iWorld
Arré launches marathi originals in collaboration with Reverb Productions
MUMBAI: After the launch of its studio business, Arré is now making its foray into the Marathi regional market with a strong slate of originals, in collaboration with Reverb productions.
The last few years have been a renaissance for Marathi films, television and music where creators have experimented with differentiated content and have seen exponential growth in the Marathi audience base. With consumption moving to digital platforms, there is a large viewership and monetisation opportunity to offer Marathi digital viewers premium original content.
Reverb productions (Reverb) has been creating high quality Marathi entertainment content across web series, short films, music videos etc. including content for their rapidly growing YouTube channel Reverb Katta. Reverb brings with it a strong understanding of the Marathi idiom and viewer along with an established studio plus music production set up.
With this collaboration, Reverb’s regional content expertise and Arré’s unique creative sensibility, wide distribution, and monetisation capabilities come together to lead the next wave of Marathi content.
The first series from this collaboration is Season 2 of Moving Out, Reverb’s successful hit series. Season 2 is set to launch on the Arré platforms and Reverb Katta’s Youtube channel on 12th February.
This will be followed by a slate of 4 original shows that will be exclusively produced by Reverb for Arré Marathi including Season 3 of Moving Out. Besides, Arré is actively looking at taking its successful franchises – Official Chukyagiri/CEOgiri, A.I.SHA My Virtual Girlfriend, The Real High among others, into this market.
Commenting on the association, Ajay Chacko, Co-Founder and CEO, Arré said “Marathi cinema and theatre have been at the vanguard of creativity and the talent in this market is exceptional. Besides, the Marathi regional audience is emerging as a large viewer base for original content on digital and I believe this is the right time for Arré Marathi to bring in cutting edge original stories that resonate with a new generation of Marathi speaking audiences. In Reverb Productions we see a great fit to create premium original content at scale and I’m excited about partnering with Abhijit, Shilpa and their talented team at Reverb.”
Abhijit Kolhatkar, Founder and CEO, Reverb Productions said “The Marathi speaking audience is very discerning but also willing to experiment with bold new subjects and genres. Reverb has always focused on creating and presenting culturally rich content in a very crisp and relatable manner. We ensure that the content appeals equally to the smartphone generation as well as traditional viewers and their sensibilities. With our collaboration with Arré we are looking forward to greatly expanding the viewer base. While speaking to Sai, Ajay and the rest of the Arré team we realised that our vision was so aligned that Arré seemed like our own alter ego, time warped a few years ahead.”
Jaideep Singh, Director, Arré said “Exponential consumption of regional content has opened up a large consumer market for national and regional advertisers. Our content proposition for Arré Marathi is going to further enhance our offering of original content to our brand partners.”
iWorld
Anirudh Ravichander and Universal Music India join forces to take South India’s sound to the world
The composer behind 13 billion streams launches Albuquerque Records with UMI as its exclusive global partner
MUMBAI: Universal Music India has struck an exclusive partnership with Albuquerque Records, the freshly minted independent label of singer-composer Anirudh Ravichander, in a deal that bets big on South India’s booming pop and hip-hop scene going global.
The arrangement, announced on 17 March, will see Universal Music India handle future pop and hip-hop releases by Anirudh himself, as well as artists signed to the new label. A first release is already in the pipeline for April, featuring Anirudh.
The numbers behind the man are hard to ignore. Debuting in 2012 with the viral sensation “Why This Kolaveri Di”, Anirudh has since clocked over 13 billion audio streams across more than 770 tracks, cementing his position as the No.1 South Indian artist on Spotify by total streams. His fingerprints are all over some of the Tamil film industry’s biggest musical moments, from Hukum and Vaathi Coming to Arabic Kuthu and the A23 Theme.
But Albuquerque Records is a different beast. Built for the non-film space, it is designed to nurture independent talent and champion the next wave of Indian pop voices. “Universal Music India’s leadership in pop and hip-hop made them the natural partner,” said Anirudh. “I’m excited to take independent voices to audiences around the world.”
Universal Music India’s chairman and CEO Devraj Sanyal was equally effusive. “Anirudh represents the future of Indian music, bold, original, and with enormous potential,” he said. “Identifying transformative talent is our superpower, and this partnership reflects that belief.”
Sanujeet Bhujabal, managing director of Universal Music India, framed the deal as more than a distribution play. “Albuquerque Records represents Anirudh’s bold artistic vision in the world of pop and hip-hop,” he said. “True to his legacy of innovation, this partnership is set to establish yet another landmark creative space, this time for the emerging world of iPop and beyond.”
For Universal Music India, the deal deepens a long-running push into South India’s four key language markets: Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu. The label already has regional imprints, film partnerships with Maddock Films and Excel Entertainment, and a growing non-film roster. Landing Anirudh, arguably the south’s most bankable music brand, is a statement of intent. South Indian music has the streams. Now it is coming for the world.
