Mumbai: Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment have announced the creation of their first joint venture - Sony Entertainment Talent Ventures India (SETVI) to focus on creating opportunities for media talent in India.
The new entity will offer actors, musicians, sportspersons, gamers & content creators in India opportunities for co-ventures, metaverse solutions, as well as brand partnerships and management.
Shridhar Subramaniam, Sanford Panitch, and N.P. Singh (managing director and chief executive officer, Sony Pictures Networks India) comprise SETVI’s board of directors, and Vijay Singh will lead the new company as CEO.
The joint venture for Sony Group looks to combine the expertise and global reach of the two companies, leveraging the vast pool of commercial talent and star-power in India to build investment opportunities, partnerships, metaverse solutions and more for talent. “India is on track to become the third largest consumer market by 2030 and sustains one of the largest local-language content creation ecosystems in the world,” said the statement.
The talent represented by SETVI will also benefit from potential partnerships and global opportunities across the wider Sony Group such as PlayStation and Sony Electronics.
“SETVI will leverage our expertise, deep local relationships and global reach to give talent the potential to scale, become household brands and fully realize their creative and commercial potential,” said Sony Music Entertainment president of corporate strategy and market development in Asia and Middle East Shridhar Subramaniam. “The digital revolution and India’s unique start-up culture bring huge opportunities and SETVI’s role will be to partner with talent to build and serve their fans in exciting new ways.”
“Sony Group’s ecosystem in India offers far-reaching and unique opportunities for talent to build their brands in an authentic way,” said Sony Pictures Motions Picture Group president Sanford Panitch.
Vijay Singh was previously the CEO at Fox Star Studios for over a decade from 2010 to 2020. Prior to this, Singh was managing director of developing markets at the Tetley Group in London, and also brings music industry experience to the role, having previously led Sony Music Entertainment India as managing director from 1996 to 2002.
“Our ambition is to work as advisors to talent to build their wealth and legacy and unlock the best monetization opportunities for them in India and the world.” said Vijay Singh. “It’s exciting to be spearheading this new venture and I look forward to working with talent to fulfil their ambitions in the coming years.”
