Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Tips Music Limited Q1 FY 2027 earnings conference call hosted by MUFG . As a reminder, all participant lines will be in listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Ayushi Gupta for opening remarks. Thank you, and over to you, ma'am.
Thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I welcome you to the Q1 FY 2027 earnings conference call of Tips Music Limited. To discuss this quarter's performance we have from the management, Mr. Kumar Taurani, Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Girish Taurani, Executive Director, and Mr. Sushant Dalmia, Chief Financial Officer. Before we proceed with the call, I would like to mention that some of the statements made in today's call may be forward-looking in nature and may involve risks and uncertainties. For more details, kindly refer to the investor presentation and other filings that can be found on the company's website. Without further ado, I would like to hand over the call to the management for their opening remarks. Then we can open the floor for the Q&A. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Tips Music Limited's Q1 FY 2027 earnings call. Thank you for joining us today and for your continued trust in the company. Our catalog and new releases are doing very well. As a result, our growth as well as engagement has improved across all platforms. Your company has announced a separate board meeting to consider buyback of shares on 5th August 2026. As stated earlier, we remain committed to distribute last year's PAT, that is INR 217 crores this year in form of dividends and buyback. With that, I would now like to invite Girish to share his perspective on the quarter. Over to you, Girish.
Thank you, Kumar. Good evening, everyone. I'm pleased to share that we delivered a strong quarter with healthy contributions, both digital and non-digital segments. During Q1 FY 2027, we released 73 songs, including 55 film songs and 18 non-film songs. Our key releases, "Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai" and "Main Vaapas Aaunga" received an encouraging response from the audiences. The album "Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai" crossed 186 million views on YouTube, while its most popular track, "Chunnari Chunnari - Let's Go," crossed 70 million views. Similarly, the music album "Main Vaapas Aaunga" achieved nearly 100 million YouTube views, with female versions of "Tere Paas Mein" witnessing strong traction on Spotify. "Tere Liye" from the movie "Prince" secured a position among the top 10 songs on Spotify's daily charts, highlighting the enduring appeal of our music library and its catalog.
Further strengthening our digital footprint, our cumulative YouTube subscriber base increased to 158.3 million, reflecting sustained audience engagement and the growing reach of our content across platforms. I will now be handing over the call to Sushant to take you through the financial performance in detail. Thank you, everybody.
Thanks, Girish, and welcome, everyone, to the Q1 FY 2027 earnings call. I am pleased to present the key financial highlights for the quarter. Revenue for Q1 FY 2027 stood at INR 106.51 crores, reflecting a 21% year-over-year growth. Content cost increased by 90% year-over-year, driven by our new releases. Please note that as per our conservative accounting policy, we have expensed the entire content cost of the new releases in this quarter, while the corresponding revenue started coming from mid-month of May only. Profit after tax amounted to INR 43.89 crores, reporting a 4% de-growth compared to Q1 FY 2026. With this, I conclude my opening remarks and open the floor for Q&A.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Akshay Kolekar from Dalal & Broacha. Please go ahead.
Thank you for taking my question. My question is on basically the content cost. For last quarter, you are saying that INR 80 crorec-INR 90 crorec of content we have acquired for the whole year. We see that on this quarter, like Q1, your total content cost is around INR 40 crores. Is there any increase in content cost going onward next quarters? Or do we still maintain the INR 80 crorec-INR 90 crorec of content cost?
Sushant?
Akshay, the overall content budget for the year would be in that range of INR 90 crores-INR 100 crores, reflecting our continued commitment to building strong content libraries. We have a robust new release pipeline also for the year. That includes music from Balaji Telefilms, music from Tips Films and other regional and non-film music releases also. We are also pleased to report that the content released in Q1 has performed exceptionally well, reinforcing our confidence in the strength of this pipeline.
Okay, got it. My second question is on, as we see that the paid music subscription has been continually growing in India. Do you expect that subscription revenue become the larger contribution than advertising-led revenue? What will be the mix over a three to five years horizon? How much is for subscription-based and advertisement-based revenue? If you could you give a percentage-wise for this quarter also, how much is for subscription-based revenue and advertisement-led based?
Akshay, subscription-based revenue across platform on an average is currently 10%-15%. If you see globally, subscription is the main driver. More than 50% of the revenue comes from subscription. In India also, we see that percentage moving ahead over the next three to five years. Most of the platforms, be it Spotify, YouTube, or other platforms, they're pushing more towards subscription. Going ahead, we see a healthy growth, and the paid subscribers are also growing in the range of 40%-50% CAGR.
Okay. My question is on EBITDA margin. If you check the historical year, we have maintained around 65%-70% of EBITDA margin on a normalized level per full year basis. Due to larger portion of content cost this year, around 40% we have EBITDA margin. This EBITDA margin, do we expect any structurally lower margin in the next quarter or going forward? It will be a range around 65%-70%?
Akshay, let's say, for EBITDA margin, you have to look on an annual basis. Quarterly there could be aberrations due to content releases. On an average, let's say, on an annual basis, it would be in that range what you said, that 65%-70%.
Annually basis, we have maintained the 65%-70% margin. Correct?
Yes.
Okay.
It will be in that range, yes.
Okay. Yeah. Thank you. That's it from my side.
Thank you very much. The next question is from the line of Sagar Jethwani from PhillipCapital PMS.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. One of the questions just got answered. I have couple of questions. Can you comment on the pipeline of the film-based songs in Q2 specifically? That is my first question.
Q2 specifically, I can't comment. Let's say, over this year, as I said in my earlier answers, let's say there are releases from music from movie from Balaji Telefilms, couple of them from Tips Films, let's say a healthy slate of both regional and non-film music. Again, it would depend on how the movie releases get scheduled, but this is, let's say, the tentative pipeline.
How many film songs it would be? How many number of films are there for this year?
At least five of them. See how the movie schedule gets released. Tentatively, we can take around five movies from Q2.
Okay. Yeah. Secondly, global music labels earn INR 0.50-INR 0.90 as per your presentation per stream. Whereas the labels in India, they are earning INR 0.04-INR 0.10 per stream. What explains this gap? Do you see some kind of convergence happening there?
Sagar, it's primarily, let's say, the subscription that is the gap. Globally, let's say, the subscription price is also higher, and the subscription percentage is also higher. That is around 50%-60%. India, let's say, currently the subscription prices are also lower, and the overall percentage, or revenue is around at 15%. That's primarily the gap.
Any other player taking the price hike apart from Spotify, what they have taken last year?
Last, the end of the last calendar, Spotify, YouTube have taken the price hike. As of now, no one has taken it, we think there could be something in the pipeline, difficult to comment on.
Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Saket Mehrotra from Tusk Investments. Please go ahead.
Thank you. My question is more around what sort of guidance are we working on in terms of the revenue? Secondly, on the buyback, how are we placed? Have we just moved the agenda from today to the date in August?
Saket, we continue to maintain our 20% revenue guidance and PAT guidance. On the buyback, the Board would like to also evaluate the open market link buyback, which becomes effective from 1st of August. Therefore, the board meeting for buyback got rescheduled to 5th of August.
Okay. Understood. Thank you, and all the best to the team.
Thanks.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ravi Kumar Naredi from Naredi Investments. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Kumar Taurani , again, you have delivered very good numbers. Can you bifurcate content cost of "Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai " and "Main Vaapas Aaunga"? How much cost we had paid?
See, we can't reveal that figure. That's confidential. Sorry, we can't do that. We can't tell you that because it's a competitive market, we can't do that.
Understand. Can you tell how much content cost towards film song and non-film song in this quarter one?
Mostly it's a film music.
How much cash we are having on 30th of June?
A lot of cash we are having. Sushant, can you tell us please?
Ravi , it's around INR 345 crores as on 30th of June.
The buyback we will do for INR 100 and something crores?
See, we don't know how much that exchanges and SEBI is allowing. Let us see. First policy come, according to that the maximum will be, we'll do that.
Okay. Sir, next release you tell Balaji Telefilms will come. If you want to go, d efer buying back next date, why you announce in today meeting? Momentum of share prices have banished like anything.
Sushant?
If we didn't want to do it today, why did we give it on the agenda?
Yeah. Ravi , the Board wanted to evaluate the open market buyback also. That is effective 1st of August. The Board decided, let's do it on 5th of August and evaluate both the options, open market or tender offer, and then accordingly decide.
Okay.
We have communicated clearly that this has just been deferred by few days. The buyback option will be taken at the Board meeting on 5th of August.
Kumar, can you tell this thing, "Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani," we have recovered the cost, whatever we have invested?
Ravi , if you check your earlier communication with you all, we have always said that the content cost recovery does not happen in one or two months, it takes four to five years.
I am saying, has the cost of the picture been recovered?
Yes, I think the picture cost will be recovered because we still have to receive money from satellite and OTT. Our accounting is still ongoing. In the accounting, the picture was released on 5th of June, it takes 1.5 to two months to complete the circle. It will take little more time, next 15, 20 days, more or less, we are through. We had a big advantage in this picture, that we had shot this film in London, there is a very good subsidy in London, we are getting money from there also. I think we will make some money on this film.
Really, you have made a very fantastic movie. I saw in movie theater at least 3x .
Thank you.
I enjoy it. Yes, sir. Carry on.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kavish Parekh from 360 ONE Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Just one thing on the growth. While we witnessed steady top-line growth for this quarter, about 21% YoY, but this was also a quarter with two movie releases. If I look at FY 2026, despite no major movie releases, the top-line growth was +20%. What explains the slightly soft growth this time, 2% QoQ, despite having new releases, two releases, both the movies we had this quarter. I know we do not break down revenue details, but would it be great to get some color directionally? Did you see some relative weakness on the digital side, non-digital? Last quarter was pretty strong at 32% YoY. Any color, any explanation here would be great.
Sushant, tell.
Yes, Kavish, these songs got released during the mid month of May and during the June month only. The full revenue impact is not there this quarter, and you will start seeing the full impact from Q2 onwards. I won't be able to comment on the digital, non-digital piece separately. If you see the presentation, the digital segment has contributed around 75%. That's healthy for us. As the year, quarter passes, we'll see that number growing both digital and non-digital.
Sure. Thank you. All the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Yashowardhan Agarwal from IIFL Capital Asset Management Limited. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Am I audible?
Yes.
Hello. Yeah, hi, sir. Very good evening. Sir, a couple of questions from my side. Sir, I'm referring to page number six of investor presentation, in which it is mentioned that the industry is expected to grow at 8%, whereas subscription revenue itself is growing at 40%-50%. Assuming 10%-15% of the overall revenue for the industry coming from subscribers. Sir, that translates to around on the group coming from the subscription basis, right? Sir, what could be the realistic numbers that you think the industry could be growing at in the future? Would love to know your thoughts on that.
Yeah, let's say the industry report, I can only say that the growth is in single digit for this year. Let's say for us, we are seeing a strong traction and we continue to maintain our guidance of 20%.
Sushant, I get the point, let's say 15% of the overall pie itself is growing at 50%. There must be something which is dragging down or not growing in the overall pie, right? That the industry is growing at single digit. Since overall the tailwinds that we are facing is on the industry level, right? How is it possible? Just wanted to get more color on that.
Yeah. Let's say it all depends on the content. For us, let's say the content is doing well, our catalog is doing well. You see a higher growth rate, at least for us. On the industry front, it would be difficult to comment.
Okay. Fine, Sushant. That's fine. Okay, just few pages after it. It is mentioned that Spotify is targeting around INR 15 crores potential users in India, right? Even assuming INR 1,000 per customer spend, that could translate to INR 15,000 crores. Of course, not in few years, but let's say in the medium term, probably five to seven years down the line. Even if 50% flows through to the music label, that would translate to somewhere around INR 7,000 crores-INR 8,000 crores of revenue pool for the overall music label. Would that be the right way to look at it?
Absolutely, yes.
Perfect. That is there. My another question is that Spotify had revised the subscription prices in mid-May negatively. Do we expect any impact of that in our revenue going forward?
Yes. Revenue.
Yes, not a material impact of
That won't have a material impact?
No.
Got it, sir. Sir, what will be the date on the YouTube Shorts renewable deal, which was supposed to happen in June or July this year?
YouTube Shorts, let's say the negotiations are still going on, and probably we'll update you let's say by end of Q2.
Okay, perfect, sir. Sir, my last question is that earlier you mentioned that we are still holding on to our guidance of 20% revenue growth and 20% PAT growth with content acquisition cost to be in the range of INR 85 crores-INR 90 crores. Is that correct?
That's true.
Perfect. Thank you, sir. Thank you so much.
That's true, yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of [Chirag] from Keynote Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is this, that I am able to see that there is a additional 4,000 music library added, which used to be around 34,000- 38,000. Is there a one-off or separate buyout that we have taken in this particular quarter, which has included to our content cost?
Chirag, it is of let's say last year we had acquired a Gujarati catalog. Let's say by end of Q4, we had digitally synced and that gets added to the library. That had around 4,000 songs.
Got it. Second thing I wanted to understand, related to if there is any kind of an exclusivity we have with some artist for the non-film songs specifically. Does this industry functions in this way or no one can have a particular exclusivity in this particular industry?
Chirag, actually we don't.
We don't have.
Yeah. Sushant, go on.
Chirag, we don't have, let's say we are not there into that artist management business. We are focused primarily on the music content business. We don't have any specific exclusivity with any of the major artists.
Got it.
We are signing major artists, but we are doing a deal for one song, two song, three songs. Song-wise deals we are doing.
Fair enough. Just one last question from my side. Just wanted to understand, like a lot of large players in this industry are getting into from the international markets. They would have ample amount of money to spend or to acquire songs. Does this additional number of players or the ability for peers to spend a huge amount of money towards the content Is it impacting the industry in a way that content acquisition cost in the industry is going up compared to what it is five years back? Down the line, our focus would be that the mid-level, we don't try to compete at the upper bandwidth. Still we'll face some kind of a competitive intensity leading to slightly higher cost than whatever we are spending today.
Sir, you want to take it?
Yeah. I feel it won't create any impact on us because we have a relationship in place, and we also create a lot of our own music. Now, in this forthcoming film, we are providing music to the film companies. That is really a strong point only we, Tips, has at present. I don't feel we will have any competition. Touch wood, we will survive better than everyone else.
Got it. Fair enough. Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. The next question is from the line of [Sanidya] from Unicorn Assets. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Good set. Sir, a couple of questions. Firstly, there was some news around some stake sale or purchases. Would you like to comment anything?
Sushant?
There is nothing. No stake sale or anything from, let's say, the promoter's end. There are various news which float around in terms of the stake sale on a quarterly basis, but nothing as of now or in pipeline.
Okay. Just wanted a broad perspective, even if I understand promoters are definitely not looking to exit the company. Is there anything strategically we are looking for, like to partner with some other player, maybe in the industry, maybe internationally, in such a way that is beneficial for the company as a whole? That's more of a view that I was looking to get from the promoters. I understand that obviously no one wants to sell.
We already have a partner.
Yeah, go on.
We already have partnerships. Let's say we are the only ones who have the partnership, let's say, with Warner Music as a distributor, Sony Music Publishing as a distributor. Let's say we are the only one in terms of the larger labels who have such partnerships.
Yeah, got that. Nothing strategically we are looking to get investment in the company?
No.
Great. Secondly, after exit from Mr. Hari Nair, are we looking for someone else? What are the plans?
Sir, you want to take it?
Yeah. Actually, we are searching for a right candidate. At present, Sushant and Girish is handling very well business as usual. We are looking for one person. I think in our industry, if you see, there are very less people for that post. Soon we'll get someone and definitely we need that position. We will definitely appoint someone soon.
I think he was actively working on getting us deals through various channel partners as well. I hope we get someone who can help us on a broader way. Anything we are hearing on TikTok or in the sense good monetization from YouTube Shorts or something?
YouTube Shorts is still we are discussing with.
No, listen.
Yeah, Sushant, go on.
YouTube Shorts deal is under negotiation. Give us a quarter. We'll provide more color on it. Second, let's say in terms of newer platform, let's say Amazon Music has started its three-tier structure and for non-Prime members. That's quite a positive news for the industry.
Okay, great. I think YouTube Shorts is long awaited now. It's time that we get through something. Yeah. Great. Good one. Good set. I hope market also understands that the company's content cost is heavy in this quarter. It will normalize over the year.
Yeah, that's true.
Thank you. All the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of [Shirish Waze] from Alembic Pharmaceuticals Limited. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Am I audible?
Yes.
Yes, you're audible.
Yeah. If I look at the content cost for FY 2026 and the number of songs released and the same for this quarter. The content cost per song has gone up around 4x. Any particular reason for that or how should we look at this number?
Shirish, let's say this quarter the releases were primarily film music. Overall, let's say they are much more expensive. Let's say last year it was primarily non-film and regional music. That way, let's say comparison of cost on a per song basis won't be the right metric.
Understood. Okay. Thank you. That's all from my side.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jenil Barad from Prudent Corporate Advisory. Please go ahead.
Hello. My question was regarding employee cost. Even though we saw a 50% increase last year in employee cost, this quarter too, we have seen a 30% increase in it. Is that the sustainable growth rate which is going to be there in the near future? That's my first question.
Jenil, on the employee cost, let's say, in December quarter, due to the change in the labor code, we have moved a few of the full-time consultants on the payroll. Let's say your other expenses have come down and the employee costs you see have increased, but netting both against each other, there is no impact on the profit. Going ahead, let's say the employee cost would be in a similar range as the first quarter.
Okay, for the full year?
Sorry?
Hello. For the full year it will be around this range?
Hello. Yes. This quarterly run rate would be there.
The second question was regarding the YouTube Shorts deal, which was supposed to happen in Q1 or Q2. Is there any update on that?
As mentioned earlier, it is still under negotiation, and let's say we'll update at the end of Q2.
Okay. Another question I had was regarding how much market share would Spotify hold in our revenue or something. Revenue share, how much would Spotify hold, and is there any problem due to an overdependence on one single app or platform which might affect our revenues too? Yeah.
Let's say we don't give bifurcations platform-wise in terms of revenue shares because these are competitive data point. Let's say in terms of your second question, we don't see impact of let's say fewer platforms, because at the end of the day, they also require the content and let's say the music labels which provide content to them. It's a win-win situation for both the platform and for us also.
Nothing more from my side, sir. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Shweta Sharma from Arihant Capital. Please go ahead.
Hello, am I audible?
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah. Thank you, sir, for the opportunity. Sir, my question is regarding EBITDA margin. Due to higher content charges, EBITDA margin has little bit hit at this quarter. What are your view on going forward? Should we recover in the range of 74% around or what is the sustainable margin for FY 2027 and going forward?
Shweta, on an annual basis, the EBITDA margins would be in the range of 65%-70%. You can take that assumption.
Okay. Sir, what are our view on content charge for full year basis and next two to three years?
This year we are looking at around, let's say, around that INR 90 crores-100 crores. This also depends on that movie release schedule. Over a longer term, it would be in that range of percentage to revenue, that is 20%-25%.
Okay. Thank you so much, sir. That's all my queries. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of [Chirag] from Keynote Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity again. Sir, one question I would want to know is, if I bifurcate our music library into some old songs and new songs, let's say five to six years are the new songs and rest are the old songs. Is it possible for you to just give me a bifurcation of revenue? What percentage of revenue comes from the new songs and the old songs?
Chirag, in terms of, let's say new songs, we get approximately 15% of our revenue from the content which are released over the last three years, and the balance 85% is spread across, let's say, the past three decades.
Got it. Sir, secondly, I wanted to know, you said that our policy for the content acquisition is around we like to spend about 20%-25% of the revenue. Is this a particular mark or it's more driven by the actual content get released? For example, if I see a period of last three years, the movie released compared to a decade back, let's say 2017, 2016, which was in the range of 1,400 movies a year, it fell down to about 1,000. That was the reason we were spending a little less. Now if I'm able to see the pipeline of movies coming in this particular year, is it possible that the cost can go up based on the quality of content coming and your capability to spend on the quality content which you like is the right one? This can actually go up.
It is not an actual mark that you want to get.
Chirag, primarily we have kept this as a budget of 20%-25%. Let's say our dependency on the outside production houses is also limited. One third of our content comes from outside production houses, 1/3 comes from Tips Films, and 1/3 we do non-films. That way, let's say our dependency on outside production houses is limited. Another thing is, primarily, on the quality front, we have a good A&R team in place, which ensures good quality music comes to us. In some years, if we want, we can exceed 1% or 2%, let's say 25% can become up to 30%, but it would strictly be on the quality of the content which we are getting. Anyway, there is no pressure as such. There's enough content available in the market.
Fair enough. This was just linked to the content only. The cash distribution policy is dependent on the profits we earn? Or is it dependent on the war chest money that we are keeping aside, apart from that, whatever money we have, we are willing to distribute as dividends or buyback?
Yeah. It's primarily linked to our revenue rather than anything else. We strictly link our content budget to the revenue what we earn.
No, I was talking about the cash policy. Content policy you specified related to revenue?
Cash policy we have stated earlier also, whatever we are earning PAT of last year, we will distribute that this year in form of dividends and buyback.
Got it. No, fair enough. Thank you so much, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Shrenik Mehta from IndoAlps Wealth. Please go ahead.
Yeah. I think the questions have been asked already quite well. I just wanted to understand one small thing here. The content cost here was almost INR 45 crores, we had only 73 new releases, which takes it to almost INR 61 lakhs per song. Is this the right way to see this? On an average, last year it was around INR 15 lakhs per song. Is the overall cost going up or is it just kind of songs that we took this time were slightly higher cost? Small question.
Shrenik, this quarter it was primarily film music as compared to non-film music last year and regional music last year.
Okay.
That's the difference. As stated earlier, comparing cost per song won't be the right metric.
It's not a general trend that the cost is going up in general or so sharply between the previous year and this year.
We are very conservative in terms of our acquisitions. We don't enter into any bidding war. Our content policies are also divided well, 1/3 from Tips Films, 1/3 from outside production houses, and 1/3 we do it internally. That way there is no significant cost pressure we face.
Okay. Congratulations again for a good set of results. Thank you.
Thanks, Shrenik.
Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraint, we take that as the last question and we conclude this question and answer session. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Ayushi Gupta for closing comments.
I would like to thank the management for taking the time out for this conference call today and also thank all the participants. If you have any queries, please feel free to contact us. We are MUFG Intime India Private Limited, investor relation advisors for Tips Music Limited. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thanks, everyone.
On behalf of Tips Music Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.