The Gramophone Company of India
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| Public | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 13 August 1946 (The Gramophone Company), 3 November 2000 (Saregama) |
| Headquarters | Kolkata, India |
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Area served
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Global |
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Key people
|
Vikram Mehra (MD) |
| Parent | RPSG Group |
| Website | http://www.saregama.com/ |
Saregama India Ltd. (Saregama refers to the first four notes of the Indian musical scale) is India’s oldest music label owned by RPSanjiv Goenka Group of companies. The company is listed on the and with its head office located in Mumbai and other offices in Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai. Apart from music, Saregama also produces films under the brand name Yoodlee Films and multi-language Television content.
Saregama owns music repertoire across Film music, Carnatic, Hindustani classical, Devotional etc. inall prominent Indian languages. The first song recorded in India by Gauhar Jaan in 1902 and the first film made in Bollywood ‘Alaam Ara' in 1931 were under the music label. Some of the prominent Indian artists who have produced their music with Saregama are Lata Mangeshkar, MSSubbalakshmi, Shamshad Begum, Asha Bhosle, Mohd. Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, Jagjit Singh, Pt.Bhimsen Joshi, Pt. Jasraj, Chamkila, Gurdas Mann etc.
In 1901, the company began operations by recording the first song in India, as the first overseas branch of Electrical & Musical Industries Limited, EMI London. On 13 August 1946 it was incorporated as a Private Limited company with the name of ‘The Gramophone Co. (India) Limited'. It was converted into a public company on 28 October 1968 and consequently the name of the company was changed to ‘The Gramophone Company of India Limited'.RPG Group took over the company in 1985 from EMI when the company’s financial health was poor. The name of the company was then changed from Gramophone Company of India to its current name Saregama India Limited on November 3, 2000. In 2005, the remaining EMI stake was sold off to the parent company.
In 2005, the remaining EMI stake was sold off to the parent company.
For first 100 years, the company retailed its products (vinyls, casettes, CDs) under the brand name HMV which was synonymous with film music in India. From 2000 onwards, it started retailing its products under the brand name Saregama.
Saregama’s recording studio, called Dum Dum studio, was built in 1928 in Calcutta. It is one of the oldest studios in Southeast Asia. Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore had recorded his songs and poems in his own voice at this studio. Rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam's voice was also recorded here. Dum Dum Recording studio was also a house to manufacturing and production of Gramophone Records and thereafter Music Cassettes. With advent of digital formats, the physical formats progressively went out of consumers patronage and consequently, these manufacturing facilities were shut down.
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