T-Series is making so many films, but margins are so low: Bhushan Kumar

It is only once in a blue moon that you get a lottery, says Bhushan Kumar, chairman and managing director of T-Series, India’s largest music company, who keeps a tight leash on budgets. Is Animal, a T-Series production, that lottery?

We always started everything with my father’s name and vision. The music company I took over (in 1998) was doing very well. My father also wanted to be a big film producer. He made Aashiqui, Dil Hai Ki Maanta Nahin, among other films. Some worked, some didn’t. (But) all were musically successful.

My target was to make my father’s company a film production company like YRF (Yashraj Films) and others.

Then we were Asia’s number one music label, today we maintain that. In the last six-seven years we started making films full-time.

I am very happy with the numbers we have got for Animal. Six years back, when I used to make films (Baby, Airlift), people used to say arrey yeh to music label hai, paisa laga rahi hai (this is a music label investing in films). Now, I am happy when people say T-Series is a studio. We are doing premium films: Bhool Bhulaiya 3, Spirit, Animal Park, Border, Aashiqui 3, among others. We are fulfilling my father’s vision and heading towards becoming the leading studio for films, apart from music.

What is T-Series? A studio, a music label, or a content company?
T-Series is an entertainment company. We entertain through films, through music. There is no other target. Many people say launch an app.

In 2021, you told me you were thinking of launching one.
Nahi nahi (no, no). Ghoda ghaas se dosti karega to khaayega kya (if the horse befriends the grass, what will it eat)? We provide the ghaas (grass). If we become the ghoda (horse) it becomes problematic. Many people who have done this have lost it. You can’t give me a single successful name in that.

But entertainment companies today are at another scale. The top four are at Rs 14,000 crore and above. What is your ambition when you say you are an entertainment firm?
I don’t work on numbers. Today you can name so many companies with net worth of Rs 50,000 crore, but profit is Rs 50 crore. So many have Rs 100,000 crore turnover but they are in debt. We are a very healthy and profitable company. If I take my profitability and go to the market, I can raise a lot of money. But I don’t want that.

You have always been against this, why?
I don’t need it. For the work I need to do, I have everything.

And you also have control. Is that very important?
Control is very important. This is a personalised business. That is why whoever doesn’t have knowledge of music, doesn’t run a label like my father did or I do. Today also all the songs in my company, good or bad, I approve.

You have always laid great emphasis on this. How do you keep your music sense relevant?
As and when we make music and it becomes popular, it keeps changing. Between the last time we met and now, things have changed. You have to tune your ears.

How?
It is not something that you get with your ear sense and it works. In addition to that, you need a vehicle to take that music to another level.

Animal’s music is a big hit for us. It is on the Spotify Top 5 list. It has never happened that all the Top 5 songs on Spotify are from one film. On the Ormax list, the Top 9 are from Animal.

This is thanks to the film. The music is good, sure. But everything has taken off with a vehicle called Animal, the film.

Very often there might be very good music but if it doesn’t have a vehicle, it gets left behind. We make non-film music, if it doesn’t get a vehicle, it doesn’t go viral, doesn’t go on a reel that entertains people or makes them laugh, then it can’t be popular.

Earlier the vehicle was YouTube. Now the best vehicle I am experiencing is that either the singer gets into a controversy and his reach increases so much that people want to hear a song for reasons other than his music. Or some good singer dies, people start listening. So some vehicle is needed to make the music big.

But discoverability has always been a big thing.
Earlier YouTube was the best platform. It would also promote it and a good song would take off. Of the 100 songs we would put, 65 to 70 songs would take off and reach everywhere on other streaming sites. Now we search for that vehicle. Only one out of 10 songs becomes a hit in non-film. That too only if it becomes very viral or after two-three months of promoting it continuously. If you are lucky, one reel will become viral and hit 100 million streams. That is when our song becomes popular.

The second thing is the film. I am making so many films and in all of them music plays a very important role. Therefore, we attach music to film.

What are the two or three things you keep an eye on regularly?
What is the music consumption on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Saavn, and on all streaming platforms. I keep an eye on that every day. What is working for others, which are the good songs that are doing well, and which are the not-so-good songs that are doing well. I do this every day with my team with a report. If a good song works, there is no stress, it is bound to run. And if it has a good vehicle, like Shershah, where the film and music both worked. Many songs that have a vehicle are bad. I judge these things every day.
The second thing I keep an eye out for is budgets. We are making so many films, so I am very strict on not going over budget. The margins are so low, 10 to 15 per cent. Once in a blue moon you get a lottery where you could get 100 per cent. That may be possible with Animal. Business Standard