A month after its launch, Reservoir Media’s newly established Mumbai subsidiary, PopIndia, has made its first catalog deal in India.<\/p>\n
The company said on Thursday (May 15) that it has acquired the publishing and master rights to the entire Musicraft Entertainment<\/b> catalog.<\/p>\n The transaction, whose financial terms were not disclosed, gives Reservoir control of over 1,000 <\/b>recordings spanning multiple decades and genres, including Musicraft\u2019s YouTube<\/b> channel with over 3 million <\/b>subscribers.<\/p>\n Founded in 1980, Musicraft specializes in \u2018Indie Bollywood\u2019 music with productions featuring Bollywood-style arrangements that exist independently of film soundtracks. The catalog includes Qawwali<\/b> songs, a devotional singing tradition dating to 13th century Delhi that maintains widespread popularity across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n The catalog features works from several regional artists, headlined by Ashok Zakhmi<\/b>, a Qawwali performer whose four-decade career includes touring throughout India. Zakhmi’s collaboration with Tina Parveen<\/b> on Mast Jawani Teri Mujhko Pagal Kar Gayi Re<\/i> has accumulated more than 305 million <\/b>YouTube views.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the years, we have proudly built a catalog that represents the diverse music and listeners of India. We are excited to be partnering with PopIndia to help amplify these songs and bring them to an even broader audience.\u201d<\/p>\n Aparna Shah<\/b>, Musicraft Entertainment<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Other performers represented in the acquisition include Gyasuddin Warsi, Majid Shola, M. Aaga Fankar, Usman Taj, Kausar Sabri, Anwar Jani, Afsar Azad, <\/b>and Yusuf Azad<\/b>.<\/p>\n Aparna Shah<\/b>, Director of Musicraft\u2019s parent company, Tanatan Talkies Music Pvt Ltd<\/b>, said: \u201cOver the years, we have proudly built a catalog that represents the diverse music and listeners of India. We are excited to be partnering with PopIndia to help amplify these songs and bring them to an even broader audience.\u201d<\/p>\n Reservoir announced on April 17 that it’s launching<\/a>\u00a0PopIndia<\/b> to sign and develop regional talent, as well as acquire publishing and recorded music catalogs.<\/p>\n The subsidiary also serves as sub-publisher for Reservoir’s global music catalogs within Indian and South Asian markets while offering music supervision and rights management services.<\/p>\n\n