By BB Nagpal
Mairu Gupta, acclaimed for his work in media distribution in India and the United States, has been appointed as Director, Digital Business, for Sony Music. Gupta will lead the company’s digital business with its streaming partners in India and will collaborate with Sony Music’s global teams to drive and enhance digital revenue and market share.
Gupta brings more than 15 years of business experience and thought leadership to Sony Music India and has won multiple awards for developing breakthrough digital content throughout his career. His most recent stint was at the American National Basketball Association, where he led the content and media distribution business for the League for more than three years. He bolstered the NBA’s considerable digital footprint through an expansive strategy that involved growing and engaging fan bases through localised and original content such as the musically-led, award-
Sony Music India MD Rajat Kakar said: “We are excited to have Mairu join us as we grow our strategic partnerships in the digital business. Mairu comes with proven leadership and entrepreneurial experience that will play a key role in building new partnerships that provide new opportunities to expand the reach of our artists.”
Prior to the NBA, Gupta served as Vice President and Business Head of Jack in the Box Worldwide. In addition to setting up and leading the organisation’s New Delhi office, Gupta created strategies that significantly grew their digital communications consultancy business, winning multiple awards for excellence in digital content.
Gupta said “there is a significant opportunity for Sony Music to lead the digital future of the Indian music industry, especially when considering the added benefits of being part of the wider Sony family. It’s great to be joining such an innovative company and I look forward to working with the team and our partners to build even more creative opportunities for our artists.”
Sony Music India announced in June the appointment of Jagjit Singh Bhogal as Head of A&R to grow the Company’s existing artist portfolio across languages, with a special focus on garnering worldwide exposure for Indian artists.
Gupta is the latest hire as part of Sony Music India’s strategy to grow its market share across the various repertoires and genres of the Indian music industry.
Sony Music Entertainment India is the record label operated by Sony in India. The company began operation in 1997, and it was the first record company in India to be 100% foreign-owned, with Sony being a Japanese corporation.
From December 2013 to March 2020, the company distributed Warner Music Group releases for Indian and SAARC market, until the Warner Music India division was created.
Sony Music India is the largest foreign-owned music label in India, and the country’s second-largest record label overall with up to 25% share of the Indian music market, after Supercassetttes’ T Series, and Zee Music which Sony has a partnership with.
Since 2002, it has collaborated in the music of over 200 films in different Indian languages including Tamil. Malayalam, Telugu, Punjabi, Bengali and Hindi.
