Hindi film fans of a certain vintage will be familiar with the name Ultra and its bright-red, gothic-style logo from the video cassettes, VCDs and DVDs of the many popular movies that were distributed by the company.
The enterprise formally known as Ultra Media and Entertainment has diversified into the areas of film production and video OTT streaming over the years, and also runs the record label Ultra Music – not to be confused with electronic-music brand Ultra Music.
Although it doesn’t hold the rights to the soundtracks of the several hits its parent company has distributed, the Indian Ultra Music boasts an extensive catalogue of more than 14,000 film, pop, folk and devotional music tracks in languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Bhojpuri and Rajasthani. They’re spread across nine YouTube channels, which have a combined subscriber base of over 3.5 million.
Now, Ultra Music has entered into—what other kind but—a strategic partnership with Warner Music India for exclusive worldwide distribution. The deal also grants Warner the rights to distribute Ultra’s future releases during the term of the agreement, the period of which has not been disclosed.
Part of the strategy in play here is that the partnership “strengthens our own Bollywood offering,” said Jay Mehta, the managing director of Warner Music India.
Launched in 2020, it has already become one of the country’s top labels, and has scored four No.1s on Spotify’s Weekly Top Songs chart for India this year alone: ‘Sahiba’, composed by Jasleen Royal; ‘Jhol’ by Maanu and Annural Khalid, from Coke Studio Pakistan; ‘Finding Her’ by Kushagra, Bharath and Saaheel; and ‘Sapphire’ by Ed Sheeran, which features vocals by Bollywood singing superstar Arijit Singh.
The partnership with Ultra Music is the newest in a long line of link-ups by Warner Music India, which include acquiring artist management company E-Positive and a majority stake in south Indian-language record company; investments in live music promoter and ticketing platform Skillbox and regional-language music company Global Music Junction; and a licensing deal with the legacy Bollywood label Tips.
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