Mandar Thakur, CEO – Times Music, on India’s Music Landscape, 2025 & the Artist-First Future

In this in-depth interaction, Mandar Thakur, CEO of Times Music, shares a sharp, perspective on the Indian music industry in 2025 and beyond.

From the changing role of Bollywood in shaping music consumption to the rise of non-film and independent music in India, Mandar Thakur breaks down how the ecosystem is being recalibrated across labels, artists, brands, and platforms.

The conversation explores how brands are redefining their association with music, moving beyond visibility to deeper cultural partnerships, and why artist management and long-term career building are now critical to creating sustainable stars.

Mandar also speaks about the urgent need to strengthen the subscription model in music streaming, the economics of free vs paid consumption, and how this shift will impact artist income, labels, and platforms alike.

The discussion further dives into the growth of India’s live music economy, the increasing importance of having a better understanding of so-called regional music markets, and how language-first, culture-led music is shaping the next wave of growth.

This interaction offers rare insight into where Indian music is headed, from Bollywood to independent, regional, live, and digital-first ecosystems.

Topics Covered:

1. Indian music industry in 2025

2. Role of Bollywood in music today

3. Growth of non-film & independent music in India

4. How brands are associating with music differently

5. Artist management & creating long-term stars

6. Music streaming, subscriptions & sustainability

7. India’s live music economy

8. Rise of regional music & language-led markets

About the Guest:

Mandar Thakur is CEO of Mumbai based Times Music, one of India/South Asia’s leading music entertainment companies spanning a record label, music publishing, artist management and music brand solutions. Times Music is a JV between Indian media conglomerate – The Times Group and U.S. based Primary Wave Music, the leading independent publisher of iconic and legendary music in the world. Times Music spans two sub-labels – “Junglee Music” which releases film music OSTs, including Bollywood, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, other languages, and the next-generation independent music platform, “ffs.”.

Mandar began his career in Hong Kong with The Entertainment Co. group working for their Asian concert promotion business in the early ‘90s, post which he helped set up the path-breaking News Corp owned music TV station Channel [V] in India, and subsequently created the digital music landscape in Asia, as part of the founding team at Soundbuzz, then Asia/India’s largest digital music distribution company, which got acquired by Motorola in early 2008. Mandar also chairs the board of PPL India, is on the board of IPRS, PDL and industry association IMI.

In March 2025 , Mandar was the recipient of the very prestigious “International Music Person of the Year Award “presented by Musexpo and the City of Burbank , Los Angeles , widely known as the media capital of the world.

👉 Watch till the end for insights on how India’s music ecosystem must evolve to support artists, audiences, and sustainable growth.

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