A pair of Indian companies, the booking and talent coordination agency 7Entertainment and the artist management firm STARtist, have formed a joint venture with the Australian multi-service music company UNIFIED Music Group. The JV will operate across the areas of touring, artist management and recorded music “with a vision to bring India’s music to the world, and the world’s music to India”, says the press announcement, which has been exclusively shared with Music Ally.
UNIFIED and 7Entertainment have already worked together on international tours by UNIFIED-represented acts such as the UK-based, Hindu devotional music singers Radhika Das and Jahnavi Harrison, and Melbourne-residing Indian-origin singer-songwriter ISHAN.
The enterprises’ founders, 7Entertainment and STARtist’s Sidhartha Todi and UNIFIED’s Jaddan Comerford, first met in 2023 in Barcelona, outside the venue of a sold-out show by Vance Joy, after Todi approached the Australian singer-songwriter’s manager Rachael Tulloch, who happens to be Comerford’s partner, for a ticket. They reconnected when Comerford visited Mumbai for the All About Music conference in 2024. Fittingly, their partnership will be formally launched at the conference next week.
“Sid and I have been working together on various tours over the last 12 months, and it’s clear that our businesses are stronger together,” says Comerford in the press release. “This is one of those rare moments where one plus one might equal three, or even more.” The tie-up isn’t just about taking Indian acts abroad, Todi points out. “We’re as committed to amplifying Indian voices globally as we are to helping international artists navigate India in a culturally relevant and sustainable way.”
Among the voices they’re likely to be spotlighting is that of STARtist-managed Anurag Saikia, the composer best known for his work for the soundtracks of Indian web series. Earlier this year, Sakia scored the biggest hit of his career so far with “Ishq Hai”, a track from the third season of the rom-com show Mismatched, which topped Spotify’s Global Daily Viral Songs chart for several days in December and January.