India’s oldest label, Saregama India Ltd., has acquired a catalog of Delhi-based music company NAV Records, spanning 6,500 tracks.
Saregama announced the acquisition in a filing to the Indian stock exchanges last week (July 17) without disclosing the financial terms of the deal.
The acquisition covers thousands of tracks across Haryanvi, Punjabi, Ghazals, Devotional and Indie Pop genres, including YouTube channels like NAV Haryanvi and Nupur Audio, which collectively have over 24 million subscribers.
Among the most popular songs that are part of the catalog are Coco cola with over 900 million views, Parvati Boli Shakar Se with over 500 million views, Loot Liya with more than 400 million views, Dabya Ni Karde with over 140 million views, and Gunehgar also with over 140 million views.
Saregama said: “This cements Saregama’s No.1 position in the only language where the Company was not dominant. Going forward, Saregama and NAV will jointly work towards new Haryanvi and Punjabi content creation.”
The acquisition follows Saregama’s purchase of the remaining stake it did not already own in digital entertainment firm Pocket Aces Pictures in August 2024. At the time, Saregama said Pocket Aces is “the secret sauce that will help us transition” to newer forms of content.
Saregama initially acquired a 51.8% stake in Pocket Aces for INR ₹1.66 billion (approximately USD $19 million), with an option to acquire an additional 41% stake within 15 months.
Saregama last year purchased the remaining 48.2% stake it didn’t yet own for INR ₹2.09 billion ($24 million), according to The Economic Times (India), bringing its total investment to INR ₹3.75 billion ($43 million).
In November, Saregama partnered with digital streaming platform Audiomack to bring “thousands” of Bollywood hits and regional language tracks to the platform’s global listener base.
Saregama also struck a partnership with Spotify in 2020, a year after SPOT removed the company’s catalog in India following a copyright infringement suit brought against it by Saregama.
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