New Delhi, Dec. 4 -- Artificial intelligence is giving old sound tracks a new lease of life, and opening up fresh money-making avenues for music labels. Music labels like Saregama and Times Music are increasingly turning to AI to create new content and bolster their vast collection of songs, while adding moving images to old catalogues, particularly devotional categories, that lacked videos, resurrecting their appeal. These refreshed tracks are being uploaded on YouTube and other social media platforms for a new round of monetization and reach. "The idea is to maximize reach across YouTube, Meta, and all major platforms. With an evergreen catalogue that speaks to every generation, our priority is to make content present, accessible, and relevant in every form," said Kartik Kalla, senior vice-president (music) Saregama India Ltd. The company is sitting on a large collection of audio tracks that never had original videos, Kalla added. Thanks to the recent AI breakthroughs, video-creation has become faster, more streamlined, and significantly cheaper. Recent re-releases of old melodies such as Itna Na Mujhse Pyaar Badha, Na Tum Jaano Na Hum, Chura Liya Hai, and Aa Chal Ke Tujhe underscore how the label is reimagining classics and pitching them to a new generation of listeners. "We aim to create close to 1,000 videos in the coming three to four months, with cost reductions of up to 70% and turnaround times improved by 80%. While we've adopted AI in a big way, we remain firmly committed to protecting the integrity of original art. We do not use AI to replicate or exploit the creative contributions of singers, musicians, lyricists or composers. All AI-generated content is created via secure, legally-compliant tools to safeguard both the inputs and the outputs," Kalla added. Meghna Mittal, co-founder and chief revenue officer at Hoopr, a music licensing platform, said labels are increasingly using AI to create video content only for songs with audio rights. "This enables them to expand the commercial reach of catalogues without acquiring separate video or visual rights. By using AI- generated visuals, abstract or nature-based imagery, they can optimize budgets and monetize music on platforms such as YouTube while avoiding copyright infringement. In India, a number of music labels are trying out AI- powered lyrical videos and short visual formats to bring back interest of older songs." Goal is to use AI to boost catalogue visibility across platforms while staying within audio-only rights....