Four decades, four companies, and one question underneath all of it: does the artist get to be the author of their own works?
When film music was the system, independent music was the risk.
He chose the risk. And a generation followed.
International repertoire from under 1% of Indian music sales to 7%. Hosted George Harrison. Helped organize performance of the band Police in Mumbai, India.
Catalogue up 25% year on year — and the conclusion that Indian artists had no way to be heard unless a film wanted them featured on their soundtrack.
With an investment of two thousand dollars and with one employee. Within five years, a multi-million dollar company holding 15% of the Indian music market and pioneering a genre that had not existed before — Indie-Pop.
Transformed the catalogue from vinyl through cassette, CD, downloads and streaming by digitizing the catalogue at the right time. Sold the catalogue to Sony Music.
Ten years studying how copyright, publishing and the relationship between labels and artists were being rewritten with the advent of AI technology in the music business.
Dubai was the conclusion to the research.
Four decades. Not of volume. Of belief.
After seducing ‘Generation X’ with his quality audio cassettes and the Indi-Pop brigade over the last decade, Shashi Gopal, Managing Director of Magnasound, is all set to woo ‘Generation Y’.
A.R. Rahman · Adnan Sami · Alisha Chinai · Baba Sehgal · Biddu · Colonial Cousins · Daler Mehndi · Hariharan · The Models · Pandit Bhimsen Joshi · Remo Fernandes · Sagarika · Shaan · Shubha Mudgal · Shweta Shetty · Sonu Nigam · Strings · Stylebhai · Suchitra
They didn't sound alike. That was the point.
Albums that arrived before the market was ready. Records that aged better than predictions.
Siddhi — In Eternal Quest
By bringing out this excellent collection of Panditji’s work, Magnasound will be paying tribute to this great artiste and doing great service to all lovers of Hindustani classical music.
He was in the room.
All of it — in the offices, with the artists, building the companies.
The beginning
The artists
They met in the early 1990s and worked across five soundtracks — Super Police and Gang Master in Telugu, Thiruda Thiruda and Pudhiya Mugam in Tamil, and the Hindi Roja. This was taken twenty-two years later, backstage at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts.
The company, and what it produced
Open and shut.
It didn’t crack. Before long, nobody else’s did either.
Indian cassettes came in a brittle case that cracked in the post, allowing dust to settle on the tape. Magnasound moulded its own IC Box — a thicker plastic shell, an integral hinge, a lid that sealed.
The box
What it carried
The catalog was sold. The question wasn't answered.
Ten years of Shashi’s research produced two conclusions on the basis of which Magnaio is being built.
AI should assist the musician, not replace the musician.
The creator of music should have undisputed ownership of their work.
Generating a song with AI is largely solved. What the industry has not solved is the ambiguity surrounding the authorship of the song — so Magnaio is building tools that settle ownership as the song is made, rather than leaving it to be argued about afterwards.
Most of it was never written down. He tells it better anyway.
Not his account this time. Theirs.
“Shashi is the stuff that legends are made up of… he is the pioneer of the Indi-pop genre and no one will be able to take that away from him.”
“Shashi and his label Magnasound are iconic — India’s first Music Man!”
“Shashi has immense passion, love and marketing ‘Guruism’ that I’d only witnessed with some of the most successful of Forbes or Fortune 500 companies.”
“…Shashi is incredibly gifted at identifying and developing artistic talent. His success in the industry is unrivalled.”
“…we made history together… the combination was lethal — Shashi’s marketing genius and my music…”
“Music comes naturally to some souls! It’s divine for a few! And for Shashi… it’s both, and the only way of life!”
All records achieved, etched in time.
Starts here.
The work, rather than an account of it.
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
August 2025 — present
Global music industry
2015 – 2025
Founder, Chairman & CEO
January 2004 – January 2015
Founder, Chairman & CEO
Founded as a sole proprietorship 1986; incorporated February 1989 – May 2003
President
1987 – 1989
Head of International Music Division
July 1980 – 1985
For producing a music video that held number one on the MTV charts for fifty-two consecutive weeks.
From Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on the release of Siddhi — twelve volumes of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, issued for the maestro’s 78th birthday. The message calls the collection “great service to all lovers of Hindustani classical music”.
Awarded by the Indian Music Industry across the Magnasound catalogue.
I am happy to learn that a special collection of Hindustani Classical Music, rendered by Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, is being released on the occasion of the maestro’s 78th birthday on February 4, 2000.
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is undoubtedly the leading Hindustani classical vocalist in the country today. Listening to his rendition of Miyan-Ki-Todi, Ramkali, Gaud-Sarang, Bhimpalasi, Puriya Dhanashree, Yaman, Shudh Kalyan, Kedar, Shankara, Durga, Darbari and Miyan Malhar is a transcendental experience. He has truly attained “Siddhi” over these raags.
By bringing out this excellent collection of Panditji’s work, Magnasound will be paying tribute to this great artiste and doing great service to all lovers of Hindustani classical music.
Twelve ragas are named, one for each of the twelve volumes — and the collection took its title from the message itself.
Boards
Public service — Dubai
At the Dubai Shopping Festival’s Global Village, where every country had its own pavilion, Magnasound sponsored the main arena in the Indian section — the India Fair, run by the Indian Association Dubai.
Some work speaks loudly. The most important work doesn't have to.
For Magnaio, for press, or for anything to do with an artist's work.