After Bollywood, Sony Music taps Tamil movie market

Mumbai, Feb 9 (IANS) Music label Sony Music is expanding its business and trying to strengthen its base in the Tamil movie industry with one hit after the other.

The massive success of 'Aadukalam', which has grossed over Rs.30 crore, is dominating the music charts with the song 'Yathe yathe' sitting pretty on the No.1 position for the last five weeks.

The music label has just released the sound-tracks of two upcoming Tamil movies 'Engeyum Kaadhal' and 'KO'. While 'KO' is an action movie starring Jeeva, 'Engeyum Kaadhal' is a romantic movie that features Jayaram Ravi and Hansika Motwani.

With 'Aadukalam', 'KO' and 'Engeyum Kaadhal', Sony Music has eight songs among the top-10 songs on radio and 11 of its tracks are on the list of top-20 most-downloaded songs on the Nokia Ovi Store.

Sony Music ventured into southern cinema in 2009 with the Kamal Haasan starrer 'Dhasavathaaram'.

'We have always believed in the global appeal and potential of Tamil Cinema and Music. Over the last few years Sony Music has been making substantial investments in promoting Tamil and Telugu music and we will continue to do so. Our partners - be it the producers, the trade or media associates - value our marketing and promotions expertise and our transparency,' Shridhar Subramaniam, president, Sony Music-India and Middle East, said in a statement.

The label plans to release over 20 Tamil sound-tracks this year. This will be in addition to the 15 sound-tracks Sony Music will release in Hindi.

'The year 2011 is going to be a landmark year for us. There is some phenomenal music and the exponential expansion of new technology and media is only going to make it bigger than ever,' added Subramaniam.