Transforming India’s Music Industry: An Interview with Meghna Mittal, Co-Founder of Hoopr.ai

An interview with Meghna Mittal, Co-Founder & CRO of Hoopr.ai, India’s leading music licensing platform

In this interview, we sit down with Meghna Mittal, the Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Hoopr.ai, to explore the company’s innovative approach to leveraging AI in enhancing customer experiences.

With a keen focus on data-driven insights and seamless digital transformation, Meghna shares her journey, vision for the future, and how Hoopr.ai is reshaping customer relationships in today’s fast-paced digital landscape.

Can you share the story behind the creation of Hoopr and what inspired you to launch?

Meghna Mittal: Well, Hoopr’s origin story goes back 7 years. Back in 2017, my co-founder, Gaurav Dagaonkar, and I started Songfest. Songfest specialized in creating viral ads and campaigns for brands using music as a vehicle to build a long-lasting and high-recall intellectual property.

Gaurav is an award-winning music composer with over 15 years of experience in the Indian commercial music industry and is an alumnus of the prestigious IIM Ahmedabad.

A few years into working on Songfest, we realized that not every brand can afford a large campaign but they may still want to explore music as a strategy for their brands.

This was also the unfortunate period when Covid19 struck and brand marketing budgets took a hit worldwide. Yet, digital content creation sky-rocketed with everyone aspiring to make content digitally. The OTT content boom also happened in this period. We felt that this was a massive opportunity.

The Indian market clearly lacked a good music platform for licensing copyright safe music and there was a dearth of high quality original Indian music on all existing platforms. That is how the idea of Hoopr was born in 2021.

Today, 3 years later, we are India’s largest music library with over 12500 tracks, 6500+ music artists working with us and 300,000 creators and 125+ brands using our platform.

What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in the music licensing industry, and how has Hoopr addressed them?

Meghna Mittal: The biggest challenge we faced is obviously the lack of awareness around the fact that music is not a free commodity.

Artists and musicians put their blood and sweat into their creations and several brands and creators – both big and small – continue to use free music, available across social media libraries for branded content instead of ethically licensing these tracks and remunerating the artists and labels that actually hold the ownership rights to this music.

Over the last 2.5 years, we have invested a lot of time and money in being able to educate brands and creators about the downside of using copyrighted music.

In several instances, we have had brands ignore us at first, only to come back to us later because they’ve either received legal notices or faced channel takedowns or video demonetization.

We foresee that this will continue to be a huge challenge in the coming years as well, as awareness and ethical accountability are still very low in the market overall.

How does Hoopr ensure fair and transparent licensing for both music creators and users?

Meghna Mittal: Hoopr provides a fair and equal platform for artists. Doesn’t matter where they are based and what genre of music they make.

As long as they are able to produce music which is original, platform-friendly and high quality, we are thrilled to work with them.

We are proud to state that today Hoopr has a network of over 6500 artists that we commission music from for our platform. This includes sound engineers, producers, singers, instrumentalists, the whole spectrum.

We are currently the only platform in India that is working on building a music and tech-led ecosystem where creators, music and brands co-exist and flourish.

On the one hand, we work with musicians and artists that create proprietary music for Hoopr’s platform. This helps empower and strengthen our community of 6500+ independent artists.

On the other hand, we have content creators who use Hoopr’s platform to soundtrack their content with copyright free music which helps them monetise their content.

The third spoke of the ecosystem is brands that work with us for bespoke music-led solutions and that’s when we leverage our artist and creator network to amplify a lot of brand communication which further helps creators make money through Hoopr.

In a 5 year horizon, we look at Hoopr being a self-sustained marketplace where artists, creators and brands can collaborate and monetise the platform in a multitude of ways.

What role do you see AI playing in the future of music licensing, and how does Hoopr leverage it?

Meghna Mittal: We have over 300,000 creators that have been using the platform for over a period of 2 years now. We have vast and rich data points which span user age group, geography, download patterns, search history, musical preferences, etc.

We have started building integrations which will help us achieve the following enhancements to the user experience in the next 12 months:

Content based filtering where AI and ML can identify musical attributes of a song such as tempo, genre, and instrumentation and recommend similar tracks to the user.

Personalised recommendations based on search and user browsing patterns Natural language processing where users can explain their mood in their natural language and get recommendations.

Automated copyright detection which analyses music uploaded to the platform to identify potential copyright infringements, streamlining the licensing process. AI can suggest chord progressions, melodies, or lyrics to assist creators in composing new music

AI could allow creators to transform existing music into different styles, opening up creative possibilities.

Hoopr may not currently offer all these features, but they’re potential areas where AI and ML could enhance their services in the future. Having said this, Hoopr will always remain an artist-first platform and the use of AI will only act as an enabler in the process of original music creation.

What are the most common misconceptions about music licensing that you encounter, and how does Hoopr educate its users?

Meghna Mittal: One of the biggest misconceptions we face is that people think all music found online is either free to use or that it’s all subject to the same rules. Many people believe if a song doesn’t have an obvious watermark or copyright notice, it’s fair game.

That’s simply not the case. There’s a wide range of licenses out there, and they all come with their own conditions—some songs can be used freely, others require permissions, and many are protected under strict copyright laws.

To help users navigate this, Hoopr takes an educational approach, offering resources like in-depth articles and video tutorials on music rights and licensing options.

We make sure that even those who aren’t familiar with the intricacies of licensing can easily understand what they need.

We also built a platform that handles the heavy lifting, ensuring that every track available on our site is clearly labeled with its licensing information, so users never have to second-guess their choices.

What trends in the music and tech industry are you most excited about, and how is Hoopr staying ahead of them?

Meghna Mittal: Brands have thankfully started becoming increasingly aware that music is a paid commodity and the copyright owners need to be compensated if their music creations are being used to create content aimed at some commercial purposes.

Hence, we have seen an uptick of almost 300% in our search volumes and website traffic over the last 12 months which gives us a clear indication that the market is waking up to the need for ethical music licensing and actively seeking copyright-free music platforms to help with their content creation plans. We are seeing an increase in categories across D2C brands, production houses and creative agencies.

What advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs looking to enter the music or tech industry?

Meghna Mittal: For budding entrepreneurs in the music or tech industry, my advice is to focus on understanding your audience and identifying gaps in the market. Both industries thrive on innovation, so finding a unique angle or creating a solution to a problem is essential.

Stay adaptable, as technology and consumer preferences evolve rapidly. Networking is equally important—connect with industry professionals, collaborate with others, and seek mentorship to gain insights.

Lastly, invest in building a resilient mindset; these industries are competitive and require persistence through setbacks.

How has your journey as a woman entrepreneur shaped your approach to leading Hoopr.ai?

Meghna Mittal: As a woman entrepreneur, my journey has been defined by navigating challenges with resilience and empathy. This experience has shaped how I lead Hoopr by fostering an inclusive and supportive culture where diverse voices are heard and valued.

Being a woman in leadership has also heightened my focus on creating equitable opportunities within the company.

I’ve learned to approach problem-solving with a balance of creativity and pragmatism, qualities often refined through overcoming obstacles. Ultimately, my journey has helped me lead with authenticity, empowering my team and driving innovation.

Meghna Mittal’s insights reflect the transformative potential of AI in business. Her leadership at Hoopr.ai highlights the importance of innovation and customer-centric strategies.

As AI continues to evolve, Meghna’s vision promises a future where businesses can build stronger, data-driven connections with their customers, shaping the next era of digital interaction.

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