Times Music Is Betting Big on Two South Indian Labels

Almost two years after American music publishing company Primary Wave Music made a strategic investment in major label and publisher Times Music in April 2023, the Indian company has now acquired Tamil spiritual and devotional music label Symphony Recording Co. and Kannada label Arc Musicq.

Primary Wave’s Indo and Asia Pacific director David Loiterton says, “These are the first of what we hope will be many more investments in legendary Indian music.”

With this recent acquisition, Times Music now brings into its fold over 350 albums and over a 100 video albums from Symphony Recording Co., which originally started as a music retail store in 1983. This includes devotional music sung by the likes of Dr. Balamurali Krishna, Dr. S.P. Balasubrahmanyam and K.S. Chitra, among others. The Tamil label has over 2 billion total views across six YouTube channels.

Meanwhile, Arc Musicq has also been around since the mid-1980s, focusing on folk music as well as Kannada music across the board. A press release from Times Music adds, “The label’s four channels have seen significant growth, and much like Symphony Recording Co., has a viewership of over 2 billion views, with YouTube revenue having quadrupled in the past three years.

While Times Music is owned by media company the Times Group and started in 1998, Primary Wave has been the publishing home of artists ranging from Bob Marley to Whitney Houston, The Doors, Prince and several more legends.

According to Music Business Worldwide, Wall Street Journal reported in 2023 that Primary Wave’s investment in Times Music would “help form a new joint venture valued at over $100m.”

Loiterton adds, “Primary Wave partnered with Times Music because growth in our business will come from emerging markets like India, and there are libraries of legendary music that live in the hearts of local consumers.”

Times Music CEO Mandar Thakur added in his statement, “Times Music has an array of exciting premium partnerships coming up and we are proud to work with Symphony Music & ARC Musicq catalogues to further their global appeal.”

Times Group managing director Vineet Jain said in a statment, “These acquisitions by Times Music represent a major milestone in the company’s growth journey and the Times Group’s ongoing expansion in the broader entertainment space.”