MUMBAI: Divine Arts, Inc. entered into a strategic partnership with Saregama India Limited, India's oldest music company. This partnership will enable millions of Indian music lovers to download music previously not easily available. The announcement was made on 5 may 2004.

There are millions of non-resident Indians spread throughout the world. This agreement offers this broad community easy and cost-effective access to music from their home country.
As computer usage and broadband internet access continue to increase yearly, computers and digital distribution will become the gateway to listening and purchasing music. In the United States alone there are more than 120 million internet users, and over 30 per cent of American home internet users have a high-speed broadband connection, says a press release.

"With this partnership, listeners can now personalize their music solution from Saregama's vast catalogue. Digital distribution through the internet provides customers all over the world access to their choice of songs from our catalogue, which represents over 100 years of the finest in Indian music," said Saregama managing director Dilip R. Mehta.

Divine Arts, Inc. will represent Saregama in licensing their extensive catalogue to streaming and download sites throughout the world. The company, which has established an international presence through its record label, is embracing the future of music distribution by offering its music digitally in the form of downloads and streaming media over the internet.

CEO Divine Arts Inc. Manu Kaushish welcomed Saregama as a key partner. According to him, "The future of music distribution is on-demand delivery using streaming media and downloads for instant access. The partnership with Saregama India Limited allows us to offer the largest and richest Indian music catalog to our digital distribution partners and promises a great database of music".

RealNetworks will be the first company to offer digital music from the Saregama catalogue. The first of more than 30,000 top-selling songs will be available through the company's rhapsody internet jukebox service and soon through the RealPlayer music store. Both services are available at http://www.real.com.

"We are thrilled to provide music from Saregama through our online music services," stated RealNetworks' rhapsody editorial staff executive editor Tim Quirk

He further added, "The addition of this extensive catalog will broaden our musical reach and introduce Indian music to a wider audience of online listeners".

Divine Arts, Inc. works with content providers and large distribution channels to bring the music of the Indian subcontinent to a worldwide audience. It also caters to the needs of a new generation that downloads music from the Internet and listens to it on digital music devices.