T-Series (company)
Super Cassettes Industries Private Limited, doing business as T-Series,[note 1][1][2] is a music record label and film production company in India founded by Gulshan Kumar in 1983.[5] It is primarily known for Bollywood music soundtracks[5] and Indi-pop music.[6] As of 2014, T-Series is India's largest music record label, with up to a 35% share of the Indian music market, followed by Sony Music India and Zee Music.[7] T-Series also owns and operates the most-viewed and most-subscribed channel on YouTube, with over 150 million subscribers[8] and 120 billion views as of August 2020.[9] While best known as a music label, T-Series has also had some moderate success as a film production company.
![]() | |||||||||||||||||||
T-Series | |||||||||||||||||||
Private | |||||||||||||||||||
Industry | Entertainment | ||||||||||||||||||
Founded | 11 July 1983 in Delhi, India[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
Founder | Gulshan Kumar | ||||||||||||||||||
Headquarters | , | ||||||||||||||||||
Key people | Bhushan Kumar (Chairman & Managing Director) Krishan Kumar Neeraj Kalyan[3] | ||||||||||||||||||
Services |
| ||||||||||||||||||
Owner |
| ||||||||||||||||||
YouTube information | |||||||||||||||||||
Channel | |||||||||||||||||||
Years active | 2006 – present | ||||||||||||||||||
Genre |
| ||||||||||||||||||
Subscribers | 150 million (August 2020) | ||||||||||||||||||
Total views | 120 billion (August 2020) | ||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
Updated August 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||
Website | T-Series.com |
Kumar, initially a fruit juice seller in Delhi, founded T-Series to sell pirated Bollywood songs before the company eventually began producing new music. Their breakthrough came with the soundtrack for the 1988 Bollywood blockbuster Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, composed by Anand-Milind, written by Majrooh Sultanpuri, and starring Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla, which became one of the best-selling Indian music albums of the 1980s, with over 8 million sales. They eventually became a leading music label with the release of Aashiqui (1990), composed by Nadeem–Shravan, which sold 20 million copies and became the best-selling Indian soundtrack album of all time.[10] However, Gulshan Kumar was murdered by the Mumbai mafia syndicate D-Company in 1997. Since then, T-Series has been led by his son Bhushan Kumar and younger brother Krishan Kumar.
On YouTube, T-Series has a multi-channel network, with 29 channels (excluding Lahari Music) that have more than 184 million subscribers as of July 2019. The company's YouTube team consists of 13 people at the T-Series headquarters.[11] The company's main T-Series channel on YouTube primarily shows music videos as well as film trailers. It became the most-viewed YouTube channel in January 2017.[12] The T-Series channel primarily features content in the Hindi language, and occasionally several other languages including English, Portuguese and Spanish. T-Series also have other channels dedicated to content in several Indian languages including Punjabi, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Marathi and Rajasthani.
History
T-Series was founded on 11 July 1983,[13] by Gulshan Kumar,[14] at the time a fruit juice seller in the Daryaganj neighbourhood of Delhi.[15] The company initially sold pirated Bollywood songs, prior to releasing original music.[16][17][18] Back then, the Indian audio cassette market was small-scale, with widespread piracy, but there was growing demand for cassette music. According to Rediff, while Kumar "was involved in piracy, he was passionately market- and consumer-driven."[19] The company also took advantage of loopholes in copyright law allowing for the release of cover versions of songs, which T-Series would then flood the market with.[20] Researchers Lawrence Liang and Ravi Sundaram wrote:
T-Series was a profoundly disruptive force in the Indian music market, in large part because it was a tremendously successful pirate. The company built its catalog through a variety of quasi-legal and illegal practices ... [T-Series] engaged in more straightforward copyright infringement in the form of pirate releases of popular hits, and it often illegally obtained film scores before the release of the film to ensure that its recordings were the first to hit the market.[20]
![](../I/m/Krishan_Kumar_with_his_nephew_Bhushan_Kumar.jpg)
Kumar discovered that there was also a market for devotional music, and began recording and selling it. Kumar noticed that many elderly Hindu followers could not read hymns and chants because of failing eyesight, so Kumar hired singers to record the chants and sold them as cheap cassettes. Later, he filmed major Hindu pilgrimages in India and sold them on VHS and video cassette tapes.[21]
T-Series' first original film soundtrack release was for Lallu Ram in 1984, with music scored by Ravindra Jain. The company's breakthrough came when it released the soundtrack for the 1988 Bollywood blockbuster Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (also known as QSQT),[22] directed by Mansoor Khan and starring Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla. The Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak soundtrack, composed by Anand-Milind and written by Majrooh Sultanpuri, became the best-selling Indian soundtrack album of 1988 and one of the best-selling Indian soundtrack albums of the 1980s,[23] with more than 8 million units sold.[24] The biggest hit song from the album was "Papa Kehte Hain", sung by Udit Narayan and picturised on Aamir Khan.[25][26] T-Series founder Gulshan Kumar soon played a key role in Bollywood's cassette boom of the late 1980s with his affordable T-Series albums.[27]
T-Series later became a leading music label with the release of Aashiqui (1990),[16] directed by Mahesh Bhatt. The Aashiqui film soundtrack album, composed by the duo Nadeem–Shravan, sold 20 million units in India,[28] and is the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack album of all time.[10] A cover version of "Dheere Dheere" from Aashiqui was later sung by Yo Yo Honey Singh and released by T-Series in 2015.
T-Series was largely responsible for sparking a boom for the Indian music industry in the early 1990s.[24] Many of the best-selling Bollywood music albums of the 1990s, particularly those composed by Nadeem–Shravan, were released under the T-Series label.[10] Besides music production, the company also began venturing into film production.[29] The annual earnings of T-Series grew from ₹20 crore ($16 million) in 1985 to ₹200 crore ($88 million) in 1991,[30][31] and by 1997 had reached ₹500 crore[32] ($140 million).[33]
In 1997, T-Series founder Gulshan Kumar was murdered by the Mumbai mafia syndicate D-Company.[32] His assassination also led to T-Series losing its most prolific musicians at the time, Nadeem–Shravan, due to Nadeem Akhtar Saifi initially being accused of involvement in the murder, before later being exonerated.[34][35][36] After Gulshan Kumar's death in 1997, the company has since been led by his son Bhushan Kumar,[37] with the help of Gulshan's younger brother Krishan Kumar.
As a film production company, T-Series has had some moderate success. The highest-grossing T-Series film production to date is the critically acclaimed sleeper hit Hindi Medium (2017), written by Zeenat Lakhani, directed by Saket Chaudhary, and starring Irrfan Khan and Saba Qamar.[38] It grossed ₹322.4 crore ($47 million) worldwide,[39] with $34 million in China alone,[40] becoming one of the top 20 highest-grossing Indian films of all time.[41] One of the most expensive Indian films will be T-Series's Saaho,[42] a sci-fi thriller with a production budget of ₹300 crore (US$42 million), scheduled for release in 2019.[43][44] T-Series is also producing a biopic film based on the life of its founder Gulshan Kumar, called Mogul, which is currently under production and is scheduled for release in 2019.
YouTube presence
T-Series joined YouTube on 13 March 2006, but only started uploading videos in late 2010. Under this channel, T-Series primarily shows music videos and film trailers. By July 2013, it had crossed 1 billion views, becoming the second Indian YouTube channel to cross the milestone after Rajshri Productions.[45] In January 2017, T-Series surpassed PewDiePie to become the world's most-viewed YouTube channel,[46][12][47][48] and as of December 2019 it has over 92 billion views.[49] The T-Series YouTube channel is run by a team of 13 people at the T-Series headquarters.[11]
The YouTube channel has exceeded 115 million subscribers, making it the most-subscribed YouTube channel, with more than 13 million more subscribers than Swedish YouTuber PewDiePie. When it reached 50 million subscribers, the channel received a Custom Ruby Play Button on 10 September 2018.[50] It is also the second channel ever to hit 70 million subscribers.[9] It became the first channel on 29 May 2019 to hit 100 million subscribers. On average, T-Series earns approximately one million subscribers every ten days.[51][52]
T-Series channel also owns a multi-channel network, with 29 channels[3](excluding Lahari Music), which include YouTube channels such as T-Series Tamil, T-Series Telugu,[53] Bollywood Classics,[54] T-Series Kids Hut, T-Series Apna Punjab, T-Series Kannada, Shabad Gurbani, Health And Fitness, T-Series Bhakti Sagar (mainly dedicated to Hindu devotional music, and to a lesser extent Jain, Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist and Christian), Pop Chartbusters, T-Series Malayalam, T-Series Classics, T-Series Regional, hamaarbhojpuri, T-Series Gujarati, T-Series Marathi, T-Series Bhavageethegalu & Folk, Bhakti Sagar Telugu, Bhakti Sagar Tamil, Bhakti Sagar Malayalam, T-Series Bhakti Marathi, Bhakti Sagar Kannada, T-Series Islamic Music, T-Series Kids Hut-Portuguese Fairy Tales, T-Series Haryanvi, T-Series Kids Hut-Telugu Kathalu, T-Series Kids Hut-Cuentos en Español and T-Series Kids Hut Tamil. On top of this, seven of their channels are among the top 100 most-subscribed channels in India, including T-Series, Bhakti Sagar, Apna Punjab, Pop Chartbusters, Bollywood Classics, T-Series Regional, Lahari Music.[55] T-Series' 29 channels accumulated a total of more than 184 million YouTube subscribers as of July 2019. During January–July 2018, T-Series earned an income of ₹720 crore (US$100 million) from YouTube.[53] Online revenue contributes to at least 60% of the company's overall revenue.[56]
The most popular song on the T-Series channel is "Dilbar" (2018),[57] an updated version of a 1999 song from Sirf Tum originally composed by Nadeem–Shravan, reinvisioned by Tanishk Bagchi with Middle-Eastern musical influences,[58] and a music video featuring Arabic belly dancing from Moroccan-Canadian dancer Nora Fatehi.[59] It has become one of the most popular Bollywood music videos of all time,[60] with its international success inspiring an Arabic language version released by T-Series, also featuring Nora Fatehi. "Dilbar" is popular across Southern Asia and the Arab world, with all versions of the song having received more than 1 billion views on YouTube.[61] The most popular T-Series artist on YouTube is Punjabi language artist Guru Randhawa, whose song "Lahore" (2017) crossed 700 million views on YouTube.[62] "Slowly Slowly", Guru Randhawa's collaboration with American rapper Pitbull released by T-Series, received 38 million views within a day, becoming one of the most-viewed music videos in 24 hours.[63]
The growth of T-Series' YouTube channel has been attributed to India's emerging online population. India currently has 500 million Internet users and this number is expected to grow rapidly.[64] A major breakthrough in India's Internet growth came in September 2016 with the advent of 4G network Reliance Jio, offering data at very low costs.[14] India has since emerged as the world's second-largest online population (behind China, where YouTube is blocked), with YouTube alone having over 225 million monthly Indian users. India's high demand for YouTube content and the lack of local content creators has contributed significantly to the rapid growth of T-Series.[65]
The growth of T-Series is also attributed to its growing audience outside of India.[14] About 40% of the channel's traffic comes from outside of India,[3] including 12% from the United States.[14] The majority of the channel's overseas viewers belong to the global South Asian diaspora. More recently, the channel's overseas viewership has increased further, as a result of attention and controversy drawn to the channel by foreign YouTubers such as PewDiePie and MrBeast.[3] On 22 February 2019 at 6:04 AM, T-Series surpassed PewDiePie for the first time to become the most-subscribed YouTube channel, with PewDiePie regaining the spot 8 minutes later. T-Series overtook PewDiePie in a similar manner many more times over the following weeks, and on 27 March, finally gained and maintained, until 1 April, the top spot by a fluctuating, but overall growing, margin.[66][67]
Legal issues
In November 2007, T-Series filed a lawsuit against YouTube for infringing on the copyright of its music by allowing users to upload videos of its music onto YouTube, which could be accessed for free, and obtained an interim order against YouTube from the Delhi High Court, which restrained YouTube from infringing on its copyrights.[68][69] T-Series and YouTube settled out of court in January 2011.[69]
In April 2019, after PewDiePie released two diss tracks against T-Series, "Congratulations" and "Bitch Lasagna", T-Series filed a complaint with the Delhi High Court to have the songs removed from YouTube, arguing that they were "defamatory, disparaging, insulting, and offensive". Despite Kjellberg's statement that these diss tracks were "done in good fun", the court issued a temporary injunction in favour of T-Series on 8 April 2019 and access to the diss tracks on YouTube was blocked in India.[70][71] In August 2019, it was reported that T-Series and PewDiePie had settled their legal disputes outside of court.[72]
List of artists
The following notable musical artists have worked with T-Series and/or had music released under the T-Series label:
- A. R. Rahman
- Abhijeet Bhattacharya
- Akon
- Adnan Sami
- Alka Yagnik
- Anand–Milind (Anand Shrivastav and Milind Shrivastav)
- Anuradha Paudwal
- Anwar
- Asees Kaur
- Asha Bhosle
- Atif Aslam
- Babul Supriyo
- Dhvani Bhanushali
- Gulzar
- Guru Randhawa
- Harrdy Sandhu
- Himesh Reshammiya
- Ikka
- Irshad Kamil
- Javed Akhtar
- K.K
- Kumar Sanu
- Lucky Ali
- M.I.A.
- Nadeem–Shravan (Nadeem Akhtar Saifi and Shravan Kumar)
- Neha Kakkar
- Nikhil-Vinay (Nikhil Kamath and Vinay Tiwari)
- Nitin Mukesh
- Nora Fatehi
- Pritam
- Pankaj Udhas
- Pitbull
- Purnima
- Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
- Rajesh Roshan
- Raju Singh
- Sameer
- Saawan Kumar Tak
- Sajid–Wajid (Sajid Khan and Wajid Khan)
- Sandeep Chowta
- Shabbir Ahmed
- Shaan
- Sonu Nigam
- Sophie Choudry
- Sukhwinder Singh
- Sunidhi Chauhan
- Talat Aziz
- Tanishk Bagchi
- Tanvi Shah
- Udit Narayan
- Vishal–Shekhar (Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani)
- Yo Yo Honey Singh
- Zack Knight
Production filmography
1990s
Year | Film | Actors |
---|---|---|
1990 | Aashiqui | Rahul Roy Anu Aggarwal Deepak Tijori |
1990 | Bahaar Aane Tak | Roopa Ganguly, Moon Moon Sen, Sumeet Saigal, Tariq Shah |
1991 | Jeena Teri Gali Mein | Suraj, Kavita Kapoor |
1991 | Ayee Milan Ki Raat | Avinash Wadhavan Shaheen |
1991 | Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin | Aamir Khan, Pooja Bhatt, Anupam Kher, Tiku Talsania |
1992 | Jeena Marna Tere Sang | |
1992 | Sangeet | |
1993 | Aaja Meri Jaan | |
1995 | Bewafa Sanam |
2000s
Year | Film | Actors |
---|---|---|
2000 | Papa The Great | Krishan Kumar, Nagma |
2001 | Tum Bin | Priyanshu Chatterjee, Himanshu Malik |
2003 | Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hai | Priyanshu Chatterjee, Sakshi Shivanand |
2006 | Humko Deewana Kar Gaye | Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Bipasha Basu, Anil Kapoor |
2007 | Darling | Fardeen Khan, Esha Deol |
2007 | Bhool Bhulaiyaa | Akshay Kumar, Ameesha Patel, Vidya Balan, Shiney Ahuja |
2008 | Karzzzz | Himesh Reshammiya, Urmila Matondkar, Dino Morea, Shweta Kumar, Danny Denzongpa, Rohini Hattangadi, Smita Bansal, Gulshan Grover, Bakhtiyaar Irani, Raj Babbar, Himani Shivpuri, Tareena Patel, Asrani, Sudhir Dalvi, Imran Hasnee, Shiva Rindani |
2009 | Radio: Love on Air | Himesh Reshammiya, Sonal Sehgal, Shenaz Treasurywala, Zakir Hussain, Paresh Rawal, Megha Narkar, Urvashi Yadav, Himani Shivpuri, Megha Chatterji, Akhil Mishra |
2010s
2020s
![]() |
Denotes films that have not yet been released |
Year | Film | Actors | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2020 | Tanhaji | Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan, Kajol, Sharad Kelkar | Co-production with Ajay Devgn FFilms |
2020 | Jai Mummy Di | Sunny Singh, Sonnalli Seygall, Supriya Pathak, Poonam Dhillon | Co-Production with Luv Films |
2020 | Street Dancer 3D | Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, Prabhu Deva, Nora Fatehi | Co-Production with Remo D'Souza Entertainment |
2020 | Malang | Anil Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur, Disha Patani, Kunal Khemu | Co-production with Luv Films and Northern Lights Entertainment |
2020 | Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan | Ayushmann Khurrana, Jitendra Kumar, Gajraj Rao, Neena Gupta | Co-Production with Colour Yellow Productions |
2020 | Thappad | Taapsee Pannu, Pavail Gulati | Co-Production with Benaras Media Works |
2020 | Bhuj: The Pride of India ![]() | Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha, Nora Fatehi, Ammy Virk, Pranitha Subhash | Co-Production with Select Media Holdings LLP; Releasing on Disney+Hotstar.[73] |
2020 | Ludo ![]() | Abhishek Bachchan, Rajkummar Rao, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Aditya Roy Kapur, Sanya Malhotra, Pankaj Tripathi | Co-Production with Anurag Basu Productions; Releasing on Netflix.[74] |
2020 | Jhund ![]() | Amitabh Bachchan | Co-production with Tandav Films Entertainment Pvt.Ltd, Aatpat Films; Releasing on 8 May 2020[75] |
2020 | Indoo Ki Jawani ![]() | Kiara Advani, Aditya Seal | Co-Production with Emmay Entertainment, Electric Apples; Releasing on 5 June 2020.[76] |
2020 | Mumbai Saga ![]() | John Abraham, Emraan Hashmi, Jackie Shroff, Suniel Shetty, Prateik Babbar, Gulshan Grover, Rohit Roy, Amole Gupte | Releasing on 19 June 2020.[77][78][79] |
2020 | Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 ![]() | Kartik Aaryan, Kiara Advani | Co-Production with Cine1 Studios; Releasing on 31 July 2020.[80][81] |
2020 | Satyameva Jayate 2 ![]() | John Abraham, Divya Khosla Kumar | Co-Production with Emmay Entertainment; Releasing on 2 October 2020[82] |
2020 | Untitled Luv Ranjan's film ![]() | Ajay Devgn, Ranbir Kapoor | Co-Production with Luv Films; Releasing on 25 December 2020.[83][84] |
2020 | Saina ![]() | Parineeti Chopra | Filming.[85][86] |
2020 | Shiddat ![]() | Diana Penty, Sunny Kaushal, Radhika Madan, Mohit Raina | Co-Production with Maddock Films; Releasing on 2020.[87][88] |
2020 | Ezra ![]() | Emraan Hashmi | Releasing in 2020.[89][90] |
2020 | Dahi Cheeni ![]() | R. Madhavan, Khushali Kumar | Releasing in 2020.[91][92] |
2020 | Mogul ![]() | TBA | Co-production with Aamir Khan Productionss; Releasing on 25 December 2019.[93] |
2020 | Time To Dance ![]() | Sooraj Pancholi, Isabelle Kaif, Waluscha De Sousa | Co-production with Remo D'Souza. |
2020 | Untitled Film ![]() | Kartik Aaryan, Disha Patani | Co-production with Anees Bazmee Productions.[94] |
2020 | Begin Again Remake ![]() | TBA | Co-production with Abundantia Ent.[95] |
2020 | Tera Yaar Hoon Main ![]() | Amitabh Bachchan, S. J. Surya, Ramya Krishnan | Filming [96][97] |
2020 | Untitled film ![]() | Arjun Kapoor, Rakul Preet Singh | Co-Production with Emmay Entertainment and JA Entertainment; Releasing in 2020.[98][99] |
2020 | Durgavati ![]() | Bhumi Pednekar, Mahie Gill | Co-Production with Abundantia Entertainment, Cape of Good Films; Releasing in 2020.[100] |
2021 | Ek Villain 2 ![]() | John Abraham, Aditya Roy Kapur, Disha Patani, Tara Sutaria | Co-Production with Balaji Motion Pictures; Releasing in 8 January 2021.[101] |
2021 | Atrangi Re![]() | Akshay Kumar, Dhanush, Sara Ali Khan | Co-Production with Colour Yellow Productions, Cape of Good Films; Releasing in 14 February 2021.[102] |
2021 | Radhe Shyam ![]() |
Prabhas, Pooja Hegde | Co-Production with UV Creations; Bilingual film (Telugu and Hindi)
Releasing in 2021.[103] |
2021 | Untitled film ![]() |
Ayushmann Khurrana, Vaani Kapoor | Releasing in 2021.[104] |
2022 | Adipurush ![]() |
Prabhas | Co-Production with Retrophiles Production; Bilingual film (Telugu and Hindi)
Releasing in 2022.[105] |
Soundtrack discography
This is a list of soundtrack albums that were published under the T-Series label, excluding films that were also produced by T-Series (see Production filmography above).
Bollywood
Tamil
T-Series collaborated with Lahari Music.
International
Year | Film |
---|---|
2008 | Slumdog Millionaire: Music from the Motion Picture |
See also
References
- "SUPER CASSETTES INDUSTRIES PRIVATE LIMITED". OpenCorporates. Archived from the original on 18 September 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
- "Super Cassettes Industries Ltd.: Private Company Information". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019.
- "PewDiePie's Tumultuous Reign as YouTube King Is Almost Over". Bloomberg. 15 November 2018. Archived from the original on 17 November 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
- "It's all in the name". India Today. 6 April 1998. Archived from the original on 24 August 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
- Kohli-Khandekar, Vanita (20 December 2013). "Tea with BS: Bhushan Kumar". Business Standard India. Archived from the original on 7 July 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
- "Going solo: The era of Indi-pop albums and singles is back". Hindustan Times. 20 April 2015. Archived from the original on 25 November 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
- Malvania, Urvi (21 April 2014). "Sony Music eyes numero uno position in India". Business Standard. Archived from the original on 9 January 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- T-Series becomes first YouTube channel with 100 million subscribers, beats PewDiePie by comfortable margin Archived 29 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine Times News Now, 29 May 2019
- "Music Hits 1990–1999 (Figures in Units)". Box Office India. 2 January 2010. Archived from the original on 2 January 2010.
- Biswas, Soutik (20 December 2018). "PewDiePie v T-Series: The battle to be king of YouTube". BBC News. Archived from the original on 21 December 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
- Laghate, Gaurav; Sachitanand, Rahul (9 February 2017). "How Bhushan Kumar has transformed T-Series into an entertainment behemoth". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 2 September 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
- "Super Cassettes Industries Private Limited". OpenCorporates. Archived from the original on 18 September 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
- "How a Bollywood Music Label Conquered YouTube". The New York Times. 14 November 2018. Archived from the original on 17 November 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
- "Gulshan Kumar: From obscure fruit-juice seller to king of music". India Today. 25 August 1997. Archived from the original on 15 November 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
- Nihalani, Govind; Chatterjee, Saibal (2003). Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema. Popular Prakashan. p. 20. ISBN 9788179910665. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
Songs made a triumphal return to mainstream Hindi cinema with the success of the music of a low-budget Mahesh Bhatt film, Aashiqui, which was produced by T-Series, a small-time company that had begun life peddling pirated Hindi film songs.
- Manuel, P. (1993). Cassette Culture: Popular Music and Technology in North India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 68. ISBN 9780226504018.
T-Series is widely alleged to have flourished in its early years by issuing pirate releases of film music ... One T-Series employee told me: 'What people say about our activities in the early years—it's mostly true.
- Sundaram, Ravi (30 July 2009). Pirate modernity : Delhi's media urbanism. Routledge. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-203-87542-1.
T Series was also involved in straightforward copyright infringement in the form of pirate releases of popular hits relying on the loose enforcement of copyright laws
- "Rediff On The Net, Movies: How Gulshan Kumar signed his own death warrant". Rediff. 2 September 1997. Archived from the original on 26 January 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
- Lawrence Liang and Ravi Sundaram (2011). "8". In Karaganis, Joe (ed.). Media Piracy in Emerging Economies. Social Science Research Council. p. 353. ISBN 9780984125746. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
- Biswas, Soutik (20 December 2018). "PewDiePie v T-Series: The battle to be king of YouTube". BBC News. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- Booth, Gregory D. (2008). Behind the Curtain: Making Music in Mumbai's Film Studios. Oxford University Press. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-19-971665-4. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
- "Music Hits 1980–1989". Box Office India. 5 February 2010. Archived from the original on 5 February 2010.
- "Top 25 films between the years 1985–1994". Filmfare. 18 February 2018. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
- "Hindi films: There's now big bucks in audio rights". India Today. 31 December 1992. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- "Papa Kehte Hain Bada Naam Karega [Full HD Song] | Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak | Aamir Khan". T-Series. 26 May 2012. Archived from the original on 14 March 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2018 – via YouTube.
- "India Today". India Today. Thomson Living Media India Limited. 17: 112. 1992. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
Kumar, who was responsible for the audio cassette boom of the "80s with his inexpensive T-Series albums
- "India Today". India Today. Aroon Purie for Living Media India Limited. 19: 70. 1994. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
- "11 "FILMS IN NINE MONTHS FOR T-SERIES". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
- Bhargava, Simran (15 January 1991). "As music market expands rapidly, India becomes one of the largest producers of cassettes". India Today. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
- "Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average)". World Bank. 1991. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
- "The Mafia Calls The Shots". Outlook. 25 August 1997. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
- "Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average)". World Bank. 1997. Archived from the original on 11 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
- "Gulshan murder: Approver denies knowing anything about the case". 8 August 2001. Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
- Farooqui, Mazhar (11 May 2016). "Exclusive: 'I request Narendra Modi to help me get justice'". Gulf News. Archived from the original on 3 September 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
- Bollywood exile Nadeem Saifi seeks government apology Archived 22 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine, BBC, 19 February 2014
- Laghate, Gaurav; Sachitanand, Rahul (9 February 2017). "How Bhushan Kumar has transformed T-Series into an entertainment behemoth". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 2 September 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
- "Top Grossers All Formats Worldwide Gross". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 9 November 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
- "Hindi Medium Box Office Collection till Now". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 5 December 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
- "Weekly box office > China (04/22/2018)". EntGroup. Archived from the original on 24 April 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- "Hindi Medium box office collection surges past Rs 300 crore after China run; trumps Padmaavat's overseas gross". Firstpost. 16 April 2018. Archived from the original on 25 August 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
- "T-Series to bring Prabhas-Shraddha Kapoor starrer to the Hindi market". Archived from the original on 25 June 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
- "Saaho: Here is the budget of Prabhas-Shraddha Kapoor's action drama". Indian Express. Archived from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
- "'Saaho will be narrated from Shraddha Kapoor's point of view': Prabhas". The News Minute. 25 May 2018. Archived from the original on 19 December 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
- "T-Series hits one billion views on YouTube". afaqs!. 5 July 2013. Archived from the original on 28 November 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
- Ha, Louisa (2018). The Audience and Business of YouTube and Online Videos. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 154. ISBN 978-1-4985-7649-9. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
- "YouTube Statistics for T-Series". Social Blade. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
- "YouTube Statistics for PewDiePie (3–16 February 2017)". Social Blade. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
- "T-Series". YouTube. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
- T-Series. "Music Matters: T-SERIES Awarded For Surpassing 50 Million Subscribers On YouTube". Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 31 October 2018 – via YouTube.
- "Compare T-series and Pewdiepie YouTube Statistics (By Social Blade)". Social Blade. Archived from the original on 16 July 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
- "T-Series Social Blade". Archived from the original on 28 February 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- Kohli-Khandekar, Vanita (7 August 2018). "What T-Series' dominance on YouTube means for its reach and revenue". Business Standard. Archived from the original on 5 September 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
- "Bollywood Classics". T-Series. Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018 – via YouTube.
- "Top 250 YouTubers Channels in India". Social Blade. Archived from the original on 6 September 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
- Tanwar, Sangeeta (2 May 2019). "T-Series chief says PewDiePie asked for a YouTube fight and got it". Quartz India. Quartz. Archived from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
- "Videos". T-Series. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019 – via YouTube.
- "Shaken, Not Stirred". The Indian Express. 7 August 2018. Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
- Rajguru, Sumit (29 April 2019). "International Dance Day 2019: Top 5 belly dance numbers in Bollywood you can't miss". Deccan Chronicle. Archived from the original on 29 April 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
- "Nora Fatehi rejects reports of signing up Mahira Khan's 'Superstar'". The News International. 24 April 2019. Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
- "Dilbar". T-Series. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019 – via YouTube.
- "Bhushan Kumar's T-Series goes international with singing star Guru Randhawa collaborating with Pitbull". Bollywood Hungama. 23 November 2018. Archived from the original on 24 November 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
- Desk, India com Buzz (20 April 2019). "Punjabi Singer Guru Randhawa Grooves to His Latest Hit Track 'Slowly Slowly' as he Celebrates The Success of The Peppy Song". India.com. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
- "The Rise of T-Series, the YouTube Channel That Will Soon Dethrone PewDiePie". Vice. 31 August 2018. Archived from the original on 10 September 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
- "Pewdiepie and T-Series have been fighting for the most subscribers on YouTube". Newsweek. 12 September 2018. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
- "T-Series is officially the most subscribed YouTube channel in the world". The Times of India. 21 March 2019. Archived from the original on 22 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "T-Series files a suit against YouTube - Sify.com". 16 November 2007. Archived from the original on 16 November 2007. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
- Nikhil Pahwa (24 February 2011). "YouTube & Music Label T-Series Reach Out Of Court Settlement". MediaNama. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
- "Battle between PewDiePie and T-series now reaches Delhi High Court". The Statesman. 11 April 2019. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
- Sekhose, Marcia (11 April 2019). "PewDiePie vs T-Series: YouTuber pulls diss videos after Delhi HC order". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
- Ghosh, Shona (13 August 2019). "PewDiePie and T-Series quietly settled a court battle over 'racist' diss tracks following their epic YouTube battle". Business Insider. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
- "Bhuj The pride of India posters: Ajay Devgn is ready for the fight, Sanjay Dutt's first look out". Hindustan Times. 29 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
- "Ludo First Look: Rajkummar Rao, Fatima, Abhishek Bachchan's film to release on Netflix". India TV News. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
- "Amitabh Bachchan calls his team of rehabilitated football players 'sheron ka jhund' in first teaser of Nagraj Manjule's film". Firstpost. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
- @taran_adarsh (22 October 2019). "#IndooKiJawani begins filming in #Lucknow... Stars Kiara Advani and Aditya Seal... Directed by Abir Sengupta... Produced by TSeries, Emmay Entertainment and Electric Apples... 5 June 2020 release" (Tweet). Retrieved 24 October 2019 – via Twitter.
- @taran_adarsh (13 June 2019). "IT'S OFFICIAL... John Abraham and Emraan Hashmi in #MumbaiSaga... The gangster drama is set in the 1980s and 1990s... Costars Jackie Shroff, Suniel Shetty, Prateik Babbar, Gulshan Grover, Rohit Roy and Amole Gupte... Directed by Sanjay Gupta... contd in next tweet..." (Tweet). Retrieved 14 June 2019 – via Twitter.
- @taran_adarsh (13 June 2019). "#MumbaiSaga goes on floors next month... 2020 release... Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar and Anuradha Gupta... Sanjay Gupta completes 25 years in the industry... His directorial debut #Aatish released in 1994" (Tweet). Retrieved 14 June 2019 – via Twitter.
- @taran_adarsh (16 August 2019). "John Abraham, Emraan Hashmi, Jackie Shroff, Suniel Shetty, Prateik Babbar, Gulshan Grover, Rohit Roy, Sameer Soni and Amol Gupte... #MumbaiSaga to release on 19 June 2020... Directed by Sanjay Gupta... Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Anuradha Gupta and Sangeeta Ahir" (Tweet). Retrieved 16 August 2019 – via Twitter.
- @TSeries (18 August 2019). "Hassoge aur darroge, phir se, kyunki wapas aa rahe hai hum #BhoolBhulaiyaa2 lekar!" (Tweet). Retrieved 19 August 2019 – via Twitter.
- @taran_adarsh (18 August 2019). "IT'S OFFICIAL... Kartik Aaryan in horror-comedy #BhoolBhulaiyaa2... Directed by Anees Bazmee... Produced by BhushanKumar, Murad Khetani and Krishan Kumar... 31 July 2020 release" (Tweet). Retrieved 19 August 2019 – via Twitter.
- @taran_adarsh (27 September 2019). "IT'S OFFICIAL... John Abraham and Divya Khosla Kumar in #SatyamevaJayate2... Directed by Milap Milan Zaveri... Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Monisha Advani, Madhu Bhojwani and Nikkhil Advani... 2 Oct 2020 release" (Tweet). Retrieved 27 September 2019 – via Twitter.
- " "Ajay Devgn and Ranbir Kapoor come together for Luv Ranjan's next". The Times of India. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
- "Christmas 2020 release for Ajay Devgn and Ranbir Kapoor's Luv Ranjan film". DNA India. 8 July 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
- "After training for months Shraddha Kapoor drops out of Saina Nehwal biopic; Parineeti to now play shuttler". 16 March 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
- @TSeries (14 March 2019). "IT'S OFFICIAL... Parineeti Chopra to play renowned badminton player #SainaNehwal... She will start training for the biopic soon... Directed by Amole Gupte... Produced by Bhushan Kumar... Filming will be completed by 2019-end... Early 2020 release" (Tweet). Retrieved 18 March 2019 – via Twitter.
- @taran_adarsh (15 May 2019). "CONFIRMED... Sunny Kaushal, Radhika Madan, Mohit Raina and Diana Penty in #Shiddat... Directed by Kunal Deshmukh... Written by Shridhar Raghavan and Dheeraj Rattan... Produced by Dinesh Vijan and Bhushan Kumar... Official announcement" (Tweet). Retrieved 16 May 2019 – via Twitter.
- "Maddock Films on Twitter". Retrieved 16 May 2019.
- @taran_adarsh (18 July 2019). "Emraan Hashmi starts shooting of supernatural thriller #Ezra in #Mauritius... Remake of #Malayalam film #Ezra... Directed by Jay Krishnan [he directed the original]... Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Kumar Mangat Pathak, Krishan Kumar and Abhishek Pathak" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 4 August 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019 – via Twitter.
- @TSeries (18 July 2019). "Our next project, #Ezra starring @emraanhashmi begins in Mauritius. Day one Mahurat shot of #Ezra.🎬 Directed by #JayKrishnan. @itsBhushanKumar @KumarMangat @AbhishekPathakk #KrishanKumar @PanoramaMovies #AmairaFilmsProductionLtd" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019 – via Twitter.
- @taran_adarsh (15 July 2019). "IT'S OFFICIAL... Khushali Kumar to make her acting debut opposite R Madhavan... The slice of life film is titled #DahiCheeni... Directed by debutant Ashwin Neal Mani... Starts Aug 2019" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 25 August 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019 – via Twitter.
- @TSeries (15 July 2019). "Logon ka kehna hai, har shubh kaam ki shuruvat #DahiCheeni kha kar karni chaiye! Here's announcing @KhushaliKumar's debut film with @ActorMadhavan, directed by @GoodGunAshwin! #SudeshKumari #KrishanKumar @ItsBhushanKumar" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2019 – via Twitter.
- "Aamir Khan to produce Gulshan Kumar biopic". The Indian Express. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
- @TSeries (17 February 2019). "Fresh pair alert!! @TheAaryanKartik & @DishPatani to star in an untitled college rom-com directed by @BazmeeAnees. Produced by @itsBhushanKumar, Krishan Kumar & @BazmeeAnees. Read more on @MumbaiMirror : bit.ly/2SZfsjo" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019 – via Twitter.
- @TSeries (18 January 2019). "Hindi remake of #BeginAgain on the cards for T-Series & @Abundantia_Ent. Produced by @itsBhushanKumar & @vikramix, the musical comedy-drama remake goes on floors later this year. #ShashankaGhosh directs. Read more on @MumbaiMirror : bit.ly/2W2D3yA" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 22 January 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2019 – via Twitter.
- @TSeries (5 April 2019). ".@SrBachchan starts shoot for his next Untitled hindi film that also stars @iam_SJSuryah, @meramyakrishnan. Produced by @itsBhushanKumar, @iamDivyaKhosla, #KrishanKumar, @TSeries, @opbhattofficial, @sujayshankarwar & Ami Trivedi. T. Tamilvanan directs" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2019 – via Twitter.
- @taran_adarsh (7 April 2019). "Amitabh Bachchan's Hindi-Tamil bilingual gets a title: #TeraYaarHoonMain [#Hindi title]... Costars SJ Suryah and Ramya Krishnan... Directed by T Tamilvanan... Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Divya Khosla Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Om Prakash Bhatt, Sujay Shankarwar and Ami Trivedi" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019 – via Twitter.
- "Arjun Kapoor and Rakul Preet Singh kick-start the shoot of their untitled next". India Today. 16 November 2019.
- "Arjun Kapoor and Rakul Preet start shooting for their untitled film". The Times of India. 16 November 2019.
- "Bhumi Pednekar on Durgavati: It is the most challenging and special film of my career". India Today. 16 January 2019.
- @TSeries (30 January 2019). "@ektaravikapoor & @itsBhushanKumar, two indomitable names of Bollywood, to join hands and produce films together. @TSeries & @balajimotionpic will jointly produce the 2nd installment of @mohit11481 directorial, #EkVillain releasing on Jan 8, 2021" (Tweet). Retrieved 30 January 2019 – via Twitter.
- @TSeries (30 January 2019). "Presenting #AtrangiRe by @aanandlrai. An @arrahman musical. Releasing on Valentine's 2021. Written by #HimanshuSharma. #SaraAliKhan @dhanushkraja @akshaykumar @cypplOfficial #CapeOfGoodFilms @itsBhushanKumar" (Tweet). Retrieved 30 January 2019 – via Twitter.
- "Prabhas, Pooja Hegde starrer titled 'Radhe Shyam'". The Hindu. Special Correspondent. 10 July 2020. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 10 July 2020.CS1 maint: others (link)
- "Vaani Kapoor On Co-Starring With Ayushmann Khurrana In Abhishek Kapoor's Film: "I'm Thrilled"". NDTV. 7 August 2020.
- "Baahubali Prabhas's next film is Adipurush. In 3D, directed by Om Raut". India Today. 18 August 2020.
External links
- Official website
- Super Cassettes Industries Limited (T-Series) at Internet Movie Database
- T-Series' channel on YouTube
- T-Series' channel on Dailymotion