A month after its launch, Reservoir Media’s newly established Mumbai subsidiary, PopIndia, has made its first catalog deal in India.
The company said on Thursday (May 15) that it has acquired the publishing and master rights to the entire Musicraft Entertainment catalog.
The transaction, whose financial terms were not disclosed, gives Reservoir control of over 1,000 recordings spanning multiple decades and genres, including Musicraft’s YouTube channel with over 3 million subscribers.
Founded in 1980, Musicraft specializes in ‘Indie Bollywood’ music with productions featuring Bollywood-style arrangements that exist independently of film soundtracks. The catalog includes Qawwali songs, a devotional singing tradition dating to 13th century Delhi that maintains widespread popularity across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
The catalog features works from several regional artists, headlined by Ashok Zakhmi, a Qawwali performer whose four-decade career includes touring throughout India. Zakhmi’s collaboration with Tina Parveen on Mast Jawani Teri Mujhko Pagal Kar Gayi Re has accumulated more than 305 million YouTube views.
“Over 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.”
Aparna Shah, Musicraft Entertainment
Other performers represented in the acquisition include Gyasuddin Warsi, Majid Shola, M. Aaga Fankar, Usman Taj, Kausar Sabri, Anwar Jani, Afsar Azad, and Yusuf Azad.
Aparna Shah, Director of Musicraft’s parent company, Tanatan Talkies Music Pvt Ltd, said: “Over 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.”
Reservoir announced on April 17 that it’s launching PopIndia to sign and develop regional talent, as well as acquire publishing and recorded music catalogs.
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.
PopIndia is being overseen by Spek, who became Executive Vice President of International and Emerging Markets at Reservoir after a 2020 partnership between Reservoir and PopArabia, the company Spek founded in 2011.
“This marks a major step forward for PopIndia — our first full catalog acquisition, covering over a thousand recordings that span decades of Indian music.”
Spek, Reservoir Media
Commenting on the Musicraft acquisition Spek said: “This marks a major step forward for PopIndia — our first full catalog acquisition, covering over a thousand recordings that span decades of Indian music.”
“What drew us to Musicraft was the quality and historical range of the repertoire, from commercial pop music to genres like Qawwali that reflect the subcontinent’s deep musical roots. 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.”
Music Business Worldwide
