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Warner Music allies with Ziiki Media in India
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 12 May 2020
Warner Music has announced a new partnership with Ziiki Media, a Johannesburg-based talent management and music distribution business with bases in multiple African markets and India. The new deal will focus on the latter, where Ziiki mainly focuses on artists and releases from the Punjabi music scene.
Announcing the deal, the two companies talk up the popularity of Punjabi music in India itself and well beyond, especially in those countries with a large Punjabi diaspora. It also notes how “Ziiki has built a huge following online” in the Indian market, with 110 YouTube channels that “have attracted more than fifteen million subscribers in India alone”.
Under the new deal, Ziiki will work with the newly opened Warner Music India and the major’s ADA label services division on its Indian repertoire.
Confirming the new tie up, Warner Music’s Alfonso Perez-Soto said: “We’ve got a strategy to engage with a wide range of artists and genres in India and ramping up our presence in Punjabi music is central to that approach”. While the major’s Eliah Seton, who oversees ADA, added: “Punjabi music is a thriving scene that’s been growing organically across India and beyond, and we can turbocharge that growth”.
Meanwhile, over a Ziiki Media, CEO Arun Nagar said: “I’m so excited to be working with Warner Music and ADA. This deal will enable us to ramp up our presence in Punjabi music – discovering and signing more acts, creating more audio-visual content and getting more amazing music to fans. The appetite for Punjabi repertoire is huge, not just across India, but also around the world. This partnership also gives us the opportunity to explore interesting collaborations between our artists and Warner Music’s international talent pool”.
