Universal Music India (UMI) has acquired a majority stake in one of the country’s leading music and entertainment companies, TM Ventures.
Together UMI and TM Ventures will work across its talent management, entertainment consultancy and live/events businesses. The move will further establish the major’s presence in the domestic Indian non-film music business, and provide TM clients with the resources of UMI locally as well as UMG globally.
Founded in 2020 by the Indian entrepreneur Tarsame Mittal, TM Ventures has become a leading name in Indian entertainment, representing a roster across music, comedy, TV and film that includes some of the country’s biggest talents, such as: Arijit Singh, Nucleya, Badshah, Sunidhi Chauhan, Asees Kaur, Sunny M.R., Renuka Parwar, Kapil Sharma, Amit Trivedi, Ajay Atul, Vishal Bhardwaj, Rekha Bhardwaj, Amitabh Bhattacharya and Zubeen Garg.
The diversified entertainment company includes TM Talent Management, Entertainment Consultant, Music Plus and Create and Collab, the producer of All About Music, the country’s annual music conference.
“Together, UMI and TM Ventures will offer enhanced services, encapsulating virtually all aspects of an artist’s journey,” said a statement. “Spanning activities across talent discovery, music creation, marketing and release, live events, brand solutions, sync placements and more - the comprehensive offering will be unique in the Indian market.”
Adam Granite, UMG’s executive vice president, market development, said: “We are delighted to partner with Tarsame Mittal and his team at TM Ventures. Together we will accelerate UMI’s evolution within India and South Asia, by expanding the range of services we offer, and accelerating our artist development activities in order to introduce the very best in Indian talent to new audiences globally.”
Devraj Sanyal, MD & CEO, Universal Music India & South Asia, said: “It is a great honour to align with Tarsame, one of India’s most accomplished and respected entrepreneurs. Universal Music India and TM Ventures share a belief in developing and boosting the careers of homegrown talent and artists. Together, with Tarsame and his excellent co-CEOs Alaap and Saurabh, we will expand the scope of opportunities available to Indian artists and accelerate the growth of the Indian music market, building a new, more expansive model of services available from UMG to all Indian artists.”
Tarsame Mittal, founder, TM Ventures said: “At TM Ventures, we are ecstatic to begin our partnership with UMG. We have grown TMV up to this point with great care, passion, and a single-minded vision to become the company we are. We carry the learnings, vision, and passion on to this next level of growth alongside a robust global network which shares in the ‘artist first’ belief as much as we do.
“UMG’s experience, structure, process, access, and guidance will be the much-required support for us to work together towards our core goal of providing world-class services and opportunities to our artists in the most transparent and innovative ways. My partners Alaap Gosher and Saurabh Abbi, our core team family, are very excited about being a part of the most trusted company in the music business globally. This partnership with UMG will help us achieve that, and we can’t wait to get started.”