Archies Greetings and Gifts has reported phenomenal growth in operations and profits in the last four quarters. The management now plans to expand Archies Music into the areas of devotional music and regional music. Managing director Rajiv Moolchandani spoke to Kumar Kaushal of Financial Express.In regional music, which is the niche Archies plans to target?
We’re focused on the needs of the youth. Teenagers love to exchange cassettes and Archies cassettes are positioned as gift items in Archies stores. All our artists -- Ali Haidar, Euphoria, Vedic Chants (launched last month), etc.--and remixes (Hindi and Punjabi) appeal to the youth. Archies Music’s turnover in 1998-99 was Rs 2.27 crore.
Though as per socio-economic classification, the youth form Archies’ core audience, cassettes like Sohni Lagdi are targeted at a much wider audience. We are not very keen on qawwali or ghazals at the moment. These genres don’t represent a youthful image.
What is the gameplan for Indipop?
Since Indipop is close to the heart of the youth, it's a major area of Archies’ operations. We intend to release eight albums in the next six months. Of the 32 albums released till now, four are instrumental and the rest Indipop.
Are any tie-ups with artistes or music directors planned?
Definitely. Among artistes, we have already tied up with Euphoria, Vedic Chant, Shubha Mudgal, Peenaz Masani and Ali Haidar. Talks with others are on. Regarding directors, Archies has tie-ups with Jawahar Wattal, Jaidev and Gopal Khanna. We also plan to rope in Shantanu Moitra (Ab ke Sawan fame). Indipop is increasingly gaining momentum but at the same time it’s also getting crowded. We understand that the audience is loyal to music and not artistes.
How does Archies plan its selling points?
Archies has a three-fold distribution system: around 400 Archies Galleries catered to by franchisees, 70 distributors of cards and gifts who cover 20,000 greeting card and gift shops, and 30 music dealers. We do not plan to open up exclusive music outlets because margins here are very low.
How are Archies’ revenue streams?
Cassettes account for nearly all our sales. Archies is still not associated with events. For Euphoria we plan a series of events--with an event management firm--by December end. Beginning January 2000, we’re promoting Euphoria with merchandise--T-shirts, pens and key-chains.
In future, we might open up an event management cell to promote our artistes. Nothing concrete right now and no major investments planned. We’re doing it because we enjoy doing it. It’s nice to promote new talent.
Remember, Archies started with the idea of offering cassettes as a gift item.
This market has tremendous potential, but one has to play smart.
What is the incentive to be in devotional music, given that pricing by T-Series has made returns very thin?
The incentive is the rural economy getting a boost and disposable incomes rising. Music companies are better placed to tap this market, where devotional music is close to consumers.
Our presence is growing--last year we had one album, this year we have released three in the last four months.