Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment have launched a JV called ‘Sony Entertainment Talent Ventures India’ (SETVI), a new entertainment company focused on creating “ventures for media talent in India”.
Described as the first official cross-corporation joint venture for Sony Group in India, Sony says that the joint venture will offer actors, musicians, sportspersons, gamers and content creators in India opportunities for co-ventures, metaverse solutions, brand partnerships and management.
In addition to announcing the new JV, Sony has appointed Vijay Singh to lead the new company as its CEO.
Shridhar Subramaniam, Sanford Panitch, and N.P. Singh (Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sony Pictures Networks India), meanwhile, comprise SETVI’s board of directors.
Singh joins having been CEO at Fox Star Studios for over a decade from 2010 to 2020.
Prior to this, Singh was Managing Director of Developing Markets at the Tetley Group in London, and also brings music industry experience to the role, having previously led Sony Music Entertainment India as Managing Director from 1996 to 2002.
Sony Music Entertainment claims to be “India’s leading record company”, with a presence spanning Bollywood, Tamil OST, and multiple genres including national and regional pop.
Sony Pictures Entertainment includes Sony Pictures Networks, a broadcast division with over 700 million viewers from 170 million households in 8,000 cities across India.
The Sony division also includes film production studio Sony Pictures International Productions, and Sony LIV, a digital streaming and OTT business.
According to Sony, talent represented by its new SETVI joint venture in India will also benefit from potential partnerships and global opportunities across the wider Sony Group, such as Sony PlayStation and Sony Electronics.
Such cross-corporation opportunities arguably fit into Sony Music’s “One Sony” strategy – the idea that it is uniquely connected to Sony Corp’s other divisions such as Sony Pictures (movies and TV) and Sony Game & Network Services (including PlayStation), and can cross-collaborate on projects.
Other cross collaborative projects from within the wider Sony Corp include the Sony Corporation of America subsidiary called Sony Immersive Music Studios, launched in January 2021.
The first project from the Los Angeles-based division was unveiled exclusively at the virtual edition of CES 2021 technology conference in January last year: a “groundbreaking” virtual performance from Epic Records-signed singer songwriter Madison Beer in partnership with Verizon, to showcase songs from her debut album, Life Support.
The launch of that division followed MBW’s discovery in May 2020 that Sony Music was building a team “dedicated to reimagining music through immersive media”.
Sony’s next collaborative project came in March last year and involved RCA artist Tate McRae: an Unreal Engine-powered video, described as “a mind-blowing visual 3D immersive experience” featuring a choreographed dance routine, which was created specifically for Sony Corp’s Spatial Reality Display, a product based on Sony’s Eye-Sensing Light Field Display technology.
“Our ambition is to work as advisors to talent to build their wealth and legacy and unlock the best monetization opportunities for them in India and the world.”
Vijay Singh
“Our ambition is to work as advisors to talent to build their wealth and legacy and unlock the best monetization opportunities for them in India and the world,” said Vijay Singh.
“It’s exciting to be spearheading this new venture and I look forward to working with talent to fulfil their ambitions in the coming years.”
“The digital revolution and India’s unique start-up culture bring huge opportunities and SETVI’s role will be to partner with talent to build and serve their fans in exciting new ways.”
Shridhar Subramaniam, Sony Music
Shridhar Subramaniam, President of Corporate Strategy and Market Development in Asia and Middle East, Sony Music Entertainment, said: “SETVI will leverage our expertise, deep local relationships and global reach to give talent the potential to scale, become household brands and fully realize their creative and commercial potential.
“The digital revolution and India’s unique start-up culture bring huge opportunities and SETVI’s role will be to partner with talent to build and serve their fans in exciting new ways.”
“Sony Group’s ecosystem in India offers far-reaching and unique opportunities for talent to build their brands in an authentic way.”
Sanford Panitch, Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group
Sanford Panitch, President, Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, said: “Sony Group’s ecosystem in India offers far-reaching and unique opportunities for talent to build their brands in an authentic way.”
Shridhar Subramaniam was appointed to the role of President, Strategy and Market Development, Asia and Middle East in January 2020.Music Business Worldwide