iWorld
Chanpreet Arora appointed CEO of Vice Media India
MUMBAI: Vice Media India has a new sheriff in town. Chanpreet Arora has been appointed as the CEO of the company and is working from the Vice office in Delhi. A veteran with 15 years of experience as a consultant and as an entrepreneur, she has charted strategy and operations along with framing macro policy for regulators in India.
Arora has been shifted to current role from her position as the head of revenue strategy and sales operations at Times Internet. At Times Internet, she set up the revenue strategy and sales operations division in 2016 and was a part of the core team that led the restructuring of the company, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Arora joined the Vice operations earlier this month.
As a business and strategy expert, Arora has helped redefine and restructure some of the most reputed entities in media, sports and digital in India and abroad.
In India, Vice Media has partnered the Times of India in a bid to accelerate the business in the country. In June 2017, the US-headquartered company received a capital infusion of $450 million.
Known for its online videos and edgy reporting, Vice operates a popular YouTube channel and produces news programming for Time Warner’s HBO.
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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.
