NEW DELHI, July 31: Sony of Japan hopes to strike gold with its recent foray into India's pop music industry. Eyeing a big Asian opportunity in compact discs (CDs) and cassettes, Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc aims to challenge worldwide rivals with its new subsidiary, Sony Music India (Private) Ltd.

Sony's strategy is to bring its global repertoire to India and buttress it with home grown music which it plans to export beyond Indian shores.

``We have taken our time coming to India, because we wanted to come in as a fully-owned unit that allows us to start afresh and gives us access to all our parent's strength,'' marketing director Shridhar Subramanium said.

Sony, along with its key rivals Polygram NV, EMI Group plc, Time Warner Inc and Bertelsmann AG, control 80 per cent of the world's music market. The other four have licensing or joint venture agreements in India, but Sony has gone a step beyond its earlier licensing agreement with Pan Music and Magazines Ltd.

Sony Music India has an investment target of $15 million over the next five years in India, with an aim to achieve sales of $48.7 million, or 26.6 per cent of the market by 2002.

Sony Music Entertainment Inc is 71 per cent owned by electronics giant Sony Corporation, which has entered India under a six-year-old economic liberalisation programme.

Sony also beams through an Indian subsidiary a Hindi language satellite television channel that market researchers say is proving to be a keen competitor for market leader Zee, affiliated to Zee Telefilms Ltd. Being the last among big labels has not deterred Sony Music India from shaking up the domestic music scene.

It has signed southern India's movie and fusion music with A R Rahman to compose four albums. Rahman, who blends classical Indian motifs with gutsy techno sounds, is a rage in India's bustling cities and rural tea shops.

Sony has also set up its own manufacturing unit capable of producing 18.8 million cassettes a year. And it has changed pricing rules for cassettes and compact discs. In April, it launched its cassettes at Rs 100 ($2.8) per unit, about Rs 30 higher than the market median of Rs 70 , and its compact discs at Rs 485 for new releases and Rs 360 for others, compared with the average price of Rs 525.

``In the West, the price ratio of cassettes to CDs is one to one-and-a-half, but in India it has been one to 15. We want to bring it to at least one to five, to spur CD sales. Once CD sales pick up, we plan to set up a plant here,'' said Subramanium.

India is one of three countries in Asia, along with Indonesia and China, where Sony Music has set up subsidiaries. The company sees these three markets, with a thriving local repertoire industry, as the big drivers of regional growth.

``Mature markets are plateauing, as there is no real big trend in music at present. Asia provides a massive growth opportunity for music companies, with an explosion in delivery vehicles and a growing acceptability of international music,'' Subramanium said.

A recent survey by market research organisation ORG MARG Ltd put the size of the Indian music market at 450 million units, worth Rs 15 billion ($419 million) a year.

While the Sony label boasts some of the biggest names in the international music business -- Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey -- its focus in India is on local pop artistes. According to ORG MARG's survey, international music holds only five per cent of the market. India's music-laden movies have accounted for most of the popular music market, with 65 per cent. Sony's bet is on Indian pop music, or ``Indipop,'' a five-year-old phenomenon which has targeted young listeners.

``When Rahman's first album is released by Sony, it will be a world event. We will simultaneously launch it in 20 different countries,'' Subramanium said. Now that is not something Indian artistes usually enjoy.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.