[Reader-list] iTunes goes desi/Article/Prashant Pandey

[Prashant Pandey]

iTunes goes desi

Karishma Upadhyay
DNA
Monday, January 30, 2006  19:22 IST

Hailed as one of the biggest consumer brands of the recent times, the
iPod has changed how the world listens to music. The latest deal
between Steven Job's Apple and Hungama.com means that Indipop as well
as Bollywood soundtracks can be downloaded from iTunes across America,
Europe and Asia.

"Hungama.com is the first Indian company to formally enter a deal with
iTunes. We should go up in another ten days. Our deal for now is
exclusively with T-series and we expect to put close to 30,000 tracks
from their catalogue in the next six months," says Hungama's CEO,
Neeraj Roy. The first series of albums that will go onto the iTunes
site include chartbusters like 'Main Hoon Na' and 'Chalte Chalte'
along with more recent releases like 'Aashiq Banaya Aapne'.

In an industry where sales of cassettes and CDs have been dwindling
for a couple of years now, any additional form of revenue generation
is more than welcome. "Like royalties from ring tones or radio
channels, being on iTunes is definitely going to benefit the music
industry," reiterates Bhushan Kumar, T-Series, adding, "piracy is a
huge issue for us not just in India but also abroad. With more and
more people using iPods, it just makes sense for a record label to
make your music available on iTunes."

While the Hungama-T-series deal might be the biggest with iTunes, it
definitely isn't the first. Sa Re Ga Ma's repertoire has been on the
iTunes' site since September 2004 but Atul Churamani, VP, ANR, doesn't
think it's time to celebrate as yet. "In the last three years,
physical sales have fallen by about 55 percent, while digital music
sales are just around five percent as of now. At the end of the day,
iTunes is like any other 'gora' shop where our music will be tucked
away in a corner. After all, we are talking about a very niche content
being available on a global platform," he explains.

Having said that, Atul and the rest of the music industry believe that
with iTunes having an 85 percent share in the digital market, being on
the site is "very encouraging."

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