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Gramophone
bags music rights of two films for Rs. 3 cr. each
Gramophone Company of India has acquired music rights of two
big movies, starring Hrithik Roshan and Shah Rukh Khan, for
a price of Rs. 3 crore each. Ramesh Sippy is the producer
of the untitled movie having Hrithik as the hero while Shah
Rukh is the lead actor in 1, 2, ka 4.
Besides these two movies, Gramophone has paid around Rs. 2.5
crore for Sippy’s Kuch Na Kaho and Rs 1.2 crore for Mukesh
Bhatt’s Tum Ko Meri Kasam, according to sources close
to the company.
Gramophone Company of India, Managing Director, K. Krishnan,
however, refused to reveal the acquisition price of the movies.
The Calcutta-based company has set aside a minimum of Rs 26
crore for the acquisition of Hindi movie music rights this
financial year. But if opportunities are available for big
banner movie music rights, Gramophone is willing to invest
more, a company source said.
Gramophone is in advanced negotiations with seven movie music
rights which include banners like R.K. Films, Rajashree Productions
and Yash Chopra. It has already acquired rights of 13 movies
in the current year which are slated for releases next year.
Gramophone’s focus will be on new Hindi and Tamil movies,
according to Krishnan. "We have a gap in our catalogue
as we were not able to acquire music rights aggressively in
the past for 15 years. All fresh investments will go to Hindi
and Tamil film music. We are acquiring labels to enhance our
catalogue," he said.
Krishnan admitted that opportunities in Hindi movies were
limited with too many players chasing too few quality products.
"We see the price and the risk too high to take a model
like Tips which does volume acquisitions. But we see an opportunity
in Tamil and Telugu movies," he said.
Gramophone invested in film music rights from the South to
spread its risks. "We are plagued with spiralling acquisition
costs. Besides, advertising spend has gone up substantially.
The promotion cost is now a part of the acquisition deal.
If you don’t promote well, you stand little chance to
acquire the large banner’s next movie. In south India,
we have managed to absorb the promotion costs by tieing up
with sponsors", Krishnan said.
Gramophone set aside Rs. 2 crore for the recording of low-end
products but has been unable to spend the amount. "We
want to get into the mass devotional market. But we can only
do it in the next financial year. We will have to first put
a team in place which has connection with artistes. Besides,
we have to be ready with 700-800 products first", admitted
Krishnan.
Gramophone, which paid Rs 7.5 crore for Mohabbatein, will
have a revenue sharing with Yash Chopra after a sales of 50
lakh cassettes is reached. The company will break even on
a volume of 35 lakh cassettes and will enjoy the entire profits
till it crosses 50 lakh. "We will pay a royalty to Chopra
after that level is reached," Krishnan said.
Sibabrata
Das
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