Magnasound was an Indian record company that specialized in

Indian classical music Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as '' Hindustani'' and the South Indian expression known as '' Carnatic''. These traditions were not ...

Indian rock Indian rock is a music genre in India that may incorporate elements of Indian music with rock music, and is often topically India-centric. While India is more often known for its ( northern and southern) classical music, filmi, Bollywood mu ...

and

Indipop Indian pop music, also known as Indi-pop, refers to pop music produced in India that is independent from filmi soundtracks for Indian cinema, such as the music of Bollywood, which tends to be more popular. Indian pop is closely linked to Bollywo ...

. It was distributed by OMI Music Inc. Shashi Gopal was the

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Magnasound.

History

Shashi Gopal founded Magnasound in 1989 with his wife Kalpana and brother-in-law Madhav Das. The three launched the company with their life savings, which totaled Rs 6 lakhs. In the early 1990s, the company gained a reputation for signing young artists like

Daler Mehndi Daler Singh (born 18 August 1967), better known as Daler Mehndi, is an Indian singer, songwriter, author, and record producer. He has helped to make Bhangra popular worldwide, as well as Indian pop music independent of Bollywood music. He is be ...

Baba Sehgal Harjeet Singh "Baba" Sehgal, is an Indian rapper. He was widely acclaimed to be the first Indian rapper. He is also involved in various other areas of the entertainment industry, and works in several different languages' media. He was a contesta ...

, and

Alisha Chinai Alisha Chinai (born 18 March 1965) is an Indian pop singer known for her Indi-pop albums as well as Music of Bollywood, playback singing in Hindi cinema. She began her singing career with the album ''Jadoo'' in 1985, and by the 1990s she had bec ...

, as well as acclaimed rock bands

Rock Machine The Rock Machine Motorcycle Club (RMMC) or Rock Machine is an international outlaw motorcycle club founded in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1986. It has twenty one Canadian chapters spread across seven provinces. It also has nine chapters in the ...

and 13AD Already established artists like

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

and

Asha Bhosle Asha Bhosle (; Mangeshkar; born 8 September 1933) is an Indian playback singer, entrepreneur and occasional actress and television personality who predominantly works in Indian Cinema. Known for her versatility, she has been described in the ...

also released albums for the label. Magnasound began to concentrate more on classical artists. Carnatic vocalist

Bombay Jayashri "Bombay" Jayashri Ramnath is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, singer, and musician. She has sung in multiple languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi movies. Born into a family of musicians, Jayashri represents the fourth ge ...

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. In 2003, the company was declared bankrupt and was defunct.

Bayshore

After Magnasound wound up in 2003, Madhav launched another label called Bayshore Music before he moved to print and edited a film magazine called South Side, for

GV Films GV Films is an Indian film production and distribution company headed by Ishari K. Ganesh. The firm had been a leading production studio in the Tamil film industry in the 1990s and had been founded by G. Venkateswaran as Sujatha Films in 1986. H ...

Notable artists

Bela Shende Bela Shende is an Indian playback singer. She performed several songs in Bollywood and regional films. "Mann Mohana" from the film ''Jodhaa Akbar'', "Su Che" from the film '' What's Your Raashee?'', "Wajle Ki Baara" and "Apsara Aali" from ''Nat ...

Bhitali Das Bhitali Das (6 June 1969 – 21 April 2021) was an Indian singer. She sang over 5,000 Bihu songs with various artists including Zubeen Garg, Anindita Paul Anindita Paul is an Indian singer who sings predominantly in Assamese, Bengali ...

Bina Mistry Bina Mistry is a popular Hindi /Gujarati singer based in the United Kingdom. Mistry was born in Tanzania, of Indian parents. Later she moved to London, where she became a merchant banker. Her interest in Hindi music led to a job as a DJ and reco ...

Hema Sardesai Hema Sardesai, also known as Hemaa Sardesai, is an Indian playback singer and lyricist. Hema hails from the coastal state of Goa, in India, and was born in Mumbai. She shot to fame in 1997 with songs from movies like '' Sapnay, Biwi No. 1'' and ...

Mehnaz Hoosein Mehnaz Hoosein (born 30 January 1973) is an Indian pop singer and songwriter from Mumbai, India, popularly known for her hit song 'Banoongi Main Miss India'. She is a graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. At the age of 13, Mehnaz started ...

Raageshwari Raageshwari Loomba is an Indian singer, actress, television personality, mindfulness speaker. Biography Raageshwari attended the Auxilium Convent High School. As a teenager, Raageshwari signed her first film as an actor, ''Zid'' (released i ...

Sagarika Mukherjee Sagarika Mukherjee (born 4 September 1970), also known as Saag, is an Indian singer and actress. She sings mainly in Hindi, Assamese and Bengali language songs but has also sung in Tamil and Telugu languages. She is the daughter of singer an ...

Shantanu Mukherjee Shantanu Mukherjee (born 30 September 1972), popularly known as Shaan, is an Indian playback singer, composer, live perfomer ,actor and television personality. He has recorded songs for films and albums in various Indian languages and has est ...

Shweta Mohan Shweta Mohan (born 19 November 1985) is an Indian playback singer. She has received four Filmfare Awards South for Best Female Playback Singer, one Kerala State Film Award and one Tamil Nadu State Film Award. She has recorded more than 700 so ...

Shweta Shetty Shweta Shetty (also known as Shwetaa in nickname) is an Indian pop singer known for her albums and for her contributions to Bollywood film soundtracks. Her most remix hit song is "Q-Funk" from the album ''Oorja'' in 1995. Life and career Shett ...

Sonu Nigam Sonu Nigam (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian singer, music director and actor. He has been described in the media as one of the most popular and successful playback singers of Hindi Cinema and Kannada Cinema. He has been honoured by the Govern ...

* Suchitra Krishnamoorti *

Suchitra Pillai Suchitra Pillai (born 27 August 1970) is an Indian actress, model, anchor and VJ. A graduate in electronic engineering, she chose a career in arts over engineering. Apart from roles in movies including ''Dil Chahta Hai'' (2001), ''Page 3 (fi ...

Zubeen Garg Zubeen Garg (born Zubeen Borthakur; 18 November 1972) is an Indian singer, music director, composer, lyricist, music producer, actor, film director, film producer, script writer and philanthropist. He primarily works for and sings in the Assa ...

References

Indian record labels Record labels established in 1989 Record labels disestablished in 2003 Defunct companies of India {{india-record-label-stub