Saregama, Facebook strike global licensing deals

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 3 : Saregama India on Wednesday announced a global deal with Facebook to license its music for video and other social experiences across Facebook and Instagram.
The partnership will allow users to choose from a wide variety of music to add to their social experiences like videos, stories via music stickers and other creative content. People will also be able to add songs to their Facebook profile.
Saregama is India's oldest music label with a catalogue of over one lakh songs across different genres including film songs, devotional music, ghazals and indipop in more than 25 languages, the company said in a statement.
"We are pleased with this partnership as now millions of Facebook users will be able to add music from our vast catalogue to stories and videos they create and share," said Vikram Mehra, Managing Director of Saregama India.
Manish Chopra, Director and Head of Partnerships at Facebook India, said: "At Facebook, we believe music is an integral part of self-expression and bringing people closer together and creating memories that last. We are very proud to partner with Saregama that will allow people on our platforms globally to use their favourite retro Indian music to further enrich their content on our platforms."
Earlier known as The Gramophone Company of India Ltd, Saregama owns the largest music archives in India, which is also one of the biggest in the world. The ownership of nearly 50 per cent of all the music ever recorded in India also makes Saregama the most authoritative repository of the country's musical heritage.
Saregama has also has expanded into other branches of entertainment -- publishing, film production and digital content.