Only Much Louder
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| Company type | Privately Held Company |
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| Headquarters | , |
Area served | India |
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| Website | oml.in |
Only Much Louder (OML) is an Indian artist management, event management company and a content production house that was co-founded by →Vijay Nair and Girish "Bobby" Talwar in Mumbai. It informally began, in 2002, as an independent artist management venture by Nair and was officially incorporated in 2006 by Talwar and Nair.
The company produces live events—music, comedy—alongside digital and TV content. It manages a roster of artists which include comedians and musicians. OML also ran a ticketing and technology platform, Insider.in, which was acquired by PayTM in 2017.[1]
In November, 2018, amid the sweeping Indian #MeToo movement, numerous allegations of sexual impropriety and abusive behavior emerged around the company culture under Vijay Nair's tenure as co-founder and CEO. These included specific allegations against Nair and other senior executives. In response, the company stated that Nair had parted ways with OML six months prior to the allegations surfacing, and said no allegations were made during his time as chief-executive.[2][3]
1999–2005
Nair started his career at 15 by doing marketing gigs for Procter & Gamble's web portal Masti.com, and the indie music forum, Gigpad.com. He was tasked with booking bands for shows and making band websites. Talwar was the bassist of Mumbai-based pop-rock band Zero, who were later on managed by Nair.[4][5][6][7][8]
Nair dropped out of Sydenham College, after completing his first year, at 18, and began independently managing artists, booking, and promoting shows in Mumbai and across India. In 2001, Nair was earning roughly ₹700 ($9.75; November, 2019, exchange rate) as commission on shows he worked on. He initially planned to do it for one year and return to college.
He started managing Pune based, alt-rock band, Acquired Funk Syndrome in 2002. He added Mumbai based metal band, Pin Drop Violence, Mumbai based pop-rock act, Zero to his roster and in 2003 started managing, Mumbai based electro-rock band, Pentagram, who were fronted by Vishal Dadlani. Meanwhile, Talwar continued performing with Zero, graduated with a law degree from GLC, and began working as a media and entertainment lawyer.[9][10]
2005–2017
In 2003 Pentagram performed at the Sun Dance Festival, in Tallinn, Estonia and, in 2005, performed at Glastonbury, making them the first Indian band to do so. Nair and Talwar soon set up an office in Shivaji Park, in Zero's first jam-pad, and officially incorporated Only Much Louder as an artist management company in 2006. Over the next decade they merged with production houses, booking agencies and blogs. In 2009 the company's annual revenue was estimated to be $500,000.[7][11][12][13]
At one time OML ran a digital publication, video production house, booking agency, record label, and live event company. This expansion was partly spearheaded by Nair's elder sibling, Ajay Nair, who joined the company, in 2010, as the CFO and later became COO. Ajay previously worked in private equity. Until 2011, the company hadn't employed more than 20 people, had no HR department and worked out of apartments in Mumbai including initially out of Nair's parents’ home in Malad, and later in Bandra.[14][4]
In 2012 the Chernin Group acquired a 49.9% stake, for an undisclosed amount, in the company along with, an undisclosed investment by, the Jain Group. By 2013 the company occupied an 8,500 sqft office in Lower Parel, Mumbai. The same year, they diversified their roster by signing comedians after a decade of exclusively managing musicians. In 2014 it was speculated the company was worth over $10 million. By February, 2017, the company had employed 130 people and had an estimated annual revenue of $14 million. In April, 2015, co-founder Girish "Bobby" Talwar had departed from the company and has since worked for BookMyShow and Weirdass Comedy. By Mid-2016, the company shut down NH7.in as a digital platform and rebranded it solely as the festival website[15][10][16][17]
2019 – present
Investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) suggest that Nair played a pivotal role in manipulating the excise policy to favor certain liquor vendors. The ED's chargesheet describes him as the "sutradhar" (string-puller) of the conspiracy, alleging that he facilitated kickbacks and undue favors to select stakeholders in the liquor business .India Today ThePrint The Times of India Further, the ED claims that Nair acted as a middleman on behalf of AAP leaders to collect bribes in exchange for favorable policy changes. An instance cited involves a FaceTime call where Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal allegedly told liquor businessman Sameer Mahendru to trust Nair, referring to him as "my boy" .As of October, 2019, Nair was working as an associate for the Aam Admi Party, in New Delhi, doing "ad-hoc work." Only Much Louder has since limited its scope to managing a smaller roster of artists, who are majorly comedians, and curating its flagship arts and comedy festival. They also scaled back on their digital platforms, which included content and video production.[18][14] In December 2019 the company reshuffled their executive team. Gunjan Arya was named chief executive, Dhruv Sheth was named chief operating and Saurabh Abbi as chief business officer. Ajay Nair continued on as managing director.[19]