A music industry veteran, President, Sony Music India and UAE, Shridhar Subramanium, has been with Sony Music India since 1996 when he joined as Marketing Director. Since 2002 he has been the company's managing director and has overseen its growth in a continuously churning market. In a candid conversation with Radioandmusic.com he spoke about expansion plans and live properties that the channel is planning to have.

How different is the Indian music industry compared to other mature markets? (based on your understanding of Midem)

The key difference is that the Indian music industry is a very soundtrack driven market and is largely driven by Bollywood. Also if you look at the west they have a download model like iTunes, which contributes to 70- 80 per cent of the total digital sales. Whereas, in India CRBT contributes to 70-80 per cent of the total digital sales. The west has an evolved touring market, if you see the number of concerts and venues.

How much does Sony contribute to the Indian and International market?

The total music market in India is 800 crore. Out of 800 crore 10 per cent is international music, which comes to 80 crore. For Sony 35 per cent of the sales comes from international music. 30 per cent of the market is regional in India. The regional comprises of the all the languages, except Hindi and English. For us, Sony also contributes 30 per cent of the regional space as we make music only in Tamil and Punjabi.

How do you plan to grow in regional space? What are the challenges in that space?

The regional music market is growing faster than the other markets. All thanks to the presence of the regional television channels and radio station where content is consumed in local languages. Due to this each market has an emerging film industry. If I want to operate in the Bengali market, I need to have an office in Bengal. Since I need to be close to the producer and the talent, thus physical proximity becomes the challenge. Also each market has its own way of working. If you see the Punjabi market it is artiste driven. Thus understanding the dynamics of the business takes time. Also each market has a local company that has been there for a long time. It requires a lot to take on these experienced players.

With growing competition in regional space, what are the areas that you want to explore?

Since our offices are based in Delhi and Chennai, we are almost treating both as independent record companies. So the Delhi office will do everything, be it artiste management, promotions, branding team. We have a big artiste management team which sits in Delhi. And the office in Chennai looks after the digital market, and also concentrates in countries like Sri Lanka where Tamil music is sold.

What is happening with mobile services?

The last 12 months were a complete shocker for all of us. The TRAI regulation and has impacted our businesses, on all fronts, bringing them down by 35-40 per cent. But after October 2013, the business stablised. January 2014 has witnessed a little growth. But I predict, that the Indian music industry will witness a flat year. The good news is that we have been seeing a growth in streaming services, due to the growth of the data usage.

What is happening in the live space? How are you taking that forward?

Owing to the increasing number of venues and concerts, the live scene has been growing, especially the international DJs and indie bands. We are very committed to ‘Live from the Console’, not just in Mumbai but other cities too. Yes we are planning to gain more properties in the newer genres and not just Indie.

How do you look at streaming businesses? How do you think that is going to help the music industry?

The streaming business is growing, largely due to Gaana and Saavn. The best part about these websites is that they do not indulge in piracy. If a user wants to listen to a song, he or she can listen to it, but cannot download the song. Turning these sites into a paid model like Spotify will be a major challenge. The concern out here will be how much the consumer will pay.

How will Pepsi MTV Indies help Sony music and their artistes?

I think it is a great platform, since venues for live gigs have been the primary platform. Songs by indie bands rarely become hits, due to lack of exposure. Pepsi MTV Indies will be able to change that, making it easier for artistes to create hit tracks.

How is Warner music catalogue doing? How are you planning to strengthen the catalogue?

Despite being just the first month, the Warner music catalogue is doing well. Our first release- the Grammy album, has been doing very well. Our goal for the next three months is to release the catalogue, and the back catalogue, for which we had a tie up with Amazon.

What is your target for 2014?

Our target for 2014 is to gain more market share, as it will help strengthen our presence in the music industry.