MUMBAI: After A R Rahman brought home twin Oscars, music labels in India are leaving no stone unturned to cash in on the Rahman fever. T-Series has already launched a Rahman compilation last week. Others like Sony BMG, Saregama are working on similar lines and are planning early March launches for similar compilations.
T-Series launched a three CD set two days before the Oscar awards and the album has been well received by music lovers. Says T-Series president - marketing media publishing (TV) Vinod Bhanushali, “The album tracks Rahman’s journey from Roja to Slumdog Millionaire as we own many of his titles like 1947 earth, Nayak, Doli sajake rakhna, and the recent titles acquired in the last two years- Yuvvraaj, Jaane tu ya jaane na, Ghajini and Delhi 6.” The label promoted the set across all television channels; and aired an interesting 90 second promo across all music and news channels. Sony BMG, on the other hand, is in talks with major music labels including Saregama, Times Music, Venus Records etc to acquire music rights of Rahman’s titles. Sony BMG would be tentatively be launching a compilation of Rahman’s hits in March. Sony BMG Marketing director Sanujeet Bhujabal says, “We are looking at most of his landmark works including songs from his Tamil soundtracks. Our compilation would include Rahman songs across Bollywood, Tamil numbers, albums etc. We already have some five to six Tamil titles which would be a part of the compilation.” A R Rahman and Sony BMG have been associated with his first album ‘Vande Mataram’. “We have been doing A R Rahman collections/compilations since the past couple of years for his fans. We feel it gives a nice platform to showcase AR Rahman’s range of music to all his fans worldwide,” says Bhujabal. Venus, which already has three earlier Rahman compilations in the market would be giving out their title track of ‘Dil se’ to Sony BMG, which is also in talks with Times Music for the rights of Rahman’s ‘Jana gana mana’, the only Rahman title with that label. Sony BMG is also obtaining the rights of ‘Saathiya’ and ‘Sapnay’ from Saregama. Saregama would also be launching a compilation by 10 March by buying rights from other music labels like Sony BMG, Venus, Universal etc. Saregama head, New Media and Publishing Gautam Sarakar denies that the label is trying to cash in on the slumdog ... http://www.radioandmusic.com/content/editorial/special-reports/music-labels-rush-cash-rahmans-triumph
