ITV

Category: Music and Youth

  • Artistes can launch non-film Originals on Gaana, ‘Tum Hardafa Ho’ breaks records

    Artistes can launch non-film Originals on Gaana, ‘Tum Hardafa Ho’ breaks records

    MUMBAI: Gaana, India’s favourite music streaming app, has launched a platform to promote non-film music from artistes under the brand ‘Gaana Originals’. The platform will provide mainstream reach to music artists to launch their Original content at the same scale of a film-based music.

    The first single under Gaana Originals, ‘Tum Hardafa Ho’, composed and sung by the music composer and singer Ankit Tiwari has already garnered about a million streams in five days. This puts it in the same league as most popular film songs on Gaana like Mere Rashke Qamar, Chalti Hai Kya 9 se 12, Tamma Tamma Again, Badri Ki Dulhaniya, et al. This is a new record, which also proves that audience appreciation for independent music is paramount, provided discovery and accessibility for such songs are simplified as done by Gaana.

    Gaana under its ‘Originals’ platform is attempting to reimagine trends in music listening by establishing a platform to promote creativity and move beyond film-based song compositions. This is the first time ever that artistes are being provided a platform to showcase their ingenuity.

    Gaana Originals will feature 11 original songs from top Bollywood/Regional artistes releasing one song a week. It will showcase ingenious works from best of the Bollywood & Punjabi singers like Sonu Nigam, Shaan, Ankit Tiwari, Neha Kakkar, Sona Mohpatra, Tony Kakkar, Millind Gaba, Sonu Kakkar, Gurnazar, Sachin Gupta and Soham.

    Prashan Agawarl, COO, Gaana said, “It is a proud moment for Gaana to launch a platform to help artistes launch non-film music in India. Unlike international markets, most music consumption in India is still Bollywood centric and this is our initiative to empower artistes.”

    Tiwari said, “As a composer, Original music is very important for me and many of us in this creative field. I really want to thank Gaana for giving us the platform to feature and showcase our independent work, it really means a lot to me.”

  • Gaana throws up ‘Yodlee Challenge’, video garners 50 mn impressions

    MUMBAI: As a part of The Glad and The Sad of Kishore campaign, Times Internet’s music streaming app Gaana launched ‘Yodlee challenge’ on 31 July that has gone viral as many reputed singers & Kishore Da fans are challenging their friends and loved ones to Yodlee like Kishore , yesterday #YodleeLikeKishore was trending on twitter for six hours.

    4 August marks the 88th birthday of legendary singer and actor of Indian cinema Kishore Kumar. Popularly known as “Kishore da”, the iconic singer had the ability to give a musical meaning to all human emotions, and therefore has stayed at the pinnacle of musical feats in Indian popular culture across time.To commemorate Kishore Da and his contribution to Indian Music & Bollywood industry, Gaana launched a campaign called – ‘The Glad and The Sad of Kishore Kumar’.

    This campaign is Gaana’s endeavour to get all Kishore Da fans to celebrate life through his music which he left as tribute to Indian cinema. Kishore has the audience encapsulated with a song for every occasion and every phase, and this tribute is only a fitting display of love and respect to the legend.

    On Web/App:

    We’ve created a special occasion page that showcases the best of his music highlighting two themes: ‘The Glad’- the entertaining, the jovial and upbeat Kishore and ‘The Sad’- the solitary, heartbroken, comforter Kishore.

    Landing Page: https://gaana.com/occasion/thegladthesadofkishore

    On Social Media: #YodleeLikeKishore

    Since Kishore Kumar was extremely popular for his unique Yodeling style, we took ‘The Glad’ aspect of the campaign ahead and launched the #YodleeLikeKishore Challenge. We went all-out to challenge artists like Meet Bros, Shaan, Armaan Malik, Darshan Rawal, Shivani Kyshap, Asees Kaur and more to #YodleeLikeKishore which they gladly accepted and went a further notch to challenged their friends in turn.

    The challenge was launched on our social media channels and the audience responded so enthusiastically that it went to on #1 trending spot on Twitter for six hours. The campaign reached out to seven million people on Twitter garnering 50 million impressions for the hashtag-trend in total.

  • Sony Music wants listeners to pay for SRK & Anushka’s ‘Phurrr’

    MUMBAI: In a landmark move, Sony Music India has taken what is potentially its biggest track this year and put it behind a limited-time paywall. Therefore, to be the first one to listen to Pritam & Diplo’s Phurrr featuring superstar Shah Rukh Khan & the gorgeous Anushka Sharma, listeners will have to pay!

    Another massive step in the direction is that a sample video unit of the song will release on YouTube along with the audio on 3 August however the full song, much later.

    A first in the music industry, this one step by Sony Music India promises to be the change agent for the Indian Music Industry.

    Commenting on the same Shridhar Subramaniam, President – Sony Music Entertainment – India and Middle East says, “The concept of ‘everything-free’ will change or rather needs to change to an ecosystem where some things will be free and other things will be paid. The reason ‘Phurrr’ was chosen is because it is the biggest project of the year with an international collaboration so we felt that if we are taking this step then we must do it with a very big song. We needed a big project with a must-listen song that had so much anticipation.”

    He further added, “We’re inserting a paid window in the music business which didn’t exist prior to this.”

    This means that any consumer / listener who wants to access the song first will now have to pay for the same. This bold decision comes after much deliberation with key partners and stake holders including audio streaming platforms such as Saavn, Gaana, Hungama as well as the producer of the film Red Chillies Entertainment. The stakeholders do seem to be supportive of the decision, Shridhar says, “At the end of the day, it is the health of the music industry and the health of the platforms that are at stake and this decision directly benefits the health of the creators. They will definitely be in for this. While also for us Red Chillies, Shah Rukh Khan and Pritam embraced this idea whole heartedly.”

    What Sony Music India is doing with Phurrr is essentially warming up listeners to pay to access the latest music, via subscriptions. The label promises to follow this through with other tracks going forward.

    This is one small step for India and a first for an Indian song and hopefully a move for the better for the Music Industry.

  • Dharmendra releases Shemaroo’s ‘Dastaan-E-Rafi’ docu DVD

    MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment has released Dastaan-E-Rafi, an award winning documentary film based on Mohd. Rafi’s life on DVD to mark his 37th death anniversary. It was launched by the legendary actor Dharmendra who is a self-confessed fan of Mohd. Rafi and for whom Rafi sang several popular songs.

    Recalling his struggling days, Dharmendra shared that he always wished for Rafi Sahab to sing for him. His happiness knew no bounds the day Rafi Sahab sang his first song for him in “Shola Aur Shabnam”. He actually wanted to shout from rooftops telling the world that Rafi Sahab sang for him. He always found him to be a saintly and a simple man. In fact, when other singers started to give playback for him, Dharmendra used to become very uncomfortable and took a long time to adjust. Such was his unconditional love for Rafi Sahab.

    Dastaan-E-Rafi was subsequently presented to Anandji (of Kalyanji Anandji fame), Pyarelal (of Laxmikant Pyarelal fame), singers Anuradha Paudwal and Usha Mangeshkar at their respective residences.

    Dastaan-E-Rafi, directed by Acharya and Vinay Patel, features Bollywood personas who have worked closely with Rafi Sahab including Shammi Kapoor, Manoj Kumar, Rishi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor, Jeetendra, Khayyam, Pyarelal, Shamshad Begum, Ghulam Ali, Pandit Jasraj, Bappi Lahiri, Uttam Singh, Amit Kumar, and many more. His brother and children also share their memories about the great man. Prakask Karlekar is the cinematographer of the film.

    The documentary is an introspective attempt to discover the real human being behind the glory of legendary singer Mohd. Rafi as industry celebs and his dear ones recall his life journey. The film traces his beginnings, right from his birth in Amritsar to his entry in Bombay; his days of struggle to his achieving stardom; the various ups and downs in his life including differences with Lata Mangeshkar over royalty issue; his being sidelined after the emergence of Kishore Kumar as a playback singer post 1969 to his powerful comeback in the mid-1970s and then his untimely death in 1980. Even decades after his death, Mohd. Rafi is fondly loved and remembered by fans all over the world and that proves his genius and greatness.

  • What’s exciting Gajendra Singh about his new shows on DD

    MUMBAI: There’s a lot of excitement in Gajendra Singh’s voice. Most of us know him as Gaj – the creator of the super-successful musical formats on Zee TV — Antakshri, SaReGaMa in the early part of the cable and satellite TV revolution.  Today, as the founder of production house Saaibaba Telefilms, Gaj  is quite gung-ho about his  new show that is making its debut on the national pubcaster Doordarshan.

    Titled Suron Ka Eklavya – it’s intention is to find singing talent in an interesting format which seeks reversion to retro songs of three singing legends – Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi – with the help of well-known music directors  Bappi Lahiri, Jatin Pandit and Ismail Darbar, who will serve as mentors to the contestants.

    “Music has been my forte and  I have always endeavored to produce innovative shows. The idea is to build a bridge between the old era and the young generation,” says Gaj.  “Lata Mangeshkar, Mohd Rafi and Kishore Kumar are the pillars of film music, and therefore, even today, their songs and music are a reference point for the new generation. This show will present the songs in their signature styles but with fresh voices and innovative performances.”

    Launched on World Music Day, ‘Suron Ka Eklavya will begin  airing on Doordarshan from 29 July in the 8-9pm time slot on weekends.

    Gaj says it has taken his production house close to a year to get his show on air. “We went through the bidding process,” he says. “We were shortlisted and had to pass all the criteria that Doordarshan asked us to. And, I am happy to have got this far.”

    Suron Ka Eklavya will feature three teams which have been labeled as gharanas (houses) –  Lata Mangeshkar Gharana, Kishore Kumar Gharana and Mohammad Rafi Gharana. Contestants will sing old songs in fresh voices retaining the signature style of the respective legends with the help of their mentors and will be judged on their craft and talent. The tagline of the show is: “Andaaz Wahi Awaaz Nayi” (Retaining the style, but in a new voice).

    Going forward, Suron Ka Eklavya will also witness celebrity guests including both, actors and musicians. The production house is in talks with singers such as Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal and Sunidhi Chauhan.

    The 52-episodic talent hunt has been conceptualised by Singh and will be directed by Ashok Singh. The set has been executed by Bhavik and Munna.

    The title track of Suron Ka Eklavya  has been sung by Shaan and Anwesha, the lyrics have been penned by Swanand Kirkire and the show will be hosted by the young and dynamic Abhas Joshi.

    Filming is on at Mumbai’s Filmalaya Studio with a 15 camera set-up. “We are not maintaining a bank of 15- 20 episodes as we will be shooting live and editing on the fly and in post thereafter every week,” says Singh. “We have created a wonderful set with the best lights,  music and technicians, and have invested around Rs 2-3 million in audio, so  that we can get the best acoustics.”

    And what’s good is that Gaj is on the way to recouping his investment of around Rs 450,000 per weekly slot on DD National and production cost of Rs 2.5 million per episode. Indian Oil Corp has come on as a title sponsor whereas Vicco has come in as associate sponsor.

    “The powered by slot is yet open and we are also looking for other associates as well,” says Gaj.

    He reveals that Saaibaba Telefilms is also working on another fiction show MBA Sarpanch which is a biopic of Chhavi Rajawat who left her corporate job and city life to help develop rural India. She became the sarpanch (head of a village administration) of Soda, a village 60 kilometers from Jaipur, Rajasthan. Her grandfather Brig Raghubir Singh had been the sarpanch of the same village 20 years before Rajawat’s election.

    The  half hour show is slated to launch in August and will aired at 7:30 time from Monday – Friday on DD. It has been written by veteran Shanti Bhushan, and has been directed by Sanjeev Chadda who as done a couple of shows with Balaji Telefilms.

    ALSO READ :

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    Doordarshan slots Rafi, Kishore & Lata tribute show from Sat

    Saaibaba musicals & comedy, Balaji dramas may lift DD’s fortunes from Feb

    DD non-prime time slots programmes invited; FCTs specified

  • MTV to air new reality show ‘Dropout Pvt Ltd’

    MUMBAI: MTV launched a new reality show MTV Dropout Pvt. Ltd, presented by Droom.in, powered by Micromax and Maruti Suzuki and grooming partner Gillette which will see the birth of the world’s first ever start-up formed on television.

    Created by Monozygotic and co-developed by MTV and Monozygotic, the show will premiere on 29 July at 7pm and next day onwards on Voot.

    Dropout Pvt. Ltd. is a show that will take viewers through the process of identifying and transforming ‘dropouts’ into the ideal start-up team and kick-starting their entrepreneurial journey.

    Expert businessmen who have excelled in their respective fields, Droom.in CEO and founder Sandeep Aggarwal, Mydala.com CEO and co-founder Anisha Singh, Games2Win CEO and co-founder Alok Kejriwal along with the show’s hosts and creators Raghu Ram and Rajiv Laxman will be a part of panels identifying and transforming ‘dropouts’ into the dream start-up team to kick-start their entrepreneurial journey.

    Speaking about the first season of Dropout Pvt. Ltd., Viacom18 youth, music and English entertainment head Ferzad Palia said, “India is brimming with young untapped energy keen on making ideas come to life and we at MTV, believe that as the largest platform for everything related to the youth, it is our responsibility to recognize, channelize and mobilize this energy by providing the youth with the right tools to make ideas happen. MTV aims at empowering these youngsters by providing them the biggest encouragement in the form of Dropout Pvt. Ltd. to kick start their entrepreneurial dreams. We at MTV realize that the youth today with their ‘go-getter’ attitude is willing to dream big to achieve their goals. We just want to give them the wings to fly.”

    Raghu Ram shared, “This exciting new show which revolves around the idea of entrepreneurship will be all about gutsy young minds keen on achieving their dreams. Rajiv and I saw a lot of potential in the idea of the show and we sat down with the MTV team to discuss and finalize the concept. The two of us together have conceptualized the show and will be producing and hosting the show as well. This is India’s first of its kind startup reality show aimed at the youth and we hope to boost the confidence of a lot of youngsters out there as we already have a long-standing connection with the youth of India.”

    “In a country like India where blazing one’s own trail is not encouraged too much; MTV is yet again taking a brave step by celebrating those youngsters who choose to go their own way by providing them with the correct platform to give life to their dreams. Through this show that has been conceptualized by Raghu and me, we aim to transform these young people into the ideal entrepreneurs and kick- start their start-up journey. When we were starting out, Raghu and I have had to go through a lot and hence understand the struggle and we both understand the youth very well due to the work we have done with them throughout our careers. It takes a lot to give up on everything and start something of your own and we are here to make this a lot easier for the youth out there,” said Rajiv Laxman.

    Speaking about the show, Aggarwal shared, “Dropout Pvt. Ltd. is a brilliant concept. This is an amazing platform for young minds who have a knack to start something of their own to be pitted against the biggest real-world business challenges, who must survive to form India’s dream startup team. Entrepreneurship is nothing without risk- taking and taking risks is scary whether you are going for a game of poker or quitting your college to pursue one of your promising business ideas. Entrepreneurship is a real test of once conviction, confidence and courage and the ones who take risks ultimately reach their destination. Dropout Pvt. Ltd. will be a great kick starter for all the risk- takers out there!”

    Singh also mentioned, “It feels exhilarating to be a part of the jury for Dropout Pvt. Ltd, especially after interacting with the kind of people that have walked in through the doors during the audition rounds. Each one had a phenomenal story or idea. It’s great that the Indian youth finally has a large platform to experiment with their ideas and launch their start-up dreams. We are looking for contestants who have the ‘self-starter’ attitude. Love that MTV recognizes that the youth today has bigger dreams and is willing to do what it takes to beat the odds. They are ready to change the status quo to make a difference. It’s time to become bigger than your dreams and MTV is giving you a chance to do it.”

    “It’s a different high being one’s own 8boss and a show like Dropout Pvt. Ltd. will help young minds kickstart their journey towards realizing their dream. Entrepreneurship is not only about being the best at what you do, it’s also about surrounding yourself with people who are smarter and can do a better job. MTV has given the biggest platform to young entrepreneurs to shed all their pretexts and learn how to build a company, not to sell but to keep,” said Kejriwal.

  • 9XO’s D’souza says: We invest zero amount in marketing

    MUMBAI: International music brands had been ruling the English music channel space in India until 9XO emerged five years ago. Today, it authoritatively announces itself as an English music influencer and it’s leaving no stone unturned under the guidance of channel head Clyde D’souza.

    The former MTV associate director joined 9XO at inception. He does all that it takes to stay updated, to keep the channel well-run, and stay close to the audience. This is also one of the reasons for the innovative ideas that the channel has churned in these years.

    In an exclusive interview, D’souza shares 9XO’s journey, innovations, constant race to match up and times when they managed to overtake the digital world and more. Excerpts.

    In these five years, 9XO hasn’t deviated from its core purpose, being a pure play music channel.

    We started with a simple focus to help people discover music. So, we decluttered 9XO from all the other channels that play reality and lifestyle. We don’t do any of that. We stick to top 40 English songs. When a viewer comes to 9XO he gets 15 songs in an hour posed to another channel that might give 7-8 songs per hour. The other channels also have lot more breaks. We have lesser breaks.

    Does 9XO believe in 360-degree marketing campaigns?

    We invest zero amount in marketing. Our marketing guys do a great job by tying up with the biggest events in India be it Sunburn or EVC. We give more banks for their buck. There are also other channels but we give them more coverage.

    How is the channel doing on the BARC charts?

    We have been kicking a** as far as BARC is concerned. For the last eight weeks, we have been number one. Our competitors are an international brand. They have been in the space for 10 years now, we are five years younger company and we are still holding our own. We have created our channel from scratch, but we are doing well on social, GRPs and people love the channel. So, that’s a great story.

    9XO has constantly been innovative in building connect with its audience. Has it helped build the viewership?

    We have been innovating for our young viewers. So, the first year we had Tweet Down. It was our Twitter-based countdown show, where we would put 20 songs on Twitter and ask them to tweet their favourite songs. We would then play those songs along with their tweets. The third year we launched Hook –an app that matches you with someone who likes the same songs. We call it match over music. They are connected via music and 9XO shows those hooks on the channel. This year we have launched Insta Top 10. It’s our new countdown via Instagram. You comment on the song you like and we will show that song on-air along with the Instagram profile.

    A few years ago we had Snapstars.  Here we asked the viewers to take selfies using one of snapchat filters. Every week we would ask them to face swap with their favourite artist. Then we would put it on-air. Thos are the kind of innovations that we continuously keep doing at 9XO, which we think the viewers like and they keep coming back to us.

    Read the full story here:

    We have to find ways in which we can differentiate ourselves: 9XO channel head Clyde D’souza

     

  • MTV Nishedh: International family & sexual health series’ Indian version starts in ’18

    MUMBAI: Viacom18 and MTV Staying Alive Foundation are bringing MTV Shuga with localised Indian content in 2018. The announcement was made in London at the Family Planning Summit 2020.

    At the Family Planning 2020 summit in London, Viacom18 announced its intention to launch MTV Nishedh , a localized format of the critically and commercially acclaimed drama series MTV Shuga, in India. The summit, which was co-hosted by UK Dept. for International Development and UN Population Fund, in association with USAID and Global Affairs Canada, saw Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) announce its plans to expand MTV Shuga with two new localized versions in India and Egypt by 2020.

    At the heart of it, MTV Nishedh will be the centrepiece of a MTV Shuga styled mass media behaviour change campaign in India, aimed at increasing knowledge and generating positive attitude towards contraceptive use, gender violence, HIV prevention and child abuse. MTV Staying Alive Foundation had pioneered MTV Shuga, its most successful behaviour change campaign till date, in Nairobi, Kenya in 2009 with a long-running drama TV series and multimedia campaign that follows the lives of young people on the African continent.

    “Education and awareness must form the backbone of liberation – be it economic or sexual. With just 15% of the total youth population having being exposed to any form of sex education, as a society we have allowed social stigma to overpower our responsibility to educate and empower our future.”

    Observed Viacom18 Group CEO Sudhanshu Vats: “‘Entertainment’ is our business, ‘engaging’ consumers, our strength and ‘enriching’ their lives, a responsibility. These 3 E’s together form our legacy, that of a network with a humane purpose. With MTV being the country’s most resonant youth brand, we are optimally poised to dial up the reach of sex education in our country, through MTV Nishedh.”

    “We know that storytelling has the power to catalyse positive social change, and have seen that first-hand in Africa with series like MTV Shuga,” said MTV Staying Alive Foundation ED & MTV International SVP – social responsibility Georgia Arnold.

    “By bringing this format to new countries and new continents, we are committed to challenging misconceptions and inspiring our audiences to talk openly and honestly about their sexual health, encouraging more young people to protect themselves.”

    With a drama series at its core, MTV Nishedh will take a 360 ‘edutainment’ approach that incorporates multiple touchpoints for promoting sexual and reproductive health beyond the TV screen — including content on digital and social media platforms to reach an estimated audience of more than 281 million young people.

  • Gaana signs exclusive alliance for Jassi Gill’s latest track ‘Dill Tutda’

    Gaana, India’s favorite music app has announced another exclusive association, this time with Punjabi youth icon – Jassi Gill; a heartthrob, an exceptional performer, a gifted artist- a complete superstar of Punjabi cinema in his own capacity. Gaana, will have the exclusive rights for online music streaming of this song for next six months.

    This single is a clear hit and is already trending across social media. Within 2 weeks of its release, it has reached crossed 1.5 million playouts on Gaana which is fastest for any Punjabi song till now!

    Prashan Agarwal, COO, Gaana, said “Jassi Gill is a talented versatile singer and is the voice behind foot-tapping numbers such as Bapu Zimidar, Snapchat and has also sung heart-wrenching ballads such as Ik saal, Pyaar Mera, Gabbroo, Fer ohi hoyea and many more with awe inspiring finesse.”

    Jassi Gill’s ‘Dill tutda’ is the second exclusive song alliance for Gaana, our first exclusive ‘Laembadgini’ with Diljit Dosanjh has done superbly well & crossed 15 million mark on Gaana in less than 5 months.

    On exclusive association with Gaana , Jassi said “ Gaana is the biggest music streaming platform and I am really excited about this partnership. I am eagerly waiting to see the response my new song Dill Tutda gets from the audience. I have put my heart and soul in this song. It is piece of work that I believe everyone will be able to relate to”.Listen to this song only on Gaana – http://gaana.com/song/dill-tutda

  • Gaana acted on users’ desire to share, says COO Prashan Agarwal

    MUMBAI: Listening to Gaana is no longer a solitary pursuit, limited to one’s headphones, car or room… with Gaana Social, users can share their music with anyone, anywhere, anytime – spreading the joy that only music can bring.

    When a listener hears a song that sets her pulse racing – she wants to share it with her gang, friends and family immediately. The new Gaana Social feature lets her do just that. Users can share their favorite playlists, see what their friends are listening to, follow favorite artists and top trends – creating deep social connections.

    Gaana.com COO Prashan Agarwal said, “We spent a lot of time in understanding how our users listen to music and found that they had a deep emotional desire to share their music with their friends and family in a seamless experience..Gaana Social does just that for its users, developing deeper social connections and creating content virality.”

    Gaana Social will enable users to maintain social media connections, when logged in from Facebook and will also allow making new friends through various discovery points in the app. With Gaana social users will be able to:

    Connect with Friends: Follow your friends, Discover music they love, Share music you love

    Discover amazing people & music: Find people who love music. Connect with them. Discover with them
    Discover best of Gaana: Enjoy music curated by editors & Gaana network – all personalised

    Gaana’s continued focus to enrich product experience has also been applauded by its users; Gaana app has received 4.65 star rating on all its all recent releases taking its overall rating to 4.3 stars on playstore. This is an impressive feat considering the fact that Gaana has over a million reviews on the playstore alone. Gaana has received 5-star ratings from nearly 60% of its million+ reviewers on the store. This speaks volumes of Gaana’s loyal user base and consumer affinity for Gaana app.

    Gaana continues to strengthen its leadership position, after adding Facebook messenger bot, Android Auto, Amazon Fire TV & Chromecast last year; Gaana is now working on a voice search & play feature for its Android users. Users would simply tap the mic to hear their favourite tracks as the voice search delivers much better experience as it is faster, more convenient, and less prone to typing errors.