Category: Music and Youth

DJ BL3ND and BassJackers to headline MTV Bloc party

MUMBAI: After holding exclusive pre-parties in twelve different cities, the Karbonn Smart MTV Bloc Party will be hosted by the Juhu Bloc in Mumbai. MTV will bring together more than 30 international DJs to spin the music for the Karbon Smart MTV Bloc Party. The two day dance music festival will be headlined by DJ BL3ND and BassJackers, and will feature Rewire and Varski, Nucleya, Ash Roy, Calm Chor, Ankytrixx, Reggae Rajahs, Lost Stories, Su Real and many more spinning music right across the bloc on 11 and 12 April 2015. It will be hosted by MTV’s music man Nikhil Chinapa.

MTV marketing head – media and insights – Sumeli Chatterjee said, “Crazy audio-visuals and massive sundowner live acts by our world-class DJs that spread across both the days; young people will definitely take back happy party memories from this music festival. We are playing with concept of light and geometry that will make it a spectacular and musical sunset by the beach, and a treat in the Mumbai summer.”

MTV is bringing to India for the first time DJ BL3ND to headline MTV’s Bloc Party. A Los Angeles native, DJ BL3ND has 360 million YouTube views and more than four million Facebook followers for his crazy videos and electrifying live sets. He’s the record-holder on Billboard’s Uncharted Chart, holding the top spot for 62 weeks; and was also named SoundCloud ‘Artist of the Year.’

Joining him are the American DJ and producer duo who share a great passion for house music, BassJackers. Comprising Marlon Flohr and Ralph van Hilst, BassJackers is known for beatport toppers like ‘Mush Mush’, ‘Hey!’, ‘Grid’ and many more. The duo have remixed for Rihanna, Enrique Iglesias and Moby; and performed in Ibiza alongside Tiësto, and in Las Vegas alongside Afrojack, and continue to tour around the globe.

Speaking on the association with MTV Bloc Party, Karbonn Mobiles executive director Shashin Devsare said, “MTV has the finger on the pulse of the youth and by partnering with the channel on exclusive concepts like MTV Bloc Party, we are looking forward to reaching out to the urbane youth who prefers to be connected with their peer groups 24X7 and enjoys innovative technology.”

On 11 April, gates will open at 3 pm and the party will start at the beachfront Juhu Hotel, spilling out to multiple night-party blocs across Juhu. The wrist-band that the party animals will get at this gate will serve as the entry pass for all the party venues across the entire bloc. To top it all, the party-goers will need just one ticket to attend all the parties all through the bloc. They can club hop with the MTV hop-on-hop-off Bloc Party cabs which will ferry them across venues and the music travels with them to ensure a seamless party transition.

March 23, 2015
Sony Music completes buy-out of The Orchard

MUMBAI: Sony Music Entertainment has entered into an agreement with Dimensional Associates, LLC to acquire the remaining interest in The Orchard, the global independent music, video and film distribution company.

The Orchard will continue to operate separately from Sony Music and will be led by its existing executive team.

The deal is aligned with Sony Corp.’s recently announced strategy identifying Sony Music as one of its growth businesses. Sony plans to proactively invest in and implement a variety of measures to promote growth across its entertainment businesses, including music.

The Orchard is focused on providing world-class digital distribution services for content creators including independent labels and filmmakers. It offers clients an end-to-end solution for music and video delivery to hundreds of services and digital storefronts worldwide, as well as efficient and transparent reporting of sales and revenue. The sales, digital marketing and business development offerings also included in The Orchard’s suite of services have helped it outpace the industry in growing revenue for its clients.

Sony Music became the majority investor in The Orchard in March 2012 following the merger of The Orchard with IODA, a Sony Music-owned digital distribution company. At that time, The Orchard became the digital distributor for RED and select catalogues from Sony Music affiliates outside of the US.

This investment in The Orchard will allow Sony Music to further enhance its relationships with distribution clients all over the world. It also will allow the companies to work more closely together to drive improvements throughout the digital supply chain and quality of revenue reporting. Sony Music remains committed to operating The Orchard independently with the goal of improving the revenue and profitability of its distribution clients.

The acquisition is subject to necessary regulatory approvals.

Citigroup served as the financial advisor to Sony Music Entertainment on the transaction and UBS Securities, LLC served as the financial advisor to The Orchard on the transaction.

March 20, 2015
Bindass set to explore new youth themes

MUMBAI: The youth of India today believes in purposive action and are restless for change at all levels, be it their own lives, society or circumstances surrounding them.

Inspiring young adults today, youth network bindass actively rolls out initiatives that surround them. Exploring different youth themes of love, relationships and empowerment, the channel now plans to add new themes to its content portfolio – fame and achievement.

Currently with three hours of original programming, bindass plans to add more hours to its content portfolio in the coming months.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Disney India Media Networks VP and head – content and communication Vijay Subramaniam says, “In the next six-twelve months, we will increase our original hours of content quite significantly. Plans are currently under way.”

The channel is currently exploring themes like love and relationships with Emotional Atyachar, Yeh Hai Aashiqui, and the theme of empowerment with Halla Bol and Zindagi Wins. It now plans to enter into reality formats to tap into the theme of fame and achievement.

Subramaniam believes that for bindass, the first protocol has always been finite fiction. Recalling the core thought behind the programming, he explains, “While we were looking at fiction as a format, it was important to know the themes that resonate with young people. Based on our research insight, we decided to pick the themes of love and relationships first.”

Going on the same lines, the channel launched shows like Pyaar Ka The End and Love By Chance. The channel now aims to move to the theme of entertainment and will accordingly zero in on the format of the show.

Currently bindass is working on non-scripted and reality formats, which it will soon announce officially. Moreover, Subramaniam further reveals that in the near future, the channel will also be looking at re-telling classics, thus strengthening its content portfolio even further.

“There are a lot of interesting formats that we are working on. Our creative strategy is to always work with different themes that are relevant and resonate well with young people. Based on that, we choose the format that best delivers impactful entertainment to them,” he concludes.

March 14, 2015
Universal Music inks worldwide administration deal with New Order

MUMBAI: Universal Music Publishing (UMP) has signed an exclusive, worldwide administration deal with legendary UK band New Order.

Universal Music Publishing president of Europe and UK Paul Connolly said, “We’re privileged to represent the songs of some of the most iconic and culturally significant British songwriters ever, like The Clash, Johnny Marr, Paul Weller, The SexPistols, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, The Cure, Eurythmics, Elvis Costello and Joy Division. So to be entrusted with a catalogue as important as New Order’s as well is a very special honour indeed.”

The deal with New Order, which was overseen by UMP’s London-based creative director Darryl Watts, sees Universal Music Publishing globally representing the full New Order catalogue by the original four members, including nine studio albums such as Power, Corruption And Lies, Technique, and Republic, as well as classic songs Blue Monday, Regret, Bizarre Love Triangle and True Faith, among others.

Having career sales of more than eight million albums, New Order, consisting of guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook, drummer Stephen Morris and keyboard player Gillian Gilbert, is one of the most critically acclaimed and influential bands of the last thirty years. Their unique brand of synth pop bridged the gap between post-punk and electronic dance music, combining new wave aesthetics with the electronic textures and disco rhythms of underground club culture. The band formed in 1980 after the break-up of Joy Division, whose catalogue Watts also signed to UMP in 2007.

Band member and bassist Peter Hook said: “When you get to 58 there aren’t many momentous occasions in your life, but I had one recently. Our publishing was up for renewal and Darryl Watts at Universal (who are doing a wonderful job with Joy Division) said to me ‘I’ve been waiting 20 years for this moment’…and you know what… so had I!”

Watts added, “Bands like New Order are the reason I first fell in love with music, and the privilege of working on signings like this is the reason I still do. They have always been true innovators. Put simply, they have an incredible set of songs and I’m absolutely delighted that we’re representing them.”

March 13, 2015
Q3-2015: Radio companies y-o-y operating results up 49.7%; YTD up 61.9%

BENGALURU: Q3-2015 has been a great quarter and 9M-2015 even better for the radio industry as is evident from the PAT /Operating results posted for six radio groups representing 90 radio stations or 36.7 per cent of the 245 private FM radio stations universe under phases I and II in India.

This report considers PAT posted by two radio companies (ENIL – Radio Mirchi, 33 radio stations; Jagran Prakashan – Radio City – 20 radio stations) that equals 53 radio stations or 21.6 per cent of the current total universe in the country and 58.9 per cent of the radio stations considered here. If one were to consider only the operating results of these companies, the operating profitability numbers would be even higher. Also, figures for Radio City are not exact and have been rounded off, as is evident from the figures mentioned by Jagran Prakashan in its various filings with the bourses and investor presentations.

Operating results for radio segments of three of the four other companies – DB Corp (My FM-17 stations), B.A.G Films (Radio Dhamaal, 10 stations) and HT Media (Fever FM, four stations) have shown improvement, with TV Today’s Oye FM (six stations) being only one that has shown income de-growth but has reported a reduction of operating loss from Rs 2.90 crore in Q3-2014 to a lower loss of Rs 1.94 crore in the current quarter.

There is a deviation in this report from normal practise – PAT numbers of the two companies that have indicated them separately have been combined with the operating results of the other four companies here to arrive at the total numbers considered here, which makes this not completely an apples to apples story.

Note: 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore

Total income reported by the six radio groups for Q3-2015 at Rs 233.60 crore was 18.7 per cent more y-o-y as compared to the Rs 196.76 crore. Operating Profit/PAT for Q3-2015 at Rs 67.83 crore was 49.7 per cent more as compared to the Rs 45.30 crore reported for Q3-2014.

For 9M-2015, income reported by the six groups for radio operations was Rs 631.05 crore, which was 19.2 per cent more than the Rs 529.44 crore in 9M-2014, while Operating Profit/PAT in 9M-2015 at Rs 151.73 crore was 61.9 per cent more than the Rs 93.72 crore reported for last year’s corresponding nine month period.

Q3-2015 and 9M-2015 growth rates of revenue and PAT/results reported by these companies are also definitely better than those reported for FY-2014 (year ended 31 March, 2014) when compared to FY-2013 (year ended 31 March, 2013). For FY-2014, combined revenue reported by the six radio groups was Rs 739.64 crore, which was 12.2 per cent higher than the Rs 659.23 crore in FY-2013. PAT/Operating result for FY-2014 was Rs 154.22 crore, which was 46.3 per cent more than the Rs 105.45 crore in FY-2013.

It must be pointed out here that the biggest player in terms of revenues as well as performance in this list of six radio players is ENIL or Radio Mirchi. In Q3-2015, ENIL’s revenue of Rs 116.98 crore formed 50.1 per cent of the total revenue of Rs 233.60 reported by all the six listed players in that quarter and its PAT of Rs 32.84 crore is 48.4 per cent of the performance (PAT/Operating profit reported) by the six players.

ENIL’s income and PAT in Q3-2015 were 18.7 per cent higher and 40.9 per cent more than the income and PAT respectively reported by the company for the corresponding year ago quarter, albeit equal to and lower when compared to the six companies revenue and PAT that grew 18.7 per cent and 49.7 per cent respectively.

For Q3-2015, Radio Dhamaal showed the largest y-o-y revenue growth of 173.8 per cent to Rs 2.43 crore from Rs 0.89 crore in the corresponding year ago quarter while Radio City reported the largest growth in PAT of 147.8 per cent to Rs 17.10 crore in Q3-2015 from Rs 6.90 crore reported in the corresponding year ago quarter. As a matter of fact, Radio Dhamaal has shown a good a turnaround during 9M-2015 with an operating profit of Rs 1.12 crore as compared to a loss of Rs 2.08 crore in 9M-2014.

The lowest y-o-y growth in revenue was actually de-growth or fall in revenue of 8.5 per cent by Oye FM in Q3-2015 at Rs 4 crore as compared to the Rs 4.37 crore in Q3-2014.

March 12, 2015
Alt-Rock sensation Switchfoot to tour India with Vh1 Rock Rules

MUMBAI: This March, Vh1 is all set to bring international alt-rock sensation Switchfoot to India with Micromax Vh1 Rock Rules.

This tour marks the debut performance of the California-based, Grammy award-winning band in India. Alt-Rock fans will get a chance to witness the band perform live in India in Mumbai, Pune and Gurgaon at Hard Rock Café on 25, 27 and 29 March respectively.

After the release of nine studio albums, Switchfoot is geared up to finally take Indian fans down a nostalgic lane with their three-city tour. Being their maiden trip to India, Switchfoot promises to entertain fans with the best hits of their eighteen years.

Viacom18 EVP and English entertainment head Ferzad Palia says, “Switchfoot has created a rage amongst the Indian audience with their super-hit tracks and albums for several years. We are immensely delighted to present the band’s maiden tour in India through Micromax Vh1 Rock Rules.”

Switchfoot member Jon Foreman added, “I had the chance to visit India on my own a few years back, and it blew my mind. Ever since, I’ve been begging for the chance to bring my bandmates back with me to play some shows. We can’t wait to bring these songs to India.”

Switchfoot became a sensation with their popular tracks in ‘A Walk To Remember’. The band then commenced their journey to success with hit singles such as ‘We are One Tonight’, ‘Need To Live’ to name a few. The band comprises singer/songwriter Jon Foreman, his younger brother (and co-writer) Tim Foreman on bass, drummer Chad Butler and multi-instrumentalist Jerome Fontamillas.

March 10, 2015
Warner Music ups James Steven as EVP, communications & marketing

MUMBAI: Warner Music Group Corp. (WMG) has promoted James Steven to the post of executive vice president, communications and marketing, effective immediately. As a member of WMG’s senior management team, Steven, who is based at the company’s headquarters in New York, will continue to report to WMG CEO Steve Cooper.

Steven will be responsible for WMG’s worldwide communications and corporate marketing functions, including external and internal communications, investor relations, social responsibility, and special events. He will also oversee the interaction and coordination of the communications functions of WMG’s operating companies.

Cooper said, “Communications plays an essential role in presenting WMG’s mission to the world at large, and in connecting and unifying our people across the globe. Hard-working and resourceful, James and his team are doing a fantastic job, and I congratulate him on this well-deserved promotion.”

Steven added, “WMG has an incomparable story, a unique perspective and an impressive array of executive, artist and songwriter talent. I’ve benefited greatly from having inspiring mentors and colleagues, and I’m grateful for this opportunity at such a dynamic time for our company and the industry.”

Steven joined WMG in 2007 as part of the company’s international communications team based in London. He relocated to New York in 2012, becoming senior vice president, communications and marketing. Prior to WMG, Steven held various roles at public relations and marketing agencies, including Cow PR and Consolidated PR, working with clients in the film, TV, technology, retail, beverages, and automobile industries.

March 3, 2015
92.7 Big FM ranks as the most trusted media-radio brand

MUMBAI: 92.7 Big FM has ranked as the most trusted brand in the radio category in the recently Brand Trust Report 2-15.

The brand has taken the top-most trusted slot in India, maintaining a lead of 14 ranks over the next brand. This is the first time that a FM Radio brand has made it to the list.

Only two radio brands could make it to the list where 92.7 Big FM took the top slot. Other players did not make it to the report.

Commenting about the achievement, Reliance Broadcast Network CEO Tarun Katial said that this is the first time that a radio brand has made it to the list, which means that radio as a platform, a product and a service is getting its due share and recognition now.

“We are humbled by the honour. This will only give us the impetus to do better to enjoy the trust of our listeners and stakeholders,” he added.

According to 92.7 Big FM business head Ashwin Padmanabhan this award only reiterates that it has understood the pulse of both its consumer and customer. “We take this opportunity to thank all our stakeholders for trusting us. We will continue to offer pioneering initiatives that positively impact the society,” he said.

This year’s study involved 15,000 hours of fieldwork covering consumer-influencers across 16 cities in India and generated three million data points and 20,000 unique brands from which the top 1000 brands have been listed.

February 27, 2015
MTV revamps Coke Studio format; to air all year round

MUMBAI: An experiment that began with fusion music over three seasons back is all set to return once again. Coke Studio @MTV season four is all set to telecast in a new format this year.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com about the same, MTV EVP and business head Aditya Swamy said that the success of the property today lay in the fact that filmmakers have started asking music composers to produce songs, which have a Coke Studio feel to them.

MTV and Coca Cola have followed two cues to take the show’s new season forward. “Firstly, we have decided to bring audio and video together to refresh audiences through music videos. Secondly, it has been learnt that people are consuming singles rather than albums. Therefore, we will move from episodes to singles throughout the year.”

The format for this year will see a change. The property will move from seasons to “always on” for one year now. It will be narrated in the form of a story instead of just vanilla songs. The series will begin on 1 March 2015 and will air every first Sunday of the month at 8 pm.

The production will include three elements. The first element of the show will include producer profiles and the idea behind the song. Secondly, it will have studio sessions and the setup of the band and lastly there will be a novel element, which will be a stylized video and audio told in the form of a story. Each of these videos and audios will release simultaneously across all MTV platforms. It will be deployed across all audio and video platforms like YouTube, Saavn, Gaana and iTunes by Zee Music. The channel will also be re-releasing two audience favourites “Madari” and “Kattey” with new music videos.

Speaking about the learning’s the channel has picked up so far, Swamy said that it has been to come up with better innovations. “In the technical sphere we have learnt to produce audio and video side by side. With the response we have garnered, we could find courage to innovate and come up with a format that not only caters to loyalists but also help bring on board new consumers,” Swamy informed.

Talking about the brand integration concept, Swamy said that the two have seen a long term investment partnership. “People will take to branded content if the music is good, but if the content is not good and is in the consumers face directly they will hate the same,” he opined.

The global beverage brand Coca Cola owns the IP of the property, which has its presence in other countries like Pakistan and therefore the channel does not resort to other advertisers coming onboard.

Speaking about the brand’s association with MTV, Coca Cola India and South West Asia VP marketing and commercial Debabrata Mukherjee said, “We are constantly in touch to come up with engaging content. When we began, we did not realise the groundswell response we would receive. Since 2013 to 2014 we have visited more than 15 cities visiting different colleges as part of our on ground events.”

This year Coke Studio will continue bring the live experiences through 50 concerts and outreach programmes reaching 100 colleges across 10 cities.

Mukherjee informed that the property has become hugely popular over seasons. Sharing some insights, he said Coke Studio @MTV has registered over 150 million+ reach across all three seasons. On social media platforms, it has garnered 64 million view on YouTube and 2.9 million fans on Facebook. He also informed that the brand is open to inviting international artists to India.

Speaking on the association of the two partners Group M ESP national director- entertainment sports and live events Vinit Karnik opined, “The property has become very much synonymous with the brand. There is also a lot of cult following that consumes this kind of music. At some point in time, it will definitely resonate with the brand and the TG. From a relevance point of view this has worked for the brand Coca Cola as people have become very much synonymous with the brand.”

The line up for this season includes the likes of Amit Trivedi, Pritam, Papon, Clinton Cerejo, Sachin-Jingar, Ram Sampath, Sneha Khanwalkar, Harshdeep Kaur, Raftaar and Rekha Bhardwaj.

When asked about the property’s USP, Bhardwaj said, “Coke Studio @MTV has allowed us artists to treat the platform as our own. It has also helped popularise folk as well contemporary music through fusion. Every episode will feature a single song and will allow us to take our own interpretation to the audiences.”

February 24, 2015
MTV launches clean-up drive with Sushant Singh Rajput to support Swachh Bharat

MUMBAI: After a successful ‘MTV’s Rock The Vote’ campaign last year, Viacom 18’s youth centric channel has launched the ‘MTV The Junkyard Project’.

‘MTV The Junkyard Project’ is an attempt to involve youth in cleanliness on ground, while adding fun quotient by blending in music and art. To lend his support to this initiative actor Sushant Singh Rajput picked up the broom to launch the campaign by sweeping a street in Mumbai as two bands played to cheer him. This event was hosted in association with JJ School of Arts, and kickstarts across 15 cities.

‘MTV The Junkyard Project’ will be integrating this campaign across all the screens including television, mobile, web with an on-ground outreach across 300 colleges and 15 city clean up drive. In addition, MTV is collaborating with musicians to create a music video with a strong messaging of ‘Swachh Bharat’. While music gets youth grooving, humor urges them to spread the message. In line with that, MTV is partnering with leading humorists across the country to create compelling yet funny videos that deliver the message loud and clear.

The channel is rolling out a massive 15 city clean up drive that identifies unofficial junkyards and convert them into art projects. The core idea is to create spaces that truly reflect the talent of the youth and their strong willingness to forge a new tomorrow.

Speaking about his association with the project, Rajput said, “For a young nation like India, real change can be brought out only if the young people decide to do something about it. While today everyone’s talking about making India clean, very few are working on developing sustainable models for achieving it. MTV The Junkyard Project is a unique initiative because it successfully marries the power of the youth along with solutions that are long term and enables them to have fun while executing the whole idea – which is brilliant! I am thoroughly excited to be a part of this splendid project and would like to tell them that we are awesome and urge them to be the agents of change!”

MTV EVP and business head Aditya Swamy added, “Warm is the new cool, young people care about the world they live in and believe that they can be powerful change agents. We at MTV have always created platforms for the youth to act and make a difference. This is a key part of what we do and we leverage all the assets of MTV to create a fun and impactful movement.”

February 21, 2015