In a recent development reported by ET, Global music giant Sony Music Entertainment has picked a 26% stake in Infibeam Digital Entertainment (INDENT), a subsidiary of multi-category e-commerce company Infibeam, for an undisclosed sum.
INDENT a subsidiary of Ahmedabad based Infibeam was launched in 2012 as a technology platform that offers solutions to music labels, brands and smartphone manufacturers to distribute digital and physical content under their own brand name, and allows billing and payment gateways to users. Infibeam will continue to hold a majority stake in the venture.
Going further INDENT will continue developing applications for large labels and brands with integrated Telco billing, original equipment manufacturer bundling and social platforms.
Speaking on the business interest of Sony Music Entertainment Shridhar Subramaniam, President – India and Middle East shared that, “As the digital eco system keeps evolving, there has been a strong need for an independent technology company that music companies can partner with to build innovative services and offerings.”
This should be good news for the digital music industry in the country which took a beating last year. Flipkart, India’s largest e-commerce company decided to pull down its online digital music store – Flyte. Believing that the Indian digital music industry is still a nascent space, the company decided to revisit the idea in the near future.
Interestingly consumer technology giant Apple launched its much-vaunted music store, iTunes, in the country in December 2012. While it is true that digital music industry is in its early days with challenges being thrown by record labels, piracy, payments, among other things.
In a conversation with Snehal Shinde, VP at Rdio, after having sold their digital streaming startup Dhingana to Rdio, he believes that the future of digital music and movies lies in streaming.