iWorld
Tarun Katial announces his venture- ‘Eve World’
Mumbai: Tarun Katial, a senior media-tech professional has unveiled details of the soon-to-be-launched platform under his new venture Eve World platform.
‘Eve’ is a women-only platform that proffers expression, creation, and community enablement said Katial. The platform seeks to build a positive and valuable digital experience for women worldwide. Resting on the pillars of empowerment and building sisterhood, young girls and women of all ages can create and consume content, share opinions and thoughts, engage and build connections in a responsible virtual environment.
The company has raised initial investment from Singapore-based Jungle Ventures.
Eve World CEO and founder Tarun Katial said, “The world around us has been traditionally built keeping in mind men as average users. My co-founders shared this vision and purpose for a while and we decided to come together – to innovate keeping women at the center of our universe. Eve World will enable, and empower women to achieve what they want in an environment that furthers their aspirations. We want to become a platform that gives women true freedom online, for them to create and consume content, have meaningful conversations, share opinions, thoughts, and build social connections that will help them grow and develop.”
Aparna Acharekar has joined the platform as co-founder and will be responsible for building the content and community verticals. Rajneel Kumar, who has successfully built large gaming, streaming, and consumer-tech platforms in the past, will soon join as a co-founder to lead the product, technology, and growth verticals.
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.
