Mumbai: The US-based privately held music and media company Create Music Group announced on Wednesday that it will expand the global footprint with the acquisition of Nirvana Digital, a Mumbai-based YouTube Enterprise partner company. The company has acquired a 100 per cent stake in Nirvana Digital to strengthen its offerings to a larger and wider audience, worldwide.

As part of the acquisition, Nirvana Digital co-founders Manu Kaushish and Pinakin Thakkar have been named Create Music Group India president and Create Music Group India chief operating officer, respectively.

This is the first of a planned $50 million investment Create Music Group is making in India and the broader region in Asia over the next few years, said the company in a statement. The market potential for online music and media in India is staggering - more than 50 per cent of India’s 1.3 billion population is under the age of 25 and more than 94 per cent of online consumers in India listen to music. As wireless coverage and data consumption become more prevalent, those metrics are set to grow even more.

Established in 2015, Create Music Group, is a data-driven media and technology company focused on empowering artists and creators. It handles the content and monetisation strategies for many artists and record labels in the world including JLo, Deadmau5, and Tory Lanez. Additionally, the company has made substantial investments in content properties on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, where they own non-influencer brands, Flighthouse which has more than 28 million followers, said the company.

“India is without a doubt one of the most exciting growth territories in the global music and media market,” said Create founder and CEO Jonathan Strauss. “We have been looking for the right way to build our business in India for some time now, and after being introduced to the Nirvana Digital’s co-founders and seeing the parallels between our two companies, we felt the right move was to acquire them and supercharge our entry into India with one of its most forward-thinking new media companies.”

“Create works with the most recognizable artists and record labels in the world,” said Nirvana Digital co-founder Manu Kaushish, who is based in San Francisco. “Create’s relationships, technology and capital will help us fuel growth for Indian artists and record labels who will gain access to a global distribution and monetization on major platforms including iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music as well as Indian platforms like JioSaavn and Gaana.”

Nirvana Digital co-founder Pinakin Thakkar commented, “We are glad to join hands with Create and enter into the next phase of our growth with such a strong global leadership. This deal opens the doors for Create’s US clients to access India’s market of nearly 700 million young people and bring Create’s globally recognized brands including Flighthouse, which is the most followed creator channel on TikTok, to India. We look forward to our journey with Create.”

Manu Kaushish has more than 20 years of experience in entertainment and technology, founding two digital media companies and working on the first Indian music content deals for Real Networks and Apple iTunes, the first monetized Bollywood channel on YouTube and the first Bollywood SVOD Channel on US Cable.  Pinakin Thakkar, who is based in Mumbai, has worked in the advertising and technology space for over 15 years, including at such companies as Percept Holdings and Ogilvy and Mather and has deep connections in the media industry in India.

Nirvana Digital serves over 20 billion minutes of video each month and has a subscriber base north of 200 million, the company said. It provides monetisation, distribution, and rights management services to artists, labels, film and television, and other content owners including the spiritual organisation The Art of Living, rap/hip hop superstar - Bohemia, and regional music powerhouses - Vats Records and Team Films. 

Together, the two companies now exceed 25 billion streams per month, making Create one of the world’s largest media companies by viewership, said the company.