Type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Music entertainment |
Founded | 1989 |
Headquarters | Bombay, India |
Key people | Shashi Gopal, Chief managing director Kalpana Gopal, Director Madhav Das, Director |
Revenue | Rs 500 crore (2000)[1] |
Magnasound was an Indian record company that specialized in Indian classical music and Indipop. It was distributed by OMI Music Inc.[2] Shashi Gopal was the Managing director of Magnasound.
Shashi Gopal founded Magnasound in 1989 with his wife Kalpana and brother-in-law Madhav Das.[3] The three launched the company with their life savings which totaled Rs 6 lakhs. Suresh Thomas served as General Manager of the company until 1992 when he left to form his own label, Crescendo.[4] In the early 90s, the company gained a reputation for signing young artists like Daler Mehndi, Baba Sehgal, and Alisha Chinai.[5] Singer Adnan Sami became their most successful artist when he sold 10 lakh copies of his first album Kabhi to Nazar Milao.[6] The album would go on to sell well over 2 million copies. Already established artists like A. R. Rahman and Asha Bhosle also released albums for the label. Magnasound began to concentrate more on classical artists. Carnatic vocalist Bombay Jayashri became its flagship classical artist when she signed with Magnasound in 1994. Magnasound was also one of the first Indian labels to concentrate on music videos, taking advantage of the new MTV India channel.[1]
In 2003, it emerged that Magnasound was in financial trouble. The company owed Rs 12.02 crore to various creditors and Rs 50.61 lakh to its artists. Magnasound filed for bankruptcy after the Bombay High Court ordered the company to pay Asha Bhosle Rs. 1.20 crore for unpaid royalties.[7]