Warner Music Group puts Bengaluru at the heart of its global tech push

BENGALURU: Warner Music Group is turning up the volume on technology in India. Its new Bengaluru technology hub is not merely another overseas outpost. It is being positioned as a key node in the music major’s global engineering network, with artificial intelligence, data infrastructure and high-throughput products driving the agenda.

The timing is telling. As the music business becomes increasingly dependent on data, automation and AI, the competitive edge is shifting beyond artists, catalogues and distribution networks. The companies that can build smarter systems to understand audiences, move music at scale and sharpen marketing decisions will have a considerable advantage. WMG’s Bengaluru bet reflects that shift.

The new hub, scheduled to officially open next month, will support WMG’s global technology suite, spanning music distribution, core data pipelines, audience and marketing data products, as well as engineering initiatives involving AI and emerging technologies.

The move also marks a deeper commitment to India’s technology talent pool. WMG has already been building its Indian engineering team over the past year and is now recruiting across multiple technology disciplines. That suggests Bengaluru is being conceived as a long-term capability centre rather than a low-cost support operation.

At the centre of the expansion is Mahesh Rao, director of software engineering and site lead for India. Rao is responsible for defining WMG’s engineering strategy, organisational design, budgets and operating model in India, reporting directly to Toronto-based chief technology officer Leho Nigul. Before joining WMG, Rao worked at Walmart Global Tech, where he led software development for the retail giant.

“We’re building a world-class music tech organization right here in Bengaluru. The caliber of talent in this market is exceptional, and we’re looking for ambitious engineers and innovators who want to help shape the future of the global music industry,” Rao says.

That ambition matters. Bengaluru already hosts engineering operations for some of the world’s largest technology companies, giving WMG access to a mature ecosystem of engineers familiar with large-scale platforms, cloud infrastructure, data systems and increasingly AI. The challenge will be to make the operation compelling enough to compete for that talent.

Nigul makes clear that WMG does not see Bengaluru as a peripheral engineering centre.

“Bengaluru isn’t just an extension of our tech team – it’s central to WMG’s global engineering strategy. We’re investing heavily in local leadership, modern tech stacks, and globally competitive compensation to attract engineers who want to solve complex, high-throughput systems problems at the intersection of music and AI,” he says.

The language is significant. Local leadership, modern technology and globally competitive compensation point to an operation designed to attract high-end technical talent, not simply expand headcount. The reference to high-throughput systems also hints at the scale of the problems WMG expects the team to tackle as music consumption, distribution and audience data continue to grow.

For WMG, India also offers an unusual combination: a huge and increasingly sophisticated music market alongside one of the world’s deepest technology talent pools. The company established its presence in India six years ago, with Mumbai as its headquarters. The Bengaluru expansion adds a technology dimension to that footprint.

Jay Mehta, managing director, Warner Music India, says the company’s commitment to India is now extending well beyond its creative ecosystem.

“Since establishing our presence in India six years ago with our Mumbai headquarters, WMG has been deeply committed to the market. Our global leadership recognizes the incredible opportunities here – from our vibrant creative ecosystem to our world-class technology talent. I’m delighted that Mahesh is spearheading our expansion in Bengaluru,” Mehta says.

There is a broader industry story here. Music companies are no longer simply in the business of releasing music. They are increasingly technology businesses wrapped around creative assets. Distribution, recommendation, audience intelligence, marketing optimisation and rights management all depend on increasingly sophisticated technology.

WMG’s Bengaluru hub therefore looks less like an expansion for expansion’s sake and more like an attempt to put engineering closer to the centre of its global operating model.

The real test will come with execution. Hiring is the easy headline. Building teams that can own global systems, work across time zones and deliver products with measurable impact is considerably harder. But with recruitment already under way and senior leadership clearly backing the operation, WMG is signalling that Bengaluru is intended to become a serious part of its technology engine.

For India’s technology sector, another global media giant placing engineering and AI capabilities here is further evidence of the country’s changing role in the international technology map. For WMG, the prize is potentially bigger: turning Bengaluru’s engineering depth into a competitive advantage for the global music business.