Warner Music has made a strategic minority funding in SkillBox, a stay leisure and ticketing platform primarily based in India.
The deal arrives simply a few weeks after India’s Financial Occasions reported, citing an interview with WMG CEO Robert Kyncl, that the corporate is actively looking for M&A alternatives in India.
Warner’s latest M&A exercise out there features a strategic funding in JetSynthesys’ International Music Junction in April. The information outlet (ET) reported that WMG took a 26% stake in Music Junction as a part of the deal.
The corporate additionally acquired India-based artist administration and stay occasions firm E-Constructive in October 2023, and purchased a majority stake in digital media and music firm Divo in February final yr.
“We’re already doing nice in India, however it may be a a lot greater a part of our story,” Kyncl was quoted by ET as saying final month.
The worldwide music trade is changing into more and more targeted on India and it’s not exhausting to see why. In line with Datareportal, there have been 751.5 million web customers in India firstly of 2024 – almost double that of the USA, the place 97% of the nation’s inhabitants are energetic on-line. India’s complete web person base firstly of the yr solely accounted for 52.4% of its complete inhabitants dimension, which was 1.44 billion in January 2024.
In line with stats printed by Luminate in January, the market noticed the most important YoY improve in complete annual on-demand music streams of any nation final yr.
As MBW reported on the time, if annual streaming quantity progress within the US slows in 2024, as many count on it’ll – however India manages to maintain its 2023 YoY streaming progress margin this yr – India may change into the world’s largest music streaming territory by quantity in 2024.
Based by Anmol Kukreja and Sandip Ranjhan, with Roydon Bangera and Amarjeet Singha becoming a member of as a part of the founding crew, SkillBox started as a ticketing platform and expanded right into a full-suite stay leisure firm with ticketing, stay model options, and stay tech companies equivalent to Skillbox Pay.
In line with Warner, with its deal with “curating area of interest community-led occasions and experiences”, SkillBox has labored on artist excursions equivalent to Jacob Collier, Steve Vai, Ben Howard, Karnivool, The Midnight, DIVINE, Hanumankind and extra, in addition to creating stay occasions IP like Bloomverse, Okay-Wave, Lemonade, and LiveBox.
The SkillBox platform counts over 1.5 million customers.
SkillBox has additionally expanded into artist administration by its devoted administration arm, LevelHouse, which manages outstanding India-based artists equivalent to Parvaaz, Blackstratblues, Raman Negi, JBABE & Parekh & Singh
In line with Warner, by integrating stay occasions and ticketing into its portfolio, Warner Music India “will supply its artists the flexibility to succeed in wider audiences, whereas followers will profit from streamlined, unforgettable stay music experiences”.
“Investing in SkillBox, which is a ticketing, stay occasions, and artist administration firm, blends completely with Warner Music India’s goal of being an artist-first, fan-first firm.”
Jay Mehta, Warner Music India & SAARC
Jay Mehta, Managing Director, Warner Music India & SAARC, commented on the partnership: “Investing in SkillBox, which is a ticketing, stay occasions, and artist administration firm, blends completely with Warner Music India’s goal of being an artist-first, fan-first firm.
“SkillBox’s modern strategy to stay leisure aligns precisely with our imaginative and prescient of offering complete companies to artists. Reside leisure is slated to develop quickly.
“By becoming a member of forces, we will create dynamic new alternatives in India’s fast-growing leisure market, making certain that our artists have the most effective platforms to thrive.”
“We see enormous alternatives in India’s nonetheless nascent stay leisure trade.”
Alfonso Perez Soto, Warner Music
Alfonso Perez Soto, President, Rising Markets, Warner Music, added: “We see enormous alternatives in India’s nonetheless nascent stay leisure trade.
“Our funding in SkillBox permits us to increase the companies that we will seamlessly supply artists, each home and worldwide, connecting them with followers throughout India. We’re desperate to leverage SkillBox’s experience on this area and faucet into this high-growth market.”
Immediately’s announcement follows Warner Music India’s strategic investments in and partnerships with the likes of Divo, E-Constructive, and JetSynthesys, reinforcing its place as a number one drive in India’s leisure sector.
“We’re thrilled to accomplice with Warner Music India because it marks a major milestone in SkillBox’s journey.”
Anmol Kukreja, SkillBox
Anmol Kukreja, CEO & Founder, SkillBox, stated: “We’re thrilled to accomplice with Warner Music India because it marks a major milestone in SkillBox’s journey.
“This collaboration aligns with our mission to redefine stay leisure and supply unparalleled experiences to each artists and followers. With Warner Music’s intensive trade experience, artist roster and international attain, we goal to push the boundaries of what’s potential within the stay music area, creating extra alternatives for artists and delivering memorable occasions for audiences throughout the nation.”
“We’re excited to accomplice with Warner Music to foster a dynamic ecosystem for stay music in India. Our widespread objective is to form an artist’s first music trade.”
Roydon Bangera, SkillBox
Roydon Bangera, Chief Enterprise Workplace, SkillBox, added: “We’re excited to accomplice with Warner Music to foster a dynamic ecosystem for stay music in India. Our widespread objective is to form an artist’s first music trade.
“By leveraging our experience in music IPs, stay and branded experiences we wish to create extra alternatives for artists and followers to attach at a deeper stage. This partnership units the stage for a brand new period in India’s stay leisure panorama.”Music Enterprise Worldwide
