Times Music announces today its acquisition of two leading Indian regional record labels – Symphony Recording Co. and ARC Musicq. These two deals mark the company’s first acquisitions since partnering with Primary Wave Music, the world’s leading independent publisher of iconic and legendary music, in 2023. That partnership saw the publishing giant invest significant capital to help accelerate the company’s growth in global markets. Both Symphony Recording Co. and ARC Musicq are exciting additions to the Times Music empire, as both labels have established universal appeal in the growing Indian music market.
Growing from a retail music store in 1983 to South India’s top devotional music label, Symphony Recording Co. holds a position as the undisputed leader of Tamil spiritual and devotional music. Housing the largest catalogue in the genre, with over 350 audio and 100 video albums, Symphony’s collection is deeply embedded in Tamilian culture worldwide. With collaborations from legendary artists in the Indian music space like Dr. Balamurali Krishna, Dr. S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, and Chitra, the company has set industry benchmarks in music and video production. The label’s devotional songs contribute to the majority of its YouTube revenue, which has doubled in the past four years, and its six channels have a viewership of nearly 2 billion. As Symphony continues to dominate the devotional and folk music space, this acquisition will now strengthen Times Music in the Tamil market as a spiritual music leader.
ARC Musicq, a time-tested label whose music has been distributed by Times Music since 2017, also holds a significant place as a leading Kannada music label. As a pioneer in the entertainment industry since its inception in 1985, the label has played a key role in expanding Indian folk music and film soundtracks, contributing to over 75% of A-grade movie OSTs. The company is home to a diverse collection of film, devotional, and folk music within the Kannada music market, which has also gained a major foothold on YouTube. The label’s four channels have seen significant growth, and much like Symphony Recording Co., its viewership exceeds 2 billion, with YouTube revenue having quadrupled in the past three years.
Spiritual and devotional music maintains a strong and stable listenership across India, transcending religious and caste divisions. With digital streaming platform investments surging by over 230% in the past two years, according to Spotify’s Culture Next Report, these acquisitions position Times Music as a major player in the spiritual and devotional genre while strengthening its presence in the Kannada music market.
“These acquisitions by Times Music represent a major milestone in the company’s growth journey and the Times Group’s ongoing expansion in the broader entertainment space,” said Vineet Jain, Managing Director, Times Group.
Mandar Thakur, CEO of Times Music, added, “Times Music has an array of exciting premium partnerships coming up, and we are proud to work with Symphony Recording Co. and ARC Musicq catalogues to further their global appeal.”
Primary Wave Music’s David Loiterton commented, “Primary Wave partnered with Times Music because growth in our business will come from emerging markets like India, where there are libraries of legendary music that live in the hearts of local consumers.” He added, “These are the first of what we hope will be many more investments in legendary Indian music.”
