The Indian Music Industry (IMI) is a trust that represents the recording industry distributors in India. It was founded on 28 February 1936, as Indian Phonographic Industry (IPI). It is the 2nd oldest music industry organisation in the world that was involved in protecting copyrights of music producers and supporting growth of music entertainment industry. In 1994, it was renamed as Indian Music Industry (IMI) and represented India at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). It is also registered with the West Bengal Societies Registration Act. All major music labels in India are part of this association. IMI has its registered office in Kolkata and Administrative office in Mumbai working on the protection of the rights of music producers and preventing music piracy. It has also been instrumental in launching the IMMIES music awards in collaboration with MTV. The Indian music industry is largely dominated by Indian film soundtracks, which account for nearly 80% of the country's music revenue, followed by Indi-pop. As of 2014, the largest Indian music record label is T-Series with up to 35% share of the Indian market, followed by Sony Music India (the largest foreign-owned label) with up to 25% share, and then Zee Music Company (which has a partnership with Sony). As of 2017, 216million Indians use music streaming services such as YouTube, Hungama, Gaana and JioSaavn. T-Series has the world's most-viewed and the second most-subscribed YouTube channel.

History

The industry was dominated by cassette tapes in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1990, India had annual cassette sales of 180million units, including both legitimate and pirate sales. This made it the world's second largest cassette market, after the United States. By 1998, the industry had annual earnings of ₹12 billion (US$million). In the early 2000s, 49million cassettes (including 16million pirate tapes) were sold every month. Later in the 2000s, the industry transitioned to online streaming, bypassing CD and digital downloads.

Criteria of certification levels

The Indian Music Industry has constituted different, awards to encourage and promote music. The approved scheme of gold/platinum disc standards effective for sound recordings of member companies released in one calendar year is as below:

Record charts

International Top 20 Singles

IMI launched International Top 20 Singles chart, the first official music industry recognised record chart in India, on 21 June 2021. It ranks best-performing international singles in India based on streaming data from Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify. The data is collected and aggregated by BMAT Music Innovators and chart is reviewed by IMI Charts committee. The first number-one song for the chart dated 21 June 2021, was "Butter" by BTS.

Certification levels

India has separate scales for music recording certifications. Certifications are usually based on sales, like some other Asian countries. Like many other Asian countries, domestic repertoire accounts for the majority of the Indian music market. Like many other countries, sales requirements of music recording in India reduced due to music piracy, declining sales, and the rise of online streaming.

Current

The following are the current certification levels, as of 2019. Single and album units are measured in terms of Track Equivalent (TE) and Album Equivalent (AE) units, respectively, which are equivalent to the following media units.

Previous

Prior to the inclusion of music streaming in IMI certifications, the following certification levels were in use between 2007 and 2013. The following certification levels were in use between 2000 and 2007. The following certification levels were in use up until 2000.

Best-selling albums

Top ten

By decade