MUMBAI: Music major T-Series has entered into a strategic alliance with Reliance Entertainment's Big Music to handle distribution for the latter's catalogue.

Industry sources mention that the labels have entered into a minimum guarantee agreement, with T-Series acquiring the content and exploiting it till recovery and later the labels would share profits.

Sources add that digital and mobile entertainment company Hungama has also been roped in to form a consortium, in which T-Series will handle the music rights, Big Pictures the movie rights and Hungama will handle the projects digitally.

This partnership doesn't come as a surprise if we look at some recent Bollywood acquisitions. Some Bollywood production houses that were in talks with Big Music and were on the verge of inking a deal with the company, finally turned to sell the music rights to T-Series. These films include Dulha Mil Gaya and Kites, the movie rights of which lies with Big Pictures.

With this deal, T-Series which bags almost 75 per cent of Bollywood music acquisitions, strengthens its foothold in the industry.  Big Music has its own publishing arm, Big Publishing, while T-Series cam under IMI's Public Performance License (PPL) for performances in August 2008, and Big Music handles it on its own.