PPL ropes in Hari Nair as chief digital officer

Nair’s responsibility will be to transform traditional business to new age digital ones.

Hari Nair, erstwhile director - digital business at Sony Music has been hired as chief digital officer by Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) India. Nair brings expertise in building digital products and business, and will be part of the leadership team at PPL. He will be reporting to Rajat Kakar, president and CEO of PPL.

Hari Nair

Nair’s primary responsibility will be to transform the traditional business and processes into new age digital ones. The first such step is an online licensing system to bring in transparency and ease of doing business for PPL license users. Business development for public performance using technology based solutions will be the core part of this responsibilities. Additionally, he would lead the radio business, membership teams and be responsible for PR and communication strategy, including social media etc.

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Speaking on Nair's appointment Rajat Kakar, president and CEO, PPL says “We continue to invest in our transformation agenda. PPL is entering a very exciting phase where transparency and technology are going to be the key drivers for growth and in turn will result in improved distribution of license royalty amongst the large member base. Hari Nair’s skills in Digital combined with his business building acumen will be very handy for PPL at this stage.”

Nair was heading the digital business for Sony Music India for the last 5 years. Prior to that, he was the at Mauj Mobile. His first foray in the media industry was with Soundbuzz, which was later acquired by Motorola. Overall, Nair has 20 years of experience in the New Media space.

Speaking on his new assignment, Hari Nair says “We will build digital products that are required to get us in synch with our global counterparts, and increase transparency with end users. This role helps me learn two business verticals of the music industry i.e. public performance & radio. Currently, the revenue contribution from these two verticals is very small. Digital tools that we build should empower teams, increase team productivity & compliance on licensing with an end objective to increase revenues for our members.”

Nair will also be leading the anti-piracy efforts at IMI (Indian Music Industry) along with government departments like DIPP/CIPAM and Maharashtra Cyber Cell Unit. He would lead the creation of the ;Indian Music Charts', working with major streaming platforms like Saavn, Gaana, Amazon, Apple etc.