A year ago, when Sony Music India and the Los Angeles–based Hello Group (THG India) announced they were teaming up, the pitch was simple on paper and genuinely hard to pull off in practice: give South Asian artists the kind of end-to-end infrastructure — management, live bookings, publishing, brand deals, international songwriting access — that Western and K-pop acts have had for years, but that Indian talent has mostly had to piece together on their own.
Twelve months later, THG India is putting numbers behind that pitch. Since operations began on August 1, 2025, the joint venture says it has locked and serviced more than 250 live shows, worked with 68 artists, closed 40 brand deals, and run one of the country’s largest international songwriting camps. Whether or not you buy the framing that this changes the game for Indian music, it’s a lot of activity for a one-year-old company.
What THG India Actually Is
Worth a quick refresher, because the name gets thrown around loosely. THG India is a joint venture between The Hello Group — a Los Angeles entertainment company founded in 2016 by Taylor Jones, which also runs THG Publishing (home to K-pop catalog credits from BTS, TWICE, and Tomorrow X Together) — and Sony Music Entertainment India. It isn’t a label. It’s closer to a full-service agency: artist management, live event booking, A&R, and publishing, all under one roof, with the explicit goal of getting Indian artists in front of international rooms and international collaborators.
That structure matters because it’s not a new idea in Indian music right now. Warner Music has 5 Junction. Universal has a distribution tie-up with Desi Trill. Sony itself has run three strategic partnerships in the last year alone. THG India is one bet among several that the next wave of growth in Indian music comes from cross-border collaboration rather than domestic streaming numbers alone.
The Roster, and What They Actually Shipped
THG India’s client list reads like a mix of established playback voices and artists building international footprints on their own terms: Jonita Gandhi, Nikhita Gandhi, Raja Kumari, W.i.S.H., Arjun Kanungo, SHAI, Manasi Ghosh, Mohammad Faiz, and producer AAKASH Ravikrishnan, among others.
The most telling stat isn’t the show count — it’s that artists on the roster contributed to more than 50 distinct releases this year, spanning Hindi and regional soundtracks, hip-hop, electronic music, and international pop features. Jonita Gandhi had three global releases, including collaborations with Cheat Codes and with Sigala and Leigh-Anne. Raja Kumari worked across South Indian cinema and Hindi screen music, including a feature on the They Call Him OG soundtrack alongside S.S. Thaman, and released a run of singles including “Revolver” and “Everybody Knows” from The Ba**ds of Bollywood*. AAKASH Ravikrishnan landed a producer credit on a Chris Brown track from BROWN (The Chocolate Edition) and appeared alongside A.R. Rahman on “Rakkamma (Kuchi Kuchi Rakkamma).”
That last one is probably the clearest single data point for what THG India says it’s trying to do: get an Indian producer a credit on a major US R&B release, not just a remix or a feature verse.
250 Shows, and a Genuine Cross-Section of Venues
Live work is where a talent agency either proves itself or doesn’t, and this is where the year-one numbers get more specific. W.i.S.H. supported Akon on his India tour and played Spotify RADAR and CORE. Nikhita Gandhi performed at an IPL fixture and the Miss Arunachal Silver Jubilee Grand Finale. Raja Kumari played NMACC and the Women’s Premier League. ONEmpire built out a premium-events business — weddings, corporate gigs, public shows — alongside its CORE appearance.
It’s a genuinely wide spread: sports, festivals, universities, private events. That range is arguably the more interesting story than the headline “250 shows” figure, since it suggests THG India is building revenue across formats rather than betting everything on festival season.
Forty Brand Deals, and Who’s Actually Paying
The brand list is long — H&M, Maruti Suzuki, Spotify, Redken, Maybelline, MINI, Budweiser, JBL — and the deals were mostly artist-specific rather than blanket sponsorships. Nikhita Gandhi worked with Kohler and Acer. W.i.S.H. picked up Maybelline, Crocs, and a Shoppers Stop tie-up with HYBE India. Raja Kumari partnered with Ray-Ban Meta. Arjun Kanungo worked with Ethnix by Raymond and MINI.
The Ray-Ban Meta deal is a small but useful signal: brands are increasingly pairing Indian music talent with tech and lifestyle products aimed at younger, digitally native audiences, not just fashion and beauty.
The Songwriting Camp Is the Part Worth Watching
Buried a bit in the release, but arguably the most consequential piece for what THG India becomes: over 137 days across nine studios, the company ran what it calls one of India’s largest songwriting camps, producing 130-plus original songs across eight genres — pop, house, Afrobeat, R&B, hip-hop, and more. Jonita Gandhi, Raja Kumari, Arjun Kanungo, W.i.S.H., and Mohammad Faiz worked alongside international collaborators including BANX & RANX and Hello Group CEO Taylor Jones himself.
Shows and brand deals are the visible, immediate revenue. A camp like this is a slower bet — it’s building a pipeline of original, internationally co-written music that didn’t exist before, which is a different thing entirely from booking an artist onto a stage they were probably going to get anyway.
What Year Two Looks Like
THG India says the second year will lean further into original music, more international touring, and continued brand and publishing work. Confirmed on the slate: an EP from Anjana Padmanabhan, and new singles from Arjun Kanungo, W.i.S.H., Jonita Gandhi, Nikhita Gandhi, and BANX & RANX.
“We wanted to create the complete infrastructure around artists and creators,” Taylor Jones said, framing year one as groundwork and year two as the point where that infrastructure starts producing more original output and more sustainable careers.
One year of data isn’t enough to say whether the model works long-term — brand deals and show counts are relatively easy to stack up front, while original global hits and sustainable international careers take longer to show results. But the songwriting camp, and the handful of genuinely global credits it produced, suggest THG India is at least building toward the harder, slower version of the goal rather than just the easy one.
About THG India
THG India is a joint venture between The Hello Group and Sony Music Entertainment India, established to represent, develop and create global opportunities for artists and creators from South Asia.
Operating across talent management, live bookings, music publishing, A&R, artist development, brand partnerships and international collaboration, THG India combines The Hello Group’s global entertainment network with Sony Music India’s knowledge and experience within the South Asian music market.
Based in Mumbai and connected to The Hello Group’s wider international network, THG India is committed to building structured, transparent and globally competitive careers for Indian artists, songwriters and producers.
Visit THG India at www.thehellogroup.in and @THGIndia on Instagram.
