed via PopIndia and covering the IP of 45-year-old Musicraft Entertainment. According to the involved parties, PopIndia scooped up the “entire” catalog at hand, including both “publishing and master rights.”
Founded in 1980, Musicraft by Reservoir’s description owns the rights to music with “production styles similar to Bollywood soundtracks while remaining independent of any specific film.”
Regarding genres and artists, the catalog is said to encompass popular Qawwali works and releases from the likes of Ashok Zakhmi, Gyasuddin Warsi, and Usman Taj, to name just a few. And per Musicraft itself, its catalog also features projects from regionally prominent comics such as Raju Srivastav, who passed away in 2022.
On the financials front, Reservoir opted against disclosing Musicraft’s sale price; the publicly traded buyer’s forthcoming earnings reports may provide insight here.
However, the purchaser did underscore the transaction’s comprehensive nature. Among other things, PopIndia will begin operating the Musicraft YouTube channel, which has racked up 3.3 million subs and nearly 900 million cumulative views.
“This marks a major step forward for PopIndia — our first full catalog acquisition, covering over a thousand recordings that span decades of Indian music… Our strategy in India is focused on long-term value creation, and that starts with investing in catalogs that matter — culturally and commercially.
“We see a growing global appetite for Indian music, and this deal positions us well to meet that demand with credible, well-curated content,” proceeded Spek.
Reservoir certainly isn’t alone in looking to cash in on said global appetite. Primary Wave-partnered Times Music, Believe, Warner Music, and Universal Music alike are spearheading sizable music investments in the nation; Sony Music yesterday underscored plans to wrap “deliberate acquisitions” specifically in India.
As for the commercial upside of establishing a presence in India – referring to domestic revenue, that is – streaming adoption is strong but monetization remains a challenge. Some reports have suggested that it’ll be a while yet before paid listening catches on at scale.
Bearing the point in mind, Reservoir is billing PopIndia “as a full-service music company focused on signing and developing regional talent and acquiring catalogs.”
Additionally, the newly minted division is said to act as “sub-publisher for global music catalogs within the Indian and South Asian markets,” simultaneously offering “music supervision and rights management solutions for regional music.”
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