Liverpool-based Ditto Music enters the Indian market

2018 is looking like a significant year for the Indian independent music industry. With the increase in the number of global entities entering the Indian market to acquire content, Ditto Music is the latest to join the bandwagon. Having set up it’s base in Mumbai last October, the Liverpool-based music distributor and record label is being headed by ex Saregama executive Gautam Sarkar. Sarkar, a global veteran of 30 years across music, hospitality and technology, will manage Ditto’s India operations. Started by Lee Parsons and his brother 12 years ago, Ditto Music has grown consequentially, supporting over 150,000 artists and labels worldwide with 20 offices across UK, Europe, Asia, Australia, North and Latin America.

Displacing Record Labels

The company focuses on subscription, distribution and acquisition models for developing independent acts across the globe. While digital distribution remains the core of it’s business, the company also offers other services that indie artists used to have to go to a record label for. It offers social media, video promotion, PR and publicity, radio promotion, and release strategy services, so an indie artist truly can maintain the indie status while receiving the same business help that a record label provides. While record labels also make these services available for a fee, they’re usually copiously expensive than Ditto.

"Artists are moving away from major label deals and towards independence because companies like Ditto give them more attention, better terms and more revenue," said Lee Parsons, CEO and co-founder, Ditto Music.

Targeting Regional Music

Ditto recently opened offices in Sweden, Brazil, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa, France, Argentina, Chile, India, Canada, South Korea and Spain. One of the reasons behind the massive expansion was to promote the artists that were popular in England, outside the UK too. Parsons believes that tapping the Indian market is extremely important as there is a wide variety of talent available beyond Bollywood. As a prudent decision, it will focus on the regional music market and overseas distribution, rather than acquiring Bollywood music. Ditto Music has reportedly proposed an investment of ?40 crore in India. Languages that artistes and associations are going to be in are Hindi, English, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Gujarati, Rajasthani and Bhojpuri across 3,00,000+ tracks and videos. Record labels with which it has already closed deals include Gathani (Bengali), Aaryaa Digital (Bhojpuri), Lerar Music (Tamil), among others. Parsons wants to promote artists who don't have a label and can't get their music into the store.

"What I want to do is to help every artist here to have an outlet for their music and then take them to an international level. The way labels work, not just in India, they are not too transparent. A lot of people complain that they don't get paid on time. We will pay every penny of what they earn," he said.

Ditto music has its own recording studio in the UK and may set up one in India too. The company has worked with Grammy-award winning artists like Ed Sheeran, Samantha Fox and other artists like Sam Smith in the early stages of their careers. With this kind of a legacy, Indian artists can look forward to monetizing their copyright loyalties and seeing their music at a global platform. (Image Credits: Ditto Music FB Page)