Fast-growing indie Create Music Group has acquired Nirvana Digital, a Mumbai-based company that is one of the largest YouTube Enterprise partners in India.
The company has a subscriber base north of 200 million and it provides monetization, distribution, rights management services to artists, labels, film and television and other content owners. Together the two companies now exceed 25 billion streams per month.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the acquisition is the first of a planned $50 million investment Create is making in India and the broader region in Asia over the next several years. More than half of India’s 1.3 billion population is under the age of 25 and more than 94% of online consumers in India listen to music.
As part of the acquisition, Nirvana Digital co-founders Manu Kaushish and Pinakin Thakkar have been named president and COO of Create Music Group India, respectively.
“India is without a doubt one of the most exciting growth territories in the global music and media market, ” said Create Founder and CEO, Jonathan Strauss. “We’ve been looking for the right way to build our business in India for some time now, and after being introduced to the Nirvana Digital’s co-founders and seeing the parallels between our two companies, we felt the right move was to acquire them and supercharge our entry into India with one of its most forward-thinking new media companies.”
“Create works with the most recognizable artists and record labels in the world, ” said Kaushish, who is based in San Francisco. “Create’s relationships, technology and capital will help us fuel growth for Indian artists and record labels who will gain access to a global distribution and monetization on major platforms including iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music as well as Indian platforms like JioSaavn and Gaana.”
Pinakin Thakkar commented: “Similarly this deal opens the doors for Create’s U.S. clients to access India’s market of nearly 700 million young people and bring Create’s globally recognized brands including Flighthouse, which is the most followed creator channel on TikTok, to India.”