Indian Music Industry
Encyclopedia
The Indian Music Industry (IMI) is a trust that represents the recording industry distributors in India
. It was founded on February 28, 1936 as Indian Phonographic Industry (IPI). Its the 2nd oldest music industry organization in the world that was involved in protecting copyright
s of music producers and supporting growth of music entertainment industry.
In 1994, it was renamed as Indian Music Industry (IMI) and represented India at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). It is also registered with the West Bengal Societies Registration Act.
All major music labels in India are part of this association. Record companies like Saregama India Ltd.
(HMV), Universal Music (India), Tips, Venus, Sony Music Entertainment
(India), Crescendo, Virgin Records
, Magnasound, Milestone, Times Music and several other prominent national and regional labels are part of the IMI. The IMI represents over 75 % of all legal music sales in India.
IMI has its registered office in Kolkata
and Administrative office in Mumbai
. It also has offices in New Delhi
, Chennai
, Bangalore
and other major Indian cities working on the protection of rights of music producers and preventing music piracy.
It has also been instrumental in launching the IMMIES music awards in collaboration with MTV
.
Current certification levels
Previous certification levels
Like many other countries, sales requirements of music recording in India reduced due to music piracy and declining sales. For example, prior to 2000, the sales requirements for Hindi film category (the most dominant music genre) is 500,000 copies and a million copies, respectively, for gold and platinum awards. It was later lowered to 250,000 and 500,000 copies, respectively. Previously, recordings in the national basic category is required to sold 100,000 and 200,000 copies, in order to achieve Gold and Platinum awards.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. It was founded on February 28, 1936 as Indian Phonographic Industry (IPI). Its the 2nd oldest music industry organization in the world that was involved in protecting copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
s of music producers and supporting growth of music entertainment industry.
In 1994, it was renamed as Indian Music Industry (IMI) and represented India at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). It is also registered with the West Bengal Societies Registration Act.
All major music labels in India are part of this association. Record companies like Saregama India Ltd.
Sa Re Ga Ma
Saregama India Limited, formerly The Gramophone Company of India is an Indian music company. Saregama also works in the home video business...
(HMV), Universal Music (India), Tips, Venus, Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....
(India), Crescendo, Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
, Magnasound, Milestone, Times Music and several other prominent national and regional labels are part of the IMI. The IMI represents over 75 % of all legal music sales in India.
IMI has its registered office in Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
and Administrative office in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
. It also has offices in New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
, Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
and other major Indian cities working on the protection of rights of music producers and preventing music piracy.
It has also been instrumental in launching the IMMIES music awards in collaboration with MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
.
Criteria of certification levels
The Indian Music Industry has constituted different, prestigious awards to encourage and promote music. The approved scheme of gold/platinum disc standards effective for sound recordings of member companies released in one calendar year is as below:- Sales of all types of carriers, whether vinyl records, audio cassettes, compact discs, MP3 compact discs, music videos (i.e. excluding home videos) or any other existing or future type of carrier is considered on the basis of one unit.
- If a sound recording contains a combination of two program, any program over half of its total duration can be weighted at 50%, of the sales of the sound recording of that program. Any program comprising less than half of the total duration of the sound recording will not be counted for the purpose of certification.
- Sales in domestic markets only will be considered for the calculation of sales of sound recording.
- The time-limit for achieving above sales in any category is one year from the release of the recording in India.
- Applications should be accompanied by a copy certified by the member’s chartered accountant stating the date of release & the number of units sold, along with a letter from the managing director or CEO.
Certification levels
India has most separate scales for music recording certification. Certifications are usually based on sales, like some other Asian countries. Like many other Asian countries, domestic repertoire accounted for more than 50% of Indian music market.Current certification levels
| Release type | Gold | Platinum |
|---|---|---|
| Hindi films | 100,000 | 200,000 |
| Regional films | 50,000 | 100,000 |
| Regional basic | 25,000 | 50,000 |
| National basic | 50,000 | 100,000 |
| Classical/non-classical | 15,000 | 30,000 |
| Foreign repertoire | 7,500 | 15,000 |
Previous certification levels
Like many other countries, sales requirements of music recording in India reduced due to music piracy and declining sales. For example, prior to 2000, the sales requirements for Hindi film category (the most dominant music genre) is 500,000 copies and a million copies, respectively, for gold and platinum awards. It was later lowered to 250,000 and 500,000 copies, respectively. Previously, recordings in the national basic category is required to sold 100,000 and 200,000 copies, in order to achieve Gold and Platinum awards.