Bmg-Crescendo May Buy Out Pan Music Titles

BMG-Crescendo, the 51:49 venture between German entertainment major BMG and Crescendo, the domestic music major, is planning to buy out the entire Pan Music catalogue comprising nearly 1,000 titles.

Negotiations between the two companies started some time back and is likely to conclude soon. The acquisition will give BMG-Crescendo a presence in the Rs 1,500 crore Hindi film music market, which it lacked till now.

Owned by NRI R V Pandit, Pan's forte is popular Hindi film music and their collection includes hit music from films like Kalakar, Ek Jaan Hai Hum, Jalwa, Utsav, Agar Tum Na Hote in the eighties and more recently Maachis and Darmiyaan.

 

Ghazals by noted singers Hariharan and Jagjit and Chitra Singh are also part of its repertoire.

Top executives of both companies refused to comment on the talks, but sources close to the deal say details are being worked out.

Pan has an ongoing relationship with BMG-Crescendo which has been marketing and distributing Pan music for the past three years.

Earlier known as CBS Gramophone Records and Tapes, Pan was floated by the Tata group in the early eighties. The company had a licensing agreement with US-based CBS.

The Tata stake was eventually sold to R V Pandit who now owns a controlling stake in the company. After Sony bought CBS worldwide, Pan operated as a licensee of Sony music until the major came into India after 1991.

The name was changed to Pan after it ceased to be a licensee of CBS.

Industry observers say Pandit may not be interested in continuing with his music venture. They believe that he may be turning to greener pastures like film production.

BMG-Crescendo is slowly making forays into film music. It has marketed and distributed the music of Qila early this year and is now doing so for Prem Aggan, a Feroze Khan directed film.

The company has so far not indulged in outright purchase of film music rights from producers and has preferred to go in for a royalty agreement with Qila.

In case of Prem Aggan it is solely a marketer and distributor. It is also doing the music score for an Indian English film `Bombay Boys' starring Rahul Bose and Naseeruddin Shah.

The company's core business is however non-film music with artists like Anaida and Mehnaaz in its fold.