Saregama’s post-2000 catalogue drives 60% of revenue as live income surges 214% in India

Indian music label Saregama, long associated with classic Hindi film soundtracks from the 1940s to the 1970s, now draws the majority of its revenue from recordings released after 2000. In its fiscal year 2026, 60% of the company’s music income came from post-2000 releases, with 45% of that total generated by hits from 2021 onward, including tracks from the original soundtracks of Dhurandhar (2025), Stree 2 (2024) and Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023).

Newer catalogue reshapes revenue mix

While songs recorded before 1960 and through 2000 still account for 58% of Saregama’s catalogue, they contributed 40% of revenue in FY2026, according to a corporate presentation. Managing director Vikram addressed the shift during the company’s Q1 FY2027 earnings call.

“At Saregama, we proudly steward the musical and heritage of India, we take care of it, we cherish it, we try to monetise it,” Vikram said. “But the fact is that we are now a new age IP company with a large part of our revenue coming from brand-new IP, which has 60 to 80 years of life left in front of it.”

Q1 FY2027 financial highlights

For the quarter ended June 2026, Saregama’s revenue from operations grew 27% year-on-year to Rs263.6 crore (approx. $27.6 million). Profit after tax rose 42% to Rs52 crore (approx. $5.4 million).

Live events surge 214%

Income from live events jumped 214%, driven by multiple devotional music concerts featuring singers Jaya Kishori and Manoj Muntashir, stand-up comedy shows by spoken word artist Manhar Seth, and the launch of a new intellectual property, Carvaan Live. Branded around Saregama’s digital audio player Carvaan, which has sold millions of units primarily to fans of retro Bollywood music, Carvaan Live is a series of tribute concerts “targeting middle age and older audiences.” The company staged 23 such shows during the quarter, including events dedicated to playback singer Kishore Kumar and music director Pritam.

New releases and catalogue licensing

The label released more than 750 new tracks in the quarter, spanning languages including:

• Hindi
• Bhojpuri
• Punjabi
• Tamil
• Telugu
• Malayalam
• Kannada
• Haryanvi
• Marathi
• Bengali

Tracks from Saregama’s 180,000-song catalogue were licensed for use in over 15 feature films, such as the romantic drama Cocktail 2, and more than 10 web series, including the crime thriller Raakh.