Grammy pushing karaoke
GMM Grammy Plc, the country's biggest music label, has acquired Music Pavillion Co as well as B&C Co as part of an aggressive expansion of its karaoke business.
Sumeth Damrongchaitham, chief operations officer for corporate support and business development at GMM Grammy Plc, said the acquisition is in response to the changing behaviour of consumers, which has become evident over the past couple of years. Music lovers no longer want to listen to music only on the radio, but rather want to sing songs in karaoke booths.He cited Hong Kong and China, where the karaoke business has become larger than the traditional recorded music industry. The company has invested about Bt130 million to acquire karaoke equipment from Music Pavillion which is the country's largest karaoke operator in modern trade outlets, and B&C Co, the largest karaoke-machine producer last year. Clean Karaoke Co was set up last year with registered capital of Bt20 million and this has increased to Bt200 million. GMM Grammy holds a 70-per-cent stake in the new firm while the founders of Music Pavillion and B&C hold 24 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively. With the merger, Clean Karaoke becomes the country's largest karaoke operation, with more than 1,700 karaoke parlours nationwide. Three hundred new karaoke rooms will be opened by the end of this year. Clean Karaoke will open some itself, while others will come under the franchise system. The company did not disclose the franchise fee. Sumeth expects to gain about Bt100 million in sales from the Clean Karaoke business this year with an increase to Bt300 million next year. The Nation
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