India’s music business is booming, and nowhere is that clearer than in the earnings of Mumbai-headquartered Tips Industries Ltd, aka Tips Music.
The company, known for its catalog of 30,000 songs in two dozen Indian languages, including hits from numerous Bollywood blockbusters, reported revenue of INR ₹739 million (USD $8.86 million) in Q1 of its fiscal 2025, which corresponds to Q2 of calendar 2024.
That marks an increase of 40% YoY, Tips said in an investor release on Wednesday (July 24).
After-tax profit came in at INR ₹436 million ($5.23 million at the average exchange rate for the quarter), a jump of 61% YoY, representing an after-tax profit margin of 58.9%.
Operating EBITDA also soared, up 55% YoY to INR ₹544 million ($6.52 million).
Tips Chairman and Managing Director Kumar Taurani described the earnings results as “remarkable for us… This demonstrates our commitment to growing and improving our business.”
He added: “We have successfully completed the buyback of shares amounting to INR ₹46.62 crores [466.2 million] inclusive of all taxes for non-promoter shareholders. We remain committed to returning value to our shareholders.”
The company announced an interim dividend of INR ₹2 ($0.024) per share, amounting to a total payout of INR ₹255.6 million ($3.06 million).
During the quarter, Tips released 97 new songs, of which 18 were film songs. The company recorded a YouTube subscriber count of 104 million. Its videos received 62.2 billion YouTube views, up 29% YoY.
“Last quarter, our notable releases ‘Choli ke Peeche’ and ‘Naina’ from the movie Crew each surpassed 100 million views on YouTube,” said Girish Taurani, Executive Director.
“Our track ‘Soni Soni’ from Ishq Vishk Rebound reached the top-10 on Spotify charts. Other songs from the film, including ‘Ishq Vishk Pyaar Vyaar’ and the revamped ‘Gore Gore Mukhde Pe’ by Badshah, have also been well received, reflecting our dedication to delivering engaging music content.”
“Our music is experiencing solid growth across all digital platforms, with YouTube, Spotify, and Jio Saavn being key drivers for both new releases and our catalog.”
Hari Nair, Tips Industries Ltd
“Our music is experiencing solid growth across all digital platforms, with YouTube, Spotify, and Jio Saavn being key drivers for both new releases and our catalog,” added CEO Hari Nair.
Tips’ stellar results come amid an ongoing boom in India’s music industry, particularly on the consumption side.
Data from market monitor Luminate’s year-end report for 2023 showed that India could overtake the US as the largest music streaming market by volume as soon as this year.
In 2023, India saw just over 1 trillion total on-demand music streams, including audio and video, compared to 1.454 trillion streams in the US. However, streams in India grew by more than 46% in 2023, compared to a growth rate of around 12.7% in the US.
Indian music has also experienced significant growth outside India. Global consumption of Indian music on Spotify grew by 2,000% in five years, the streaming service recently reported, with 85% growth clocked in 2023 alone.
In an interview with MBW earlier this year, Kumar Taurani said Tips is seeing the largest growth in demand coming from the US, UK, Canada, the Gulf countries, Australia and Germany.
He noted that, within India, consumers are increasingly willing to upgrade from ad-supported music streaming subscriptions to paid subscriptions – something that is often hard to achieve in emerging markets.
“Traditionally, there has been a preference for free content in India, but OTT platforms are now successfully nudging users towards paid models. They are implementing strategies to incentivize paid subscriptions, such as offering ad-free listening, the ability to download music, and access to songs offline, among other features,” he said.
Taurani predicted significant growth for the Indian music industry in the coming years.
“With projections indicating a 15-20% annual growth rate, we are anticipating an industry boom that could potentially elevate the market size to approximately USD $1.5 billion-plus, within the next four to five years,” he said.Music Business Worldwide