ITV

Category: Music and Youth

  • Making music holistic to nurture nexgen talent, says Sony’s Neeraj Vyas

    MUMBAI: To Go-Beyond simply being ‘curators of good music’, Sony MIX and Sony ROX HD have committed to raising the bar, by not just curating good music but also facilitating the creation of great music. The music cluster of Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) is all set to launch ‘Indian Music Lab | Artist of the month,’ that will provide a platform for the next-gen singers to showcase their versatile talent. The property will kick start on World Music Day – 21 June 2017 and shall be promoting twelve emerging singers over the course of one year on both the channels.

    Comments SPN senior EVP & business head Neeraj Vyas: “Sony MIX & Sony ROX HD are among the preferred music channels in the country. Music has always occupied a central place in the hearts of Indians, but a lot of talent in this field is hidden and unexplored. In collaboration with Indian Music Lab, we are expanding our vision of making our music cluster, a holistic platform to nurture next-gen talent and original music content. We feel privileged to launch this new initiative and promote India’s rich music culture.”

    In collaboration with Indian Music Lab – a new music initiative, this pioneering offering by SPN provides a platform and an opportunity for upcoming singers to train under experienced artistes and shape their ambitions into reality. To give a head start to emerging talent from the country, Sony MIX and Sony ROX HD will showcase one singer-artist every month with two of their original compositions airing on both the channels.

    The first artiste to showcase his talent is Shikhar Kumar with two original compositions ‘Ibaadat’ and ‘Mannat ka Dhaaga’. Other artists to be featured are: Sachin Dave, Hansadhuti Kundu, Ashwani Bisoya, Nimit Luharuka, Aashima Mahajan, Alan, Kevin, Prashant, Neha Chauhan, Anurag Puranik and Manveer Sood.

    This journey undertaken by Sony MIX and ROX HD offers a delightful showcase of fresh singing talent to its musically inclined viewer base. Going beyond the talent show routine, ‘Indian Music Lab | Artist of the month’ will become an ongoing platform for good singers to get recognition at a national level.

  • Doordarshan slots Rafi, Kishore & Lata tribute show from Sat

    NEW DELHI: Just over six months since Doordarshan declared the results of the prime time auctions for DD National in December, the first of these programmes is finally all set to go on air. Commencing on 24 June, the unique music reality show ‘Suron ka Eklavya’ will be telecast every Saturday and Sunday from 8 pm to 9 pm.

    The show has been produced by the multifaceted media company Saaibaba Telefilms which had won slots, as did Balaji Telefilms.

    While Balaji won four slots, Saai Baba Telefilms bagged two. Saai won the bids for 7.30 pm to 8 pm from Monday to Friday, and 8 pm to 9 pm on Saturday and Sunday. As the RFP (request for proposal) document had made it clear that no party could bid for more than three slots in a week, DD sources told indiantelevision.com that Balaji had to surrender one of the slots it won in the bid.

    ‘Suron ka Eklavya’ will mark a tribute to the three pillars of playback singing – the legendary — Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, and Lata Mangeshkar with gharanas named after them.

    The concept of the show is to present the gems of Bollywood music from the golden period of Hindi music with fresh voices retaining the signature style of the legends. The weekly show will feature the best of the industry and will engage the audience with spell bound music, anecdotes, interaction with judges and much more.

    The show has a mixed bag of young talent, veterans from the fraternity, and stunning sets making it visually appealing. The contestants will be groomed and nurtured for their future music careers by celebrity mentors.

    While there are many music reality shows, Suron ka Ekalavya is expected to stand out with its innovative and unique format, details of which will be revealed soon. Link for the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWZ8lnQZbJg

    In the auctions held and for which results were announced in the second week of December last, no bids were received for three slots: 10 pm to 10.30 pm and 10.30 to 11 pm from Monday to Thursday and the 7pm to 8 pm slot on Sunday.

    After two failures at auctions in 2016, Doordarshan had after a Prasar Bharati Board meeting in October last announced a series of concessions once the programmers come on board, including lowering base price for a 30-minute slot to Rs. 150,000.

    Earlier this slot had been fixed at Rs 250.000 when the auction was first announced in June last year and was further decreased to Rs 200,000 when the new date was set for a second auction in early September 2016.

    Producers/production houses that have produced at least 200 hours of general entertainment programming, including feature film productions in any Indian language in the last three years, and have a turnover of minimum Rs 30 million per annum in the field of TV and film production in the last three financial years are eligible to apply.

    Applicants for weekend slots in the genres of reality, game and quiz were required to have produced 100 hours of such content in the last three years. However, DD sources said that certain changes had been made for successful bidders to promote their programmes.

    Successful bidders will now also be allowed to approach and obtain advertisements from public service undertaking for their programmes on Doordarshan, which was not permitted earlier. Doordarshan has also laid down a compulsory number of promotional commercials, which will be free, on various channels of Doordarshan network.

    In addition, successful bidders will be allowed to ‘bank’ their free commercial time. That is, in case a successful bidder has not exhausted the number of promotional commercials (totalling 240 seconds) permitted before the telecast of a particular programme, the balance can be used as and when the programme picks up in popularity.

    The exit option has also been relaxed: in case a producer decides to opt out of the scheme, he will need to give only 45 days notice instead of three months. The lock-in period for this has also been reduced from one year to six months.

  • Sony Mix celebrates sixth year glory with renditions of idents

    MUMBAI: Sony Mix has unveiled seven renditions of their channel’s signature ident, with some of the country’s most popular singers and musicians. These renditions are an expression of what the channel stands for and seamlessly ties back to its tagline – ‘Dekho, Suno, Gungunao’.

    The music idents for Sony Mix have been created by renowned musicians like Sonu Nigam, Javed Ali, Jonita Gandhi, Nandini Shankar, Rakesh Chaurasia, Rhythm Shaw and Purbayan Chatterjee. These idents are a reflection of the channel’s refreshed look that was launched earlier this month, marking the completion of its six glorious years in India.

    Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) Max Cluster and Sony Mix senior EVP and business head  Neeraj Vyas said, “ Being leaders in the music and entertainment industry, we are proud to come up with a unique concept of creating channel idents. This is the first time any music channel has come up with a signature tune and created their renditions. The singers and musicians have done utmost justice to the idents by lending their voices to it and we are confident that our music-loving audiences will be humming these idents as they go about the daily affairs.”

    Below are the details to each rendition of the ident: Rendition #1: Javed Ali

    Video Link:

    For his rendition, Javed Ali wanted to experiment with a combination of Indian classical music and Sufi music. Sufi music is derived from the works of Sufi poets with a huge influence of a percussion instrument and a single vocalist. Beginning with the ‘Thaan’ and ending with a beautifully composed ‘Alaap’, Javed Ali’s voice and his singing style is an amazing catalyst that creates magic in this tune.

    Commenting on the rendition, Javed Ali says, “There is always magic created when the team that you work with has complete faith in you. The journey of creating this rendition started off when I met a very able music composer,  Raju Singh. When I heard the tune, I knew that this will strike that emotional chord with the viewers.

    Rendition #2: Rakesh Chaurasia

    Video Link:

    The renowned flutist Rakesh Chaurasia’s rendition to the MIX signature tune lends itself to a symphony with the Tabla. He has added a few key flute techniques like fluttering and the sound of Shakuhachi as catalysts to this beautiful rendition.

    “I had worked with Raju Singh ji on the original version of the MIX signature tune a few years ago and it was an honor to work with him again for MIX. This time the concept was very interesting as we focused on one instrument at a time for the same tune. It was a great experience as I had to give this tune my touch and technique with the bamboo flute. We thought this would take time, but the composition was so good that it hardly took us a couple of hours to come up with the rendition,” says Rakesh.

     

  • PALM Expo has a stellar line-up of speakers

    MUMBAI: The three-day PALM Conference & Seminar Programme 2017 will encompass highly informative and educational lectures, panel discussions, seminar sessions, company sponsored product presentations and workshops on subjects of relevance ranging from stage sound & light, AV install & integration & install to music production industry.

    Inspiring, Informing and Educating are a stellar line up of ace speakers who have excelled in their respective fields. The first day of the conference programme will witness a session on ‘When Lighting & Sound Interact with Becket Tundatil’ which will be moderated by Pankaj Pawan. In this session, the conference delegates will learn about Becket’s unique lighting design on screen. This will be followed by a YAMAHA Seminar Session on VCM technoloy by Toshifumi Kunimoto, Fellow – Research & Development Division Technology Unit, Yamaha Corporation.

    The attendee’s will also stand a chance to gain tips and secrets in the live sound realm, with the informative session-“Going LIVE with leading FOH Engineer Fali Damania”.

    Day 1 will end with Entertainment Event Management Session-HOW TO PLAN A MID-SCALE EVENT – Tech Perspective. The session will be moderated by Sachit Subramanian Director, Circle Pro Audio LLP and Amit Relan – Co Producer, WOOT factor. The panelists will be Vinod Bangera CEO, Systematic Inc. and Vikaas Kalantri CEO, White Leaf Entertainment Media Pvt. Ltd.

    Inspiring one and all present on the second day of the programme will be the esteemed speakers talking about all things related to ‘AV Install & Integration’. The first session on 2 June will be SIN for IT / AV led by A.R. Chandrashekhar, ICT-AV-CCTV-Automation Consultant. Following this will be HARMAN Session on Audio Install & Integration by Ashish Barje, Studio, Broadcast & MI Market – ‎Harman International India Pvt. Ltd.

    The attendees will stand a chance to understand the advantages of using digital loudspeaker management with a “Presentation on Loudspeaker Management Systems” by Michele Marani, Seed Digital Asia. In the insightful session by Colin Kavanagh, VP and GM of Philips Entertainment Lighting, the attendees can learn about the LED Innovativeness and the Future in Entertainment Lighting. The session on ‘Art Of Multi-Imaging – Production And Techniques’ will be led by Vijay Sabhlok, Technical Evangelist.

    The Point Blank Masterclass with Sanchit Balhara with introduction by Rob Cowan will be the opening session on day 3. This will be followed by a session- “Cultural differences in production and mastering practices” by Donal Whelan, Hafod Mastering and Vijay Dayal, YRF Studios.

    The dignitaries will also stand a chance to interact one on one with none other than Padmashri Dr. Resul Pookutty and can understand the ‘Art Of Recording Film Song – A Modern Perspective’ in a session led by him.

    The Conference programme will also have AES India PALM Open Forum for Sound Engineers’ that will be convened by Aditya Modi. The speakers will be Uday Chitre, Chairman of Audio Engineering Society, India and Mahesh Amberkar, Sound Engg.

    The three-day Conference & Seminar Programme will be held at the International Lounge in the Hall 1 Mezzanine, offering an ideal networking environment and provide for an interactive exchange of ideas and knowledge.

    Caption: Your chance to interact with Oscar Winning Sound Designer Resul Pookutty at PALM Conference & Seminar Session.

  • MTV gets 10 of the total haul of 18 PromaxBDA awards by Viacom18

    MUMBAI: Viacom 18 Media has bagged 18 awards across categories at the recently concluded PromaxBDA India 2017 Awards, all the awards going to those conceptualized and produced in-house.

    MTV turned out to be the contributor with a total of 10 awards being scooped up by its creative team alone. Viacom18’s brands COLORS, MTV, Vh1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Rishtey Cineplex and COLORS MARATHI brought in a total of nine golds and nine silvers for excellence in various creative campaigns.

    PromaxBDA, which gives awards for marketing excellence in the media marketing space, represents more than 10,000 companies and individuals at every major media organization, marketing agency, research company, strategic and creative vendor and technology provider and is considered to be the leading global resource for education, community, creative inspiration and career development in the media and media marketing sectors. The awards ceremony was held in Mumbai on 18 May 2017.

    The award-winning Viacom 19 Pvt Ltd campaigns at the PromaxBDA India 2017 Awards were:

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  • Vh1 partners with Vivo brings the 2017 Billboard awards to India

    MUMBAI: Vh1 is all set to air the much-awaited 2017 Billboard Music Awards presented by Vivo Camera & Music.

    With its ongoing partnership with the leading global smartphones brand Vivo Electronic Corp for eight of their international awards, the 2017 Billboard Music Awards will be the second award show in the partnership. The 2017 Billboard Music Awards on Vh1 presented by Vivo Camera & Music was telecast this morning at 6:.30am but will have a prime time repeat at 9.00 pm.

    Lauded as the most coveted honour awarded by Billboard for music, the 2017 Billboard Music Awards has announced Cher, legendary pop star, as the recipient of the ‘Icon Award’. This appearance will also mark her first ever award show performance in over 15 years.

    The Awards night includes star-studded performances by some of the most prolific musicians from the industry such as Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons, Bruno Mars and John Legend amongst others.

    On the 20th anniversary of the film ‘Titanic’, the bestselling Canadian songstress Celine Dion will be taking a trip down memory lane with her classic hit My Heart will go on, which she will be performing live at the awards.

    The 2017 Billboard Music Awards presented by Vivo Camera & Music will be aired exclusively on Vh1, one hour post the live show from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas

    To promote the awards, Vh1 has launched a robust, 360-degree promotional plan that connects with audiences across all platforms through innovative radio integrations, a robust network of 200 colleges, a partnership network of 1000+ hotspots across India and distinct trade innovations.

    Viacom18 English entertainment cluster VP and programming head Hashim D’souza said, “After a successful partnership on the MTV Movie and TV Awards, we are sure that the partnership with Vivo is further going to strengthen as we get ready for 2017 Billboard Music Awards. Vivo has always created a seamless connect with the Indian audience, and our partnership has seen an overwhelming response from our fans. With the upcoming Billboard Music Awards, we are sure the excitement will only increase manifold.”

    The partnership with Vivo ranges across the illustrious list of awards airing on Vh1, such as the MTV Movie & TV Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Video Music Awards, Europe Music Awards, American Music Awards and Brit Awards, besides Golden Globes and GRAMMYs. The partnership between Vivo and Vh1 reiterates the channel’s position as India’s go-to destination for International Music, entertainment and pop culture.

  • ‘Refreshed’ Sony Mix aims to bring in more fluidity and minimalism, says Vyas

    MUMBAI: Sony MIX, the dedicated Hindi music and entertainment channel from Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN), has unveiled its renewed brand look, including a modernised and simplified design, marking six glorious years of operations in India. The new look reflects the channel’s timeless vision of being the most music-centered destination on Indian television. The new channel elements were rolled out on 1 May, 2017.

    The fresh play out strategy reinforces the channel’s promise of more variety for everybody in a household and more music than any other music channel. As part of the refreshed look, viewers will now enjoy an enhanced visual experience of music in full screen for daypart ‘Raina Beeti Jaye’ and contemporary music. The audience can also look forward to the return of The Jam Room, MIX Solos and Raina Beeti Jaye- Jashn in the coming weeks.

    Sony MIX boasts of the largest library in Hindi music genre with content from the top 8 music labels as it successfully caters to young audiences as well as those who are young at heart. The channel’s focus on music from across eras is reinforced with its unique three focused day parts – with music from the DDLJ era to music for the 15-21 year old age group in the evenings, to retaining the timeless classics from retro eras in the night.

    Sony Pictures Networks India Sr EVP & Business Head, Hindi Music Cluster and Hindi Movies Cluster- Neeraj Vyas said: “Over the last six years, Sony MIX has been one of the leaders in India’s music and entertainment industry. Through its pioneering informative and mood-based programming, the music channel has set itself up as a destination dedicated to music in India. Our refreshed look, retains the brand colours that represent ‘Sapt Sur’, with a contemporary touch to stay attuned to the present times. The fresh packaging aims to bring in more fluidity and minimalism to enhance our viewer’s visual experience.”

    Over its glorious six-year journey, Sony MIX has maintained an undeterred focus on content by producing a wide variety of packaged show offerings; right from user generated content to people profiles and factoids executed in the most unmistakably musical fashion.

  • Sony Mix’s ‘Media Ke Surtaj’ season 2 ends amid fanfare

    MUMBAI: The Grand Finale of the second season of ‘Media Ke Surtaj’ was held on Friday at Bungalow 9 in Mumbai. Organized by SPN’s music cluster channels, Sony MIX and Sony Rox HD and hosted by RJ Salil.

    A Karaoke competition amongst media professionals, Media Ke Surtaj, brought out hidden singing talent among media agency professionals. The audition rounds were held across Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore in agencies like OMD, Carat, Lodestar, Initiative, Publicis, Madison, ZenithOptimedia and GroupM between March 15 to 24, 2017. Elevated levels of enthusiasm and participation were displayed among all the participants and 180 contestants were shortlisted for Friday’s finale.

    The event was massive and the audience swayed and cheered all along the event. The winners were selected in two categories namely, the Popular choice and the Critics’ choice. Each category had two sub-categories, i.e, Solo & Duet. The video of each participant’s audition is up on display up on www.mediakesurtaj.com for an audience poll. The voting closed on April 7th, receiving a tremendous response with overall 32000+ votes being registered. The popular choice category winners were selected based on the maximum votes received. The jury for the Critics’ Choice Awards included the masters of the industry including music composer Ajay Singha and singer Ash King, among others.

    Ecstatic at the win, the Popular Choice Solo winner, Pankaj Dobhal from ZenithOptimedia, exclaimed, “I had not expected to win a singing competition my entire life. Doing something beyond your daily routine feels great and I would like to thank everyone who voted for me and had faith in my voice.” With all excitement, Critics’ choice Duet winners, Craig Viegas & Prachi Kalkar, GroupM said, “Singing has always been our hobby, never knew that it would get us such a big reward. We would like to thank Sony MIX for this initiative and giving us such a great platform to showcase our hidden talents.” Apart from these, Popular choice Duet category winners were Ashish Rane & Neelam Shridhankar from Carat Media and the Critics’ choice Solo category award was bagged by Gaurav Chopra from GroupM.

    The winners of the popular choice category won prizes worth INR 20,000/-, and the critics’ choice category got an all-expense paid trip to Dubai for 2.

    Talking about this innovative programme, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) Max Cluster & Sony Mix senior EVP and business head Neeraj Vyas said, “I feel, for most of us music is an integral part and one of the key drivers in our daily lives. Hence, we decided to use this musical platform to encourage media professionals to showcase their hidden talent while they get a break from their daily routine. We at SPN were elated with the first season of Media Ke Surtaj and extremely overwhelmed with the response received in this second season as well and will hopefully expand to new horizons soon.”

  • Zoom turns on temp, Planet Bollywood completes 3000 episodes

    MUMBAI: From being the first TV channel solely focused on India’s biggest entertainment brand – Bollywood to hosting the best music and celebrity countdowns, hottest entertainment news, interviews, trends and shows, ZOOM is the one-stop destination for all things in Bollywood. Planet Bollywood – the daily show on ZOOM that gives its viewers their dose of Bollywood gossip and updates reached yet another milestone by completing 3000 episodes on 20 April, 2017.

    The show enjoys love and admiration of not just its audience but also the entire Bollywood fraternity with celebrities like Hrithik Roshan, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma, Shahid Kapoor, Karan Johar and Urvashi Rautela amongst many others who congratulated the show on achieving the 3000 episode milestone.

  • Now, stream Saavn’s Unlimited Music in Canada sans data use

    MUMBAI: Saavn, south Asia’s leading digital music streaming service, is being added to the list of music streaming apps included in Videotron’s Unlimited Music service, bringing the total number of supported apps to 19. Saavn, an audio entertainment streaming platform featuring Bollywood, Hindi and Indian regional music, is currently accessed in 196 countries and offers 30 million tracks in 13 languages. 

    Unlimited Music lets Videotron customers stream music using popular music apps such as Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Deezer and Stingray Music without using up any of their data plan. Videotron, a wholly owned subsidiary of Quebecor Media Inc., is an integrated communications company engaged in cable television, interactive multimedia development, Internet access, cable telephone and mobile telephone services. 

    “Saavn enriches Unlimited Music’s offerings, opening up a whole new world of music,” said Videotron VP marketing Bertrand Hébert. “We are constantly innovating for our consumers and this partnership with Videotron allows us to reach out to their wide network with our content offerings and large music library,” said Saavn VP – carrier partnerships Gairik Bhattacharya. “We hope listening to Saavn will enhance and elevate the experience for users in Canada.” he added.

    Unlimited Music is available across Videotron’s LTE network, which covers nearly 90% of Québec’s population and supports speeds of up to 150 Mbps. It is a free service for all subscribers to a Premium mobile plan.

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