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Devraj Sanyal
Devraj Sanyal is the Chairman & CEO, India & South Asia, & Senior Vice President of Strategy for Asia, Middle East and Africa, (AMEA), Universal Music Group. One of music industry’s most revered stalwarts, Sanyal has been with UMG for almost 14 years now and runs the label, publishing, brands & music, talent management, live & all allied businesses for the group for the region. Alongside he double hats as the head of strategy for the larger region and the hyper growth markets of Asia, Middle East & Africa. He is regarded as one of the top A&R men in the Indian music Industry worldwide and is counted in the top music professionals globally in the music business. He is now the only Indian label & publishing executive to make the hallowed Billboard “International Power Players” List for 4 consecutive years from 2021 to 2024. The Billboard power players is the definitive list of global music executives and in 2024 Sanyal made the top 20 on this hallowed list. Additionally Sanyal becomes the only music industry executive in the broader AMEA region to be Grammy nominated at the 67th Grammys this year. Prior to this, Sanyal spent a decade with Percept Limited and was one of the most prominent people in Sports, Entertainment, Film and Music serving as its long term Group CEO across all of its businesses.
He is also the co-founder of Sunburn, Asia’s no 1 festival, Co-founder of The India Fashion Week alongside FDCI, lead sponsor manager for the Indian Cricket team for more than a decade for BCCI and many more. He did a few more years in the allied industries with brands such as Times of India making his almost 30 year professional journey phenomenally exciting and successful. He has always at the forefront of building new categories and new brands in areas & businesses that were dormant or non-existent before then.
In his early days, Devraj was the front man of India’s foremost and most successful heavy metal band Brahma for almost 2 decades from 1993 to 2010. Not unsurprisingly, Sanyal is focused on turning the Indian music ecosystem into an artist first music & singer songwriter led economy from the traditional film led music that it has been for years through his multiple labels that operate under the ‘Universal Music Group’ umbrella. He is leading that charge with the largest I-pop roster in the region across multiple genres of domestic pop, hip-hop , rock, dance & regional music.
Sanyal is a regular keynote speaker at the top music, media entertainment conferences across the region and globally. He was on the jury of “The Midem Artist Accelerator”, the world’s most prominent artist accelerator at Midem, Cannes for all its 6 years. He is the only music & entertainment industry executive to have been awarded the “Indian Institute of Economic Studies prestigious “Udyog Rattan Award” and also made it to the “Top 25 Executives Under 40 running India Inc” by Business Today” along with the Hindustan Times “Top 50 young Stars under 40”. Sanyal represents his region on all global bodies like the IFPI, ICMP, CISAC & others. He has been on television as a judge for India’s first ever English talent show #TheStage for all seasons.
Sanyal is a future forward music professional who is readying to make our music industry count in the top 10 music markets in the world in the very near future and is on the forefront of taking our brand of music global.
Devraj Sanyal is the Chairman & CEO, India & South Asia, & Senior Vice President of Strategy for Asia, Middle East and Africa, (AMEA), Universal Music Group. One of music industry’s most revered stalwarts, Sanyal has been with UMG for almost 14 years now and runs the label, publishing, brands & music, talent management, live & all allied businesses for the group for the region. Alongside he double hats as the head of strategy for the larger region and the hyper growth markets of Asia, Middle East & Africa. He is regarded as one of the top A&R men in the Indian music Industry worldwide and is counted in the top music professionals globally in the music business. He is now the only Indian label & publishing executive to make the hallowed Billboard “International Power Players” List for 4 consecutive years from 2021 to 2024. The Billboard power players is the definitive list of global music executives and in 2024 Sanyal made the top 20 on this hallowed list. Additionally Sanyal becomes the only music industry executive in the broader AMEA region to be Grammy nominated at the 67th Grammys this year. Prior to this, Sanyal spent a decade with Percept Limited and was one of the most prominent people in Sports, Entertainment, Film and Music serving as its long term Group CEO across all of its businesses.
He is also the co-founder of Sunburn, Asia’s no 1 festival, Co-founder of The India Fashion Week alongside FDCI, lead sponsor manager for the Indian Cricket team for more than a decade for BCCI and many more. He did a few more years in the allied industries with brands such as Times of India making his almost 30 year professional journey phenomenally exciting and successful. He has always at the forefront of building new categories and new brands in areas & businesses that were dormant or non-existent before then.
In his early days, Devraj was the front man of India’s foremost and most successful heavy metal band Brahma for almost 2 decades from 1993 to 2010. Not unsurprisingly, Sanyal is focused on turning the Indian music ecosystem into an artist first music & singer songwriter led economy from the traditional film led music that it has been for years through his multiple labels that operate under the ‘Universal Music Group’ umbrella. He is leading that charge with the largest I-pop roster in the region across multiple genres of domestic pop, hip-hop , rock, dance & regional music.
Sanyal is a regular keynote speaker at the top music, media entertainment conferences across the region and globally. He was on the jury of “The Midem Artist Accelerator”, the world’s most prominent artist accelerator at Midem, Cannes for all its 6 years. He is the only music & entertainment industry executive to have been awarded the “Indian Institute of Economic Studies prestigious “Udyog Rattan Award” and also made it to the “Top 25 Executives Under 40 running India Inc” by Business Today” along with the Hindustan Times “Top 50 young Stars under 40”. Sanyal represents his region on all global bodies like the IFPI, ICMP, CISAC & others. He has been on television as a judge for India’s first ever English talent show #TheStage for all seasons.
Sanyal is a future forward music professional who is readying to make our music industry count in the top 10 music markets in the world in the very near future and is on the forefront of taking our brand of music global.