T-Series acquires the audio rights of Tamil film ‘Varisu’

Bhushan Kumar-owned T-Series has acquired the audio rights of the Tamil film Varisu starring Vijay and directed by Vamshi Paidipally.

Music labels, that earlier primarily looked at Bollywood film music, are now focusing on buying rights to regional movie soundtracks, across languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Bengali and Gujarati. While Saregama has released Chiranjeevi’s Godfather and Nivin Pauly’s Padavettu, Tips has co-produced Punjabi film Moh that released on 16 September.

T-Series will also own the music rights to the multilingual film Adipurush that it is producing. Music firms are queueing up to purchase regional music rights as vernacular cinema gains wider acceptance. Additionally, singers and their independent music are also popular on audio-streaming sites.

To be sure, regional cinema and private albums are popular on social media and short video apps. South Indian films and their music have made a smooth transition to the national market starting with the Baahubali film franchise followed by more recent films like KGF: Chapter 2, Pushpa, and RRR, Mousumi Mishra, associate director, music partnerships at short video app Moj had said in an earlier interview to Mint. Regional music catalogues have increased from 28% to 35% in the last two years on the platform and regional songs have expanded their presence to gain a pan-India market, she had said.

“With an increase in regional language OTT streaming across all platforms, labels are focusing on expanding their audience in new states and catering to what the audience requires. As most southern movies now release across the country, the path to success is already looking easier, and return on investment is high. Since short video platforms are seeing high traction for south music, Bollywood music labels are also now focusing on acquiring more southern content,“ Mishra had said.