ITV

Category: Specials

  • “This is the best time for Indian television”: Rajan Shahi

    “This is the best time for Indian television”: Rajan Shahi

    MUMBAI: Rajan Shahi made his directorial debut 15 years ago with the series, Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahi. What followed after that was a succession of hit shows including Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi, Hamare Tumhare, Rishtey, Kareena Kareena, Reth, Mamtaa, Millee, Virasaat and Saathi Re. Shahi started his own production company in 2007. His first series as producer was Sapna Babul Ka Bidaai on Star Plus, followed by Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai which is presently running on television.

     

    As part of our Content Hub series, we spoke to the acclaimed director and producer on the existing content on Indian television today. Shahi tells us, “I think we are experiencing the best time for television today. There are so many different genres of programs that we see on TV. Every channel has a variety of comedy, romantic, horror, finite and reality series”.

     

    Shahi feels that there are good story tellers in the industry but the television rating numbers (earlier TV rating points) are also important. According to him, the typical Saas-Bahu dramas do very well as far as the ratings go. He points out that there have been several people who have tried to experiment with fresh content but have not achieved their desired ratings.  “So, what is the point of try something new if I know I will not achieve the same level of viewership?” he asserts.

     

    Speaking about the reach of Indian television content, Shahi elaborates, “We have a certain medium of our own. Our shows are hit abroad. People watch these typical shows as they like seeing Indian culture, traditions and customs.”

     

    When we asked whether broadcasters understand the creative freedom of directors and producers, Shahi explains, “I am seeing a very healthy trend these days. Every broadcaster is trying to get new technology and new story-telling methods. This is optimistic. Channels are willing to experiment and support new makers. They are trying to get the best of sets and costumes. Channels place a lot of time and emphasis on developing content.”

     

    Ending the conversation on a positive note, Shahi says, “The seasonal format is a really good idea if one wants to keep a brand name alive. There is a big scope for finite series and this is just the beginning.”

     

    Content Hub is a three day conference organised by Indiantelevision.com and is aimed at established professionals, newbies and anyone who is keen on taking the plunge into the fascinating world of writing, producing and creating for television and the digital space.

  • Good writers are hard to find, says the television industry

    Good writers are hard to find, says the television industry

    MUMBAI: The heartbeat of any television programme lies in its story and content. Developing good content through various ideas and imagination is a significant priority for television channels and producers. Story-telling, as they say, is an art and the small screen is constantly looking for compelling scripts that tell stories which entertain, engage and enrich the audience. Over the past few years, the Indian television industry has been exploring new formats and series of programmes in order to give the viewers an excellent TV viewing experience.

    Television director and creator of the unique chat show Satyamev Jayate, Satyajit Bhatkal says, “To be honest, we did not have any preconceived model for content creation or the kind of show we hoped to do. We made 6-7 documentaries on real life people and we realised that there was so much happening in the country. The common man faces so many problems and we needed to address these serious issues and give a 360 degree look to the matter.”

    However, except for a few who are willing to take up the challenge of creating something new, many are still stuck with the tried and tested.  According to Bhatkal, television, today, is way too cautious.  He elaborates, “It is a challenge that we have to cater to people of various education levels and social backgrounds. However, I feel we are not willing to move to a different level of aesthetics.”

    Director of many popular television series like Amanat, Kyunki Saans bhi kabhi bahu thi, and the current hit show Jodha Akbar, Santram Verma believes that there is a division amongst the audiences today as while some of the viewers want to watch fresh content, the older generation wants to stick to the same stories that were showcased years back. As a result, he feels that it is hard for the industry to evolve.

     

    He says, “Everybody is sticking to the safe formula of ‘saas-bahu’. Good writers are hard to find these days. Writers lack the fire in them to come up with fresh concepts. TV is not experimenting with novel ideas.”

    Speaking on the quality of writers, producer of the very popular show, Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, Asit Kumar Modi says, “There is a lack of good writers. Generally speaking, channels go with writers that they have previously worked with. If we want to encourage new content, channels should have better adaptability for new writers and then, we can produce better content.”

    When asked whether broadcasters give the makers enough support and freedom, Modi informs that Sab played a good role in encouraging fresh content and promoting comedy shows like his on the channel.

     

    Bhatkal expresses that Star has been an extraordinary and participative partner for his show, “Star allowed us to feature the show on a Sunday morning instead of an evening prime time slot as we wanted the whole family to watch. Since it did not have a Telugu channel, the network gave the broadcast rights to its Telugu competitor as we wanted the programme to air in every Indian language. Star even permitted SMJ to be aired simultaneously on Doordarshan on the same day and at the same time, at the expense of its own traffic. What more could I ask for?”

    Talking about the concept of seasonal shows, Verma says, “Seasonal shows are the best. If implemented fully on Indian television, it will have a better emotional connect with the audience.”

    According to Modi, it is a good idea to have seasonal shows as after a point even the audience gets bored. However he is quick to point out that channels should also be convinced of the format.

    Channels need to have more confidence in seasonal formats and help in the distribution of the same. Modi emphasises that irrespective of ratings, losses and profits, one needs to constantly experiment on Indian television.

    To discuss more about the content on television, Indiantelevision.com is organising the ‘Content Hub’ that brings together writers, creators, producers, artistes and broadcast executives, both for TV and digital, all under one roof. This initiative is meant for all professionals, newbies and anyone who is keen to know about writing, producing and creating content for television and the digital space.

     

  • “Mini-series is the way forward”: Vipul A Shah

    “Mini-series is the way forward”: Vipul A Shah

    MUMBAI: He started his career as a director with a soap opera called Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka on Sony Entertainment Television (SET) in the year 1999. It was the first Hindi fiction series to reach the landmark of 1000 episodes and is considered as one of the longest-running television serials of Indian television.

     

    After that, there was no looking back for Vipul Amrutlal Shah, who has given the film industry hit movies like Aankhen (2002), Waqt: The Race Against Time (2005), Namastey London (2007), London Dreams (2009) and Action Replay (2010) as a director. He has also produced movies like Singh Is King, Force, Commando and Holiday.  

     

    The producer cum director is back to the small screen, and this time with an action series Pukaar – Call for the Hero on Life OK.

     

    In the second of the Content Hub series, Indiantelevision.com had a quick chat with Vipul Shah to understand his views on the growth of content over the years and what the audience expects from a director/producer.

     

    According to Shah, the larger issue with television content is that it is static. “We have got stuck into the rut where we feel that the audience just wants to see the saas-bahu soaps and that is the only way forward. I don’t think that is right,” he says.

     

    He believes that audiences are not stagnant and they move forward even before the creators of the show realise. “There was a time when daily soaps would clock a TRP of 20 plus. Today the number one show is five or a little more than that. This only suggests that the number of viewers watching the series is no longer the same.”

     

    With most television content packed with saas-bahu soaps, Shah feels that somewhere the television audience is losing interest. “And largely, producers are to be blamed for not creating different content. I think the time has come where channels and producers need to realise and give a new dimension to the work we are doing.”

     

    He wants the television industry to evolve and think beyond saas-bahu soaps. With its new series being a bi-weekly and a finite one (slated for 24 episodes), he says that the audience is looking out for something new always. According to Shah, mini-series is the way forward. “Internationally, it is the way. We are going to move forward with mini-series,” he adds.

     

    He strongly believes that Indian content has the ability to travel abroad. Shah informs that his directorial debut Aankhen was going to be made in Hollywood as well. “We had almost sold our rights to a Hollywood studio. My producer messed up the deal; otherwise Aankhen would have been the first film to travel to Hollywood.”

     

    Shah states that we should not worry too much about what Hollywood wants and should concentrate on the Indian market. “If we are able to satisfy the 125 crore people in India, the whole world will come to us,” he opines.

     

    Talking about creative freedom from the broadcasters end, Shah says that he has always been given absolute freedom. “Nobody has ever told me anything in terms of how I should write or direct.”

     

    As a maker, Shah is open to look at concepts which are new, dynamic, challenging and fun to execute.

     

    For the background, Content Hub brings together writers, creators, producers, artistes and broadcast executives, both for TV and digital on one platter. The initiative is aimed at established professionals, newbies and anyone who is keen on taking the plunge into the fascinating world of writing, producing and creating for television and the digital space.

  • “Unlike the west, we don’t have developed comedy genre”: Anooj Kapoor

    “Unlike the west, we don’t have developed comedy genre”: Anooj Kapoor

    MUMBAI: Think you can tell great stories? If yes, then here is your chance to meet the best from the industry and learn from them.

     

    The growth of the visual medium, from traditional television to online short format content to mobile TV content, has changed the way it is created and especially how it is consumed. Now, more than ever before, there is a constant need for new and exciting content, and as a result, a requirement of dynamic creators and scriptwriters.

     

    Bringing together writers, creators, producers, artistes and broadcast executives, both for TV and digital, Indiantelevision.com’s Content Hub aims to bridge that gap.

     

    The initiative is aimed at established professionals, newbies and anyone who is keen on taking the plunge into the fascinating world of writing, producing and creating for television and the digital space.

     

    In the first of the series, indiantelevision.com profiles a broadcaster, which has never shied away from taking risks that too in the space of comedy. Sab sr EVP and business head Anooj Kapoor talks about the scope of Indian content going international, the different kind of concepts the channel is looking for, the demand for good story tellers and much more.

     

    Sab, the only channel dedicated to comedy has given viewers popular shows like Taarek Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, Chidiya Ghar, F.I.R and Lapataganj. But according to Kapoor it wasn’t an easy journey.

     

    He says that unlike the west, it is very difficult to create comedy in India. “Sab has become the first dedicated comedy channel on the Indian television space and that has only happened in the last five years and therefore we have to make do with whatever restricted but very talented bunch of people that are present in the comedy genre in television. Therefore, yes, it is difficult to tell interesting stories in the genre of comedy,” he pin points.

     

    Moreover, since it taken upon itself the challenge of doing daily comedies, the task has become doubly difficult. “However, not only are we able to sustain the channel with good quality content albeit with a very restricted talent pool but at the same time through our marketing initiatives like Chai Pe Chutkule we are trying to source fresh talent and expand the talent base. I hope that as we go along not only do we grow as a channel, not only does comedy grow as a genre but also the talent pool of comedy writers, actors, directors and producers also increases,” states Kapoor.

     

    To further engage with the audience and give them some little more of entertainment, it tried its stint with stand-up comedy with Tu Mere Agal Bagal Hai which ran for 60 episodes and got a decent response from the viewers.

     

    The channel can also be credited for bringing paradigm shift in Indian content, moving away from melodrama to light hearted family entertainment.  “And, within that, the fact when the rest of the GECs were talking about the negatives of the joint family system, Sab was talking about the positives of the joint family system,” explains Kapoor.

     

    He further goes on to say that in the recent times, more and more general entertainment channels (GECs) have realised and recognised that the saas-bahu genre is passé and therefore one sees a lot more new and fresh themes now being tried across other channels.

     

    Is there some fatigue setting in comedy? Kapoor reverts saying that on Sab, he ensures that whenever a fatigue is setting on a comedy show, it is immediately replaces it.  “This is why we have a robust product line up and as well as, perhaps, one of the few channels in the television space which launches fresh programs at regular intervals,” says Kapoor.

     

    Kapoor believes, the Indian content definitely has the potential to go international. The channel’s show Gutur Gu, a silent comedy, first of its kind produced on Indian television was successfully sold at last year’s Mipcom in Cannes to several countries.

  • Crystal Ball gazing: The biggies give their view

    Crystal Ball gazing: The biggies give their view

    MUMBAI: With the digital ecosystem evolving since the last few years, the next three to five years are seen as the years of ‘quantum leap’. These were the views of a panel at the Crystal Ball session on the second day of Mix Radio Music Connects (MRMC).

    The panel comprised of Gaana.com VP and business head Pawan Agarwal, HMV Saregama India head music business Adarsh Gupta, Bharti Airtel chief product officer Anand Chandrasekaran, Sony MAX and Sony MIX senior executive VP and  business head Neeraj Vyas and Samsung South West Asia director and head, media and  cloud services Tarun Malik.

    With a rise in music streaming services, visual content streaming services and music channels and companies competing for content will give more traction to these services felt the experts.

    Commenting on the digital eco system, Gupta said, “It is going to take a quantum leap in the next three years; there has been immense mobile penetration and data digitisation in recent times and many digital services have been launched.”

    “Since most music channels are free to air and the revenue comes only through ads, music channels have 20-25 minutes of advertisement/ trailers per hour. We need to focus on bringing music back to the audience but the music channels are here to stay,” according to Vyas.

     “Music channels have a base of around 400 million people and that is the number covered by TAM. We need a lot of changes like digitization, it is the future.” he emphasized.

    Agarwal added, “There are two big things that are happening right now – availability of content and a lot more awareness of the industry going faster. The number of downloads are increasing and digital is the future.”

    Talking about the music industry, Chandrasekaran added, “This is the best time for the music industry.”

    Malik further explained, “Personalisation is the key and differentiation should go beyond just music. The services must be more centric and personalised in terms of what the users want to consume.”
    “What we need to focus on in the coming future is ‘convergence of devices’. The volume of consumption is increasing and they need to be accessible easily across all users’ devices,” he added.

    Chandrasekharan expressed his opinions on what is the need of the hour saying, “Only 1/5 of the overall smartphone using population has the data capability to use apps. We all need to cater to what users want. User problems need to be solved and there must be transparency. For example, when a user is using a music streaming app, they do not know how much data is going to be consumed. That is why we have introduced Freedom subscription in Wynk, which includes bundled data.”

    The biggest challenge that the music industry faces is piracy, especially in India, where users download illegal music for convenience. Agarwal said, “The entire industry is trying very hard to curb piracy by introducing many services. Apps should introduce subscriptions which allow the users to download music when they have Wi-Fi and later listen, without data usage.”

    The panellists agreed that the mid-term goal is to get at least a hundred million people to stream music, which will help reduce the piracy. With healthy smartphone consumption in the country, they believe, that hundred million is a reasonable number to expect in the next two years.

     

  • YouTube is the platform to be on, says AIB’s Tanmay Bhat

    YouTube is the platform to be on, says AIB’s Tanmay Bhat

    MUMBAI: The 6th edition of MixRadio Music Connects provided a pivotal platform for the discussion of Indian multi channel networks (MCNs) and how YouTube has helped artists in building a strong viewership, new content and audiences.  When it comes to MCNs, India has a large digital video market and the younger audiences today are more likely to watch digital videos than television.

    Moderated by Music Matters president and Branded co founder and CEO Jasper Donat, the panelists included All India Bakchod (AIB) co founder Tanmay Bhat,  Qyuki Digital Media co founder and managing director Samir Bangara, Ping Network co-founder and director Rajeshree Naik,  Digital Quotient (HT Media) business head entertainment Parmeet Lamba and YouTube India head of content operations Satya Raghavan. The session discussed the advent of MCNs and the rising players who are creating content online.

    As the co-founder of one of India’s leading YouTube channels, Bhat spoke about how it all began for him. He said, “Well, we began as a comedy podcast and then sometime last year, we started doing sketch comedy on YouTube. Our YouTube channel became the fastest growing channels in India. We now also make content for brands”.   

    Raghavan expressed that he was delighted with the fresh content emerging on YouTube. He commented, “Earlier, I used to only watch YouTube for movie trailers but all of a sudden I am finding myself watching unique content on channels like AIB. It’s truly been a fascinating year for YouTube”.  

    Speaking of the business model of YouTube, Raghavan further elaborated, “YouTube is platform where you see online videos. Advertising is our primary source of revenue and we share more than half of that with the creators”.

     
    Bangara added on the role of MCN in today’s market, “We are like the new-age label. We do what record labels did for musicians in the traditional market. Today, you do not have to be in a bar to discover new music talent. YouTube does that for you”.

    Talking about the rise of MCNs, Donat pointed out, “This is an area where there is some serious money. Companies are being bought for hundreds of millions of dollars. One of the biggest MCN deals had Disney acquiring Maker Studios for $500 million plus $400 million earn out”.

    Bangara responded, “We are in the broadcast network creation space and monetization on that is two-fold. Ad monetisation on YouTube is not sufficient. As a MCN, we bring a lot of branded content to the table. We take talent, package them and promote them to brands. Our business model is a mix of brand monetization as well as CPM ad monetisation”.

    Naik agreed with Bangara and further added, “This business is eventually going to be based on relationships. The technology platform is YouTube but the MCN is purely a service business. It’s all about understanding the ecosystem and helping the artists benefit”.

    Parmeet Lamba commented, “It is also important that we help individual artistes in monetizing and distributing their content.  In the regional space, a lot of Punjabi music has been coming up. We build talent and they become popular. There are a lot of deals and collaborations happening in the market. A lot of brands are approaching us to feature their products for the artists’ next videos. The brands offer to sponsor these artists. And with the gained popularity, these performing artists get more live gigs”.

    Elaborating on how YouTube helped him in his popularity meter, Bhat said, “When we attended the YouTube fanfest this year, it was a very overwhelming experience. People were watching us on their phones. It was a different level of engagement altogether. YouTube is the platform to be on!”

    Adding on to that, Raghavan added, “There are a lot of cover singers who are becoming popular. We also get to see original content in the music space. Being on YouTube definitely gets you more gigs and it is an amazing platform for the common man to express himself. However, one needs to constantly put up content. Fans love to see the passion you have for your craft and the engagement level needs to be high. The creator needs to be disciplined and also focus on interacting with his or her fans. 2015 is going to be the year of music!”

     While speaking on the potential of YouTubers breaking into the mainstream music scene, Naik opined, “If you were a musician about 20 years ago, you would have sung for about 5 years and then made a video. Today if you want to be a musician, you need to begin with the video. Today, you have that platform that can help you get noticed. That pretty much sums up why digital videos are so important for musicians”.

     

  • Music is a natural fit for brands

    Music is a natural fit for brands

    MUMBAI: One cannot deny the strong connection between brands and music in the ever evolving music industry. More and more labels, artists and musicians are becoming aware about brand association that could help them attain a more successful outcome. The second day of the 6th edition of MixRadio Music Connects in Mumbai had CNBC TV-18 editor storyboard Anant Rangaswami lead a panel discussion called “The brand story”. Through this panel, the audience got to learn about the importance of brands in the music ecosystem. The invited panelists included Viacom18 EVP media and business head MTV and MTV Indies Aditya Swami, Bacardi India general manager marketing Ali Imran and Vivanta by Taj GM Manojeet Bhujabal.

    The panel discussed the role of brand partnerships within the music industry. The session started with Branded co founder and CEO and Music Matters president Jasper Donat and indiantelevision.com group founder, CEO and editor in chief Anil Wanvari present an award to Imran, for Bacardi’s excellent brand association with music.

    The key point of the discussion began with understanding how brands develop their strategies when collaborating with music.

    Speaking about Taj’s music connect, Bhujabal elaborated: “Music is a primordial expression for us. Our hotels are well-known but we want to present an alternative life outside the realm of hotels.  It was tough to initially develop a notion for Vivanta.  We started on a basic level through house music. We went onto present Urban Tease, Barn Fest, Divas of Rock and Urban Folk. We also developed the Vivanta Sound Lab series and we look forward to discover emerging talents with fresh content.”

    Imran felt there is no straight substitute for music. He commented, “Music is like oxygen for us. It reaches humans in a way that probably no other passion does. For Bacardi, music is a natural fit considering what the brand stands for, its lineage of parties and celebrating the human spirit.”

    Providing his perspective as a channel head on why brands get associated with a music channel, Aditya Swami explained, “Digital has become a key part of the consumer ecosystem. It has allowed brands to talk to consumers in the language of music. We have attracted brands that want to create conversations and we have successfully done so over the years”.

    Swami added that the presentation of music is of paramount importance in the industry, today. He said, “With brands supporting us, we have managed to showcase original music in the best way possible. Today, a brand like Pepsi is a partner of MTV Indies, a dedicated destination for non-film, non-mainstream music. We have given Pepsi a great platform for people to talk about what the brand is doing for the youth. Music is the voice of youth. It’s not just TV ratings that matters now. Traditional metrics are changing and there is a need to build brand love. Platforms like music are fantastic for this”.

    Swami elaborated further that the music industry has an opportunity to develop within the area of music and brand partnerships. He said, “In the last 12 months, every interesting music idea that we have taken to the market has had at least a brand that is interested, as opposed to taking an idea of a reality show or TV soap where the market has become very saturated. Today, retail and lifestyle products are also part of the music ecosystem”.

    At this point, Rangaswami added that brands might have a set of guidelines that would help attain a more successful outcome. He asked the panel how do the brands decide what kind of music to select when working on a campaign?

    To that, Bhujabal replied: “We initially work with content partners who know the domain well. We enunciate what are the idioms and what to bring on the floor. We look at the audience and decide who we are targeting. After that, it is the job of the content creator to curate”. Bhujabal also emphasised on the importance of social media and social engagement to see how many people are engaged and liking their association with that selected genre of music.

    Ending the panel discussion with some food for thought, Swami commented:  “Today, I do not see enough brands or content players doing interesting cuts of our pop music industry. The content guys need to come up with interesting ideas and content relevant for brands around pop music industry. That is a huge space for us to tap into”.

     

  • Music streaming is gathering momentum in India, feel music experts

    Music streaming is gathering momentum in India, feel music experts

    MUMBAI: At the 6th edition of MixRadio Music Connects, one of the leading panel discussions touched on the topic of streaming music in the country. The objective behind the discussion was to find out what the future of music entailed and study the growth of music streaming in India so far.

     

    The panelists included MixRadio senior product manager Melissa Price, Believe Digital head of sales in Asia Sylvain Delange, RDIO vice president of emerging markets  Snehal Shinde, Guevera founder and director of innovation Claes Loberg and was moderated by Times Music chief operating officer Mandar Thakur.

     

    The session discussed the potential of streaming music, a way of delivering music without the need to download files of different audio formats.

     

    Thakur introduced the session by providing a background on streaming. He said, “Often music streaming is looked upon as a tremendous blessing or a mysterious key to the great digital future. But in the last decade or so, we have been losing consumers. However, there has been the emergence of many music streaming services with many different characteristics and potential.”

     

    Speaking about the different services, Shinde added his opinions on what makes RDIO stand out. He said, “We are a radio first service, so it’s all about giving users a laid-back experience and we achieve that by providing users with rich curated radio stations.  We play songs that people like to listen to.”

     

    Loberg shared his thoughts about the potential of Guvera, an Australian based music streaming service, which has officially launching in India today. “We have very innovative tools and we will make it easy for users to discover, share and manage the music they love,” he said.

     

    Price talked about the evolution of Nokia Music and said, “We had a long history in the music space. We started our transformation in 2010 when we studied the music streaming space. We focused on determining the easiest way for people to listen to music. Last year, we brought to forefront a feature of Nokia music – Play Me that is the ultimate feature in providing the laid back experience. All you have to do is open the app and it’ll keep you entertained providing your own personal radio station with just one click.”

     

    Price also added that customised meta data can help in the profiling of an artist. She said, “Good representation of the artists is important as it allows people to discover new talents and understand the existing ones. By promoting artists well, people would want to find out more about them. It increases curiosity. Things like images, biographies and Twitter handles are very important. It is important to get the meta data right in order to also know the kind of people you are connecting with to the music.”

     

    Delange, who is heading a team of 10 music label managers in India, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and China, gave an overview of the role of his company in achieving a key market position in Asia. He said, “It’s really about making the product available. Our main role is to deliver the content, in order to make it available and visible on all the relevant platforms. We help the artistes and labels to understand their audiences and the marketing processes. We package the best products and ensure that everything is pitch-perfect in order to get the best results”.

     

    The discussion then moved to the importance of social media in a world that that is increasingly being run by algorithms and lesser by humans.

     

     Shinde opined, “Facebook likes can be quite deceiving but social media does make content accessible to a wide range of people. The artistes themselves have to be constantly in touch with their fan base. They need to engage through their social networks.”

     

    Melissa elaborated on the importance of knowing latest trends and aliasing with bloggers to promote the content.  “You need to understand the importance of a fan base. When we deliver music, we are delivering it to the fans.  At MixRadio, we have a great team in India that keeps in touch with labels. It is important to know what is trending and what is popular,” she added. In her concluding remarks she said that they were working with significant bloggers who  recommended  the music to their fans  and as a result the number of listeners had increased.

  • MixRadio announces next generation of music personalization

    MixRadio announces next generation of music personalization

    Mumbai: : MixRadio today chose the MixRadio Music Connects event in Mumbai for the global launch announcement of its new natively built recommendation engine. The new dynamic personalization engine is developed specifically to best deliver its one touch ‘Play Me’ personalized radio experience for a global audience.

     

    Over the past 5 years, MixRadio has supplied a legitimate digital music service to over 20 million users in India. Recent research by MixRadio has revealed that mobile music streaming in India will continue grow by a massive 110% in the next four years, meaning 1 in 15 mobile music streamers globally will be in India. The research showed that personal radio will dominate this growth, and having existing data and preferences for millions of users already, MixRadio’s new personalization engine will deliver a new level of experience for Indian listeners.  

     

    The new engine curates a greater breadth of music in a more highly personalized way than ever before. It uses billions of data points from millions of consumers around the world, and uses them to deliver a completely relevant and unique listening experience. Listeners are delivered tracks from deeper into the catalogues of the artists they love, facilitating rediscovery of forgotten favourites alongside discovery of new artists. The new engine evolves the ‘Play Me’ feature of MixRadio to be an even more personal, even more effortless experience.

     

    Jyrki Rosenberg, Head of MixRadio, comments “The challenge our development team have faced is curating overwhelming large catalogue of music, 34 million tracks, for a single listener in a way which is completely relevant and personal. Our promise to listeners is to provide their own personal radio station at the touch of a single button, and the new engine lets us truly deliver on that promise”.

     

    The new engine has been in development and evolution since 2010, MixRadio has been moving listeners to the new recommendation engine over the past months, completing the shift today. Initial reports show the new engine is improving retention and engagement with the service.

     

    Karan Grover, Head of Entertainment for IMEA at MixRadio, adds “This is a break though for Indian music fans in terms of how they enjoy music. The new personalization engine will allow us to build on our heritage in this market and make even better use of our huge breadth of regional music. We have been collecting data points on that music for many years, allowing us to serve up that music accurately to the people who will love it. We filter our recommendation of songs by language and our metadata takes into account not just the singer but the composers, actors and directors associated with a particular song, ultimately allowing us to deliver a richer personalization experience.

     

    We are confident that creating the best possible personalized music streaming experience is the most effective business model we could adopt. If people are loving their listening experience, they are going to listen to more music for longer, which is good news for everyone. This combined with the knowledge we have built up around customizing our offerings to local markets in terms of delivering the right price points and billing options, means we are in a strong position to build on the head start we have in India and flourish in the coming years.”

  • Music piracy still continues to worry stakeholders

    Music piracy still continues to worry stakeholders

    MUMBAI: The 6th edition of MixRadio Music Connects (MRMC) commenced on a high note today, emerging as one of the most informative and definitive annual music ecosystem gatherings. Held at the Taj Land’s End Hotel in Bandra, the proceedings of the first day were focused on the Indian music scene and its global development as an industry along with a vast understanding of new emerging platforms for aspiring entrants. The conference was attended by top executives, creative professionals, musicians, decision-makers and company heads who contributed interesting insights about the music industry.

     

    The focus of this year’s event is to find ideas and solutions to increase monetisation and build traction for all those involved in the music business, with a special emphasis on the artiste community. Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and editor in chief Anil Wanvari welcomed everyone to the conference and said, “We hope to establish new grounds in the music industry and share knowledge about the entire ecosystem.”

     

    Branded co-founder and CEO of and Music Matters president Jasper Donat welcomed everyone to the two day conclave and said that he was very excited to be in Mumbai and participate in the event. Mobilium Global CEO Ralph Simon, popularly known as the father of the ring tone, played the perfect presenter for the whole day expressing his unique understanding of Indian music and movies. He believes that the future belongs to the screenagers of India.

     

    The Indian Music Industry president Vijay Lazarus started off the conference by stating the two barriers that are obstructing the growth of the music industry and its investments. According to him, the first barrier is piracy, which affects everyone internationally. He further emphasised, “Due to advance technology, the consumption of music has also increased substantially. However, the monetisation of music for creators and entrepreneurs has gone down. This is frightening.”

     

    The second barrier that stops the growth of the music industry is the inability for the creative and the entrepreneurial fraternities to come together as one. He added, “This is very relevant for India and I am happy that this particular MRMC is dedicated to the artistes as they are the heart and soul of the industry. However, there is also the entrepreneur who is also equally involved. If both the creative and entrepreneurial fraternities come together, we could be a powerhouse and we will be able to monetise our rights”. He concluded his speech by saying that if these two factors can be overcome; there will be no growth limit for the industry.

     

    This was followed by a keynote presentation by Sony Music Entertainment India president for India and Middle East Sridhar S Subramanium. He gave an overview on the current status of our Indian music industry and he said that it is in a “healthier and profitable” position today. He spoke about the “road to a billion” phenomenon and how in a short span of five years, the industry can grow to a billion dollar industry.  He said, “We just need all the right things and get all the ingredients in place and collectively figure work together”. Subramanium highlighted that one of the biggest concerns that lies in the music industry is trying to ape the west.

     

    As part of the solutions, he suggested that the music industry should follow the TV and film industry as examples. He said, “The television industry has a huge advertising market. The music industry is effectively the same thing. People do not want to pay for music anymore. We should focus on making music free in order to curtail piracy. Just like how it happens in television, we should emphasise on getting a large addressable advertising market”.