Sony Music Entertainment to file trademark for "Kolaveri Di"

Viral super hit " Why this kolaveri di" may soon become the first song in India to have its first line trademarked. Why? Perhaps because Sony Music wants to use the world-famous phrase as a brand, and definitely because it wants to stop others from doing it.

Sony Music Entertainment India, which recorded the Tamil-English song that has become an international YouTube hit, filed for trademark registration of "Why this kolaveri di" last month, a person familiar with the development told ET.

Trademark registration will allow Sony to launch products such as compact disks, cassettes and SD cards as well as film and non-film entertainment content and talent discovery programmes branded "why this kolaveri di" and, more importantly, restrict others from doing it.

"There could launch lesser known artists in an album titled Kolaveri2, and the Kolaveri brand will ensure that the album gets sold out," he says.

It is not clear if Sony Music plans to use "why this kolaveri di" as a brand. Company officials refused comment on the subject. Sony Music's trademark documents, signed by its finance and administration director Sumit Chatterjee, were filed in Mumbai in early December.

"Kolaveri di" song, written and sung by actor Dhanush for Tamil film '3', is now a case study on how viral marketing can create a cult following as it was watched by millions from all over the world within days of its digital release by Sony Music in the second week of November.

While the original song has received a never-before 35 million hits on YouTube, tens of different versions of the song in several languages are coming up everyday from across the globe.

A recent E&Y report values Indian music and entertainment industry at $16.3 billion, or about 84,000 crore, and forecasts it to grow at a rate of 12% a year to reach $25.8 billion in four years.