Tag: music

  • Laqshya Media Group ropes in Swaroop Banerjee as Event Capital CEO

    Laqshya Media Group ropes in Swaroop Banerjee as Event Capital CEO

    MUMBAI Event Capital, the live IP  arm of Laqshya Media Group has roped in Tribe Asia IP director Swaroop Banerjee  as its CEO. Banerjee’s mandate at Event Capital involves expanding the current bouquet of Live intellectual properties owned by Event Capital and introduce focussed live and digital content creations.

    Based out of Mumbai he will oversee development of new verticals in lifestyle, music and sports. Deepak Choudhary, the co-founder of Event Capital, will now focus on acquisitions, collaborations and investments as Director of Event Capital.

    “Banerjee’s unfathomable experience with building IPs, combined with his genuine passion for festival culture, music and alternative sports, makes him absolutely ideal to lead Event Capital as the chief executive. EC currently has several IPs in Lifestyle, Sport, Music, Education and Trade and Banerjee’s strategy of creating the right balance on IP creations and acquisitions is in sync with our vision. We are glad to have him on board”, said Event Capital director and co founder Deepak Choudhary.

    “When we took on the initiative to make Event Capital India’s largest IP creator and aggregator, we were extremely focussed and with the support of our entire Laqshya Media machinery we are committed to make this brand a world class live and digital content hub. Banerjee has been on our mind from quite some time and with him we are confident to take the next big step in this game changing IP environment” Laqshya Media Group MD Alok Jalan added.

    “It is a gigantic opportunity and I am excited to work with such a talented team. I am overwhelmed by their generosity in supporting me and allowing me total autonomy to create a lifestyle, music and sports vertical from scratch and revitalize the existing genres of live content that we own. You will very soon hear announcements from us on larger than life collaborations with Bollywood, International Music, Alternative Sports and Lifestyle”, said Banerjee on his new role.

  • Trade in music and movies shows decline in digital age, but India moves into top ten cultural exporters

    Trade in music and movies shows decline in digital age, but India moves into top ten cultural exporters

    New Delhi, 24 March: Although trade in cultural goods doubled during the period 2004-2013 despite a global recession, there was a decline in both music and movies because of the massive shift among consumers towards web-based services.

    Trade in recorded music products, for example, declined by 27 percent from 2004 to 2013, and trade in movies fell by 88 percent during the same period; however, audio-visual services as a whole steadily gained ground.

    Despite the downturn in the trade of print products, reflected by the decline in newspapers, books held their ground as an important cultural export in some regions, growing by 20 percent from 2004 to 2013.

    A new report from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), The Globalisation of Cultural Trade: A Shift in Cultural Consumption–International flows of cultural goods and services 2004-2013, takes an in-depth look at the export and import of cultural goods and services around the world.

    “Trade in cultural goods totaled $US212.8 billion in 2013, nearly double the amount in 2004,” said UIS Director Silvia Montoya. “This is further evidence of the critical role cultural industries play in today’s global economy.”

    However, India and Turkey moved into the top ten countries among emerging markets and exporters of cultural goods.

    From 2004 to 2013 the “dematerialisation”, or the digitisation of products, such as music, movies and newspapers, had an enormous impact on these industries, as their products moved into the realm of cultural services, often sold as web-based subscriptions.

    As more and more cultural goods move from the tangible to the digital, the report notes that obtaining accurate data on the flow of these goods is becoming more challenging.  Finding new sources of data and cooperation between international organizations in the promotion and improvement of cultural trade statistics, especially in the developing world, will help improve the understanding of the real contribution of the trade in cultural goodsto the global economy.

    China is now the lead exporter of cultural goods, followed by the United States. In 2013, the total value of China’s cultural exports was US$60.1 billion; more than double that of the United States at US$27.9 billion.

    While the US has lost its position as the top exporter of cultural goods, it remains the top importer of these goods. In general, developed countries play a smaller role in cultural exports, but still dominate imports.

    Art and crafts have moved up in the ranking of the ten most traded cultural goods, fueled by gold jewelry — a safe harbour in uncertain times.Gold jewelry exports represented more than $US100 billion in 2013.

    Statues, statuettes and paintings also gained ground. Their share of the trade in art and crafts was worth US$19 billion in 2013.

  • Trade in music and movies shows decline in digital age, but India moves into top ten cultural exporters

    Trade in music and movies shows decline in digital age, but India moves into top ten cultural exporters

    New Delhi, 24 March: Although trade in cultural goods doubled during the period 2004-2013 despite a global recession, there was a decline in both music and movies because of the massive shift among consumers towards web-based services.

    Trade in recorded music products, for example, declined by 27 percent from 2004 to 2013, and trade in movies fell by 88 percent during the same period; however, audio-visual services as a whole steadily gained ground.

    Despite the downturn in the trade of print products, reflected by the decline in newspapers, books held their ground as an important cultural export in some regions, growing by 20 percent from 2004 to 2013.

    A new report from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), The Globalisation of Cultural Trade: A Shift in Cultural Consumption–International flows of cultural goods and services 2004-2013, takes an in-depth look at the export and import of cultural goods and services around the world.

    “Trade in cultural goods totaled $US212.8 billion in 2013, nearly double the amount in 2004,” said UIS Director Silvia Montoya. “This is further evidence of the critical role cultural industries play in today’s global economy.”

    However, India and Turkey moved into the top ten countries among emerging markets and exporters of cultural goods.

    From 2004 to 2013 the “dematerialisation”, or the digitisation of products, such as music, movies and newspapers, had an enormous impact on these industries, as their products moved into the realm of cultural services, often sold as web-based subscriptions.

    As more and more cultural goods move from the tangible to the digital, the report notes that obtaining accurate data on the flow of these goods is becoming more challenging.  Finding new sources of data and cooperation between international organizations in the promotion and improvement of cultural trade statistics, especially in the developing world, will help improve the understanding of the real contribution of the trade in cultural goodsto the global economy.

    China is now the lead exporter of cultural goods, followed by the United States. In 2013, the total value of China’s cultural exports was US$60.1 billion; more than double that of the United States at US$27.9 billion.

    While the US has lost its position as the top exporter of cultural goods, it remains the top importer of these goods. In general, developed countries play a smaller role in cultural exports, but still dominate imports.

    Art and crafts have moved up in the ranking of the ten most traded cultural goods, fueled by gold jewelry — a safe harbour in uncertain times.Gold jewelry exports represented more than $US100 billion in 2013.

    Statues, statuettes and paintings also gained ground. Their share of the trade in art and crafts was worth US$19 billion in 2013.

  • 9XM to launch crowd sourced music AFP with Askme

    9XM to launch crowd sourced music AFP with Askme

    MUMBAI: Getting innovative with advertiser funded programming (AFP), music channel 9XM has partnered exclusively with Askme.com to present a one-of-a-kind crowd sourced music show on Indian television. Titled #Asktrack, this advertiser funded show will curate its play list for each episode from audiences’ request on a variety of social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Whatsapp.

     

    “Normally in a channel, it’s the programming team that decide what songs to play. But through this new show we are asking our audience to tell us what to air for them. In this endeavour we are happy to have Askme.com on board as our partners for#AskTrack and are confident that this viewer’s request show will resonate with the music lovers across India,” explains 9X Media chief revenue officer Pawan Jailkhani.

     

    9XM viewers can select their favourite songs from the shortlisted songs presented across 9XM social media platforms. The songs, which garner the maximum number of votes will be used in the playlist for the 90 minutes break less music band.

     

    Known for its innovative brand collaborations, the channel is banking on Askme.com’s brand concept to bring light to their new show through this partnership with the website.

     

    “Askme.com as client has a similar target audience as what as a channel and broadcaster 9XM delivers to. The eyeballs we want to grab are also whom Askme.com wants to reach out to. Both Askme.com and the show share a similar brand identity. Therefore it also makes sense for them to ride on our target audience to deliver their brand message,” Jailkhani shares, adding that the show, which took six months to bring into place, was conceptualised keeping Askme.com’s crowdsourcing model in mind.

     

    Pointing out that the whole concept is more of a trail for the channel, 9XM is not looking to heavily monetise it yet. For the AFP, 9XM will have Askme.com as the exclusive partner and is not looking to monetise the show with other brands. “This is more like an experiment for us to bring such a concept to Indian television for the first time. Askme.com as a brand finds it immensely synergised with their brand communication and hence they are onboard with us. It’s a larger commercial deal, which involves sponsoring and other things that we are doing for the show,” Jailkhani says.

     

    When it comes to marketing, the channel is going digital heavy as that is where their target audience is. “Apart from promoting the show across our networks electronically, we are focusing greatly on social media. Therefore a majority of our marketing spends are going into the digital campaign,” Jailkhani shares.

     

    Speaking about the association, Askme.com head digital strategy and CMO Manav Sethi said, “We are excited to partner with 9XM to launch #AskTrack, a unique concept, which will allow customers to request songs through social media. With this initiative we are continuing with our objective of offering another unique service to our consumers who are inclined towards music. We are confident that this partnership will be beneficial for both – 9XM and Askme.”

     

    The new show that goes on air on 21 December will be aired from Monday to Friday at 5:30 pm.

     

    Viewers can click on the FB/Twitter link to vote for their favourite songs; the playlist will also be shared on www.9xm.in/asktrack to enable seamless voting experience for the viewers.

  • Nominees for 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards revealed

    Nominees for 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards revealed

    MUMBAI   58th Annual GRAMMY Awards announced its nominations in all 83 categories, reflecting a diverse blend of talented music makers, this year’s nominees were selected from more than 21,000 submissions entered.

     

    This year, Kendrick Lamar leads nominations with 11, followed by Taylor Swift and The Weeknd, who each earn seven. Additionally, music producer/songwriter Max Martin receives six nominations and mastering engineer Tom Coyne, rapper Drake, and engineers/mixers Serban Ghenea and John Hanes each earn five nominations.

     
    “The international music scene is growing phenomenally and this is reflected through the list of nominees for the upcoming 58thAnnual Grammy Awards. Diverse genres are being appreciated thus encouraging artists to push boundaries and further strengthen the community. We are looking forward to airing yet another edition of Grammy Awards on Vh1,” said Ferzad Palia, Viacom18 EVP and english and youth entertainment – head, Ferzad Palia.

     

    The eclectic nature of this year’s nominations is perhaps best exemplified in the Album of the year category, where nominees range from the alternative and soulful rock of Alabama Shakes to Lamar’s thought-provoking jazz-infused rap, the classic country sounds of Chris Stapleton, the pop emergence of Swift, and the genre-bending R&B style of The Weeknd.

     

    The GRAMMY Awards is part of an illustrious award show line up aired Live on Vh1 like The Golden Globe Awards, Video Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Europe Music Awards & American Music Awards to name a few.

  • MTV India hops on to Hong Kong’s now TV platform

    MTV India hops on to Hong Kong’s now TV platform

    MUMBAI: Starting June, youth entertainment channel MTV India has hopped on to now TV in Hong Kong. Now TV is one of the world’s largest commercial deployments of IPTV and Hong Kong’s largest pay TV provider. It offers a wide range of local and international content on its platform in Hong Kong.

     

    MTV India EVP and business head Aditya Swamy said, “It is extremely exciting for MTV India to enter Hong Kong with now TV. Being the universe of the young, we have never been boxed by geographical boundaries. Our service goes to over 35 countries, broadcasting a heady dose of our local pop culture.  The catchy Bollywood tunes, our original music productions and our super hit reality and drama series will entertain young people across varied cultural backgrounds bringing them together in their love for all things MTV.”

     

    IndiaCast group COO Gaurav Gandhi added, “With the launch of MTV India on now TV, we have further strengthened our relationship with the platform. Together, we look forward to providing the very best of South Asian Entertainment to the diaspora in Hong Kong. This launch increases MTV India’s international footprint to 50 countries as the channel continues to entertain global audiences through its unique offerings including original music programming, Bollywood music and successful fiction and non-fiction format shows targeted to the youth.”

     

    Pay TV PCCW’s executive vice Loke Kheng Tham said, “now TV is Hong Kong’s largest pay-TV provider, offering more than 190 top-class channels to our 1.2 million customers. Adding MTV India to our lineup further demonstrates now TV’s commitment to providing all customers with a wide range of program choices. Indians in Hong Kong can now watch their favorite shows exclusively on now TV as part of the Indian Pack.”

     

    Currently, MTV India is available in 49 countries including the US, Australia, New Zealand, UAE, Nigeria, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Singapore among others.

  • Quality and versatile music is the way forward for Guvera: Ananya Amin

    Quality and versatile music is the way forward for Guvera: Ananya Amin

    MUMBAI: Global music streaming app Guvera, which was founded in 2008, recently reached the milestone of 10 million global users. In India, the app touched the three million users mark. Guvera international manager India and Middle East Ananya Amin is buoyed by the response so far in India. 

     

    “India is a versatile country with huge music fans, and in such short span the growth we achieved is indeed a matter of glory. Having said that, I must also say that we sense huge possibility of further growth in India where the smartphone base is increasing at a high rate,” Amin said.

     

    Streaming habit in India is very different from the West and is changing at a very slow pace, which can emerge as a strong challenge for apps like Guvera. When asked about the same, Amin said, “The ecosystem in India needs to mature. What we observe from our analysis is that in some part of the county we are very dominant, while in other parts we are at a very nascent stage. Hence, we understand that streaming itself is a new aspect and gradually with the betterment of technology, the streaming habit will also change.”

     

    “Independent rock and alternate rock are the genres that get maximum Indians to Guvera other than Bollywood and regional content. Independent bands and musicians whom we have featured so far have got immense encouragement and the audience also enjoyed their music. Going forward, we have aspirations of enhancing that base,” said Amin on the streaming trends observed in India.

     

    Be it sports commentary, news broadcasting or music, regional content garners maximum visibility in India. “Regional content plays a vital role in India and we have associated with numerous regional content creators, who create quality content to entertain audiences. Speed Records in Punjab & Shri Venkatesh Films in West Bengal are amongst them. Wherever there is scope, we will expand with further associations,” He said.

     

    Guvera is an ad based platform with ads as the only source of revenue. “Brands are happy with us because of the content we provide to our subscribers. Brands like Yes Bank, Harley Rock Riders, Ezeego1, Shaadi.com, Amazon, BookMyShow and McDonald’s have partnered with us and it’s a very cordial relationship, which is extremely fortunate for us,” adds Amin on the advertisers’ reaction so far.

     

    There are multiple apps providing similar content and hence it is important to have a good marketing and promotional strategy for which many organizations hire a creative agency. When asked about the marketing strategy and spend of Guvera, Amin informed, “We don’t have an association with any creative agency as our in house team orchestrates the creative strategies. In terms of marketing spends, our key focus is in India and that’s where we will be spending aggressively. Live events are integral part of our promotional activities and we will focus on that part too. Recently, we did Harley Rock Riders in partnership with Harley Davidson, which was a huge success. Going forward, we are looking at having many such activities.”

     

    “The obstacle that we have in our way has to be the Internet. Indian telecom is hugely dominated by pre-paid subscribers and with data being on the expensive side, it is very tough to penetrate to many such consumers, who would be interested in the product. However, with 3G spreading its network and the roll out of 4G, I must say that there are encouraging times ahead of us,” says Amin.

     

    Talking about the future, Amin informs, “Going forward, I am very confident that we will stand tall and emerge as the leader when it comes to music streaming industry. I think we have everything that an app needs, to succeed. We are also positioning ourselves as a platform that encourage independent musicians. Independent bands without a platform are more than welcome to join hands with us.”

  • Shemaroo files satisfying maiden results; PAT up 82% to Rs 12.77 crore

    Shemaroo files satisfying maiden results; PAT up 82% to Rs 12.77 crore

    BENGALURU: Shemaroo Entertainment has its maiden annual numbersafter listing in September 2014. The company has reported 50.7 per cent growth in profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 40.92 crore (12.7 per cent of Total Income from Operations or TIO) as compared to the Rs 27.16 crore (10.3 per cent of TIO) in FY-2014.

     

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  • Sony Music completes buy-out of The Orchard

    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.

  • Hungama and Aircel join hands to launch ‘Hungama-Pro’

    Hungama and Aircel join hands to launch ‘Hungama-Pro’

    MUMBAI: Aircel has partnered with Hungama to offer the premium music app called ‘Hungama-Pro’, a service that would enable customers to listen to music and view full length HD quality music videos for free for the first two months.

    Hungama Pro, serves as a-one-stop destination for all music lovers, giving Aircel customers exclusive and free access to one of the biggest music libraries offering Indian, international and regional music.

    In its commitment to provide ground-breaking products and services to its customers, this tie-up makes Aircel the first mobile service provider to present such an exclusive service to its customers through Hungama. The partnership is set to transform the music-listening and content viewing experience on a mobile handset by many folds.

    The Hungama app also has a multi-lingual transliteration feature which makes it the first in its category to be available in five languages viz. English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Punjabi, allowing users to interact with the app in their preferred language. The Hungama Pro is the upgraded subscription of the ad-supported Hungama app and is a paid mobile subscription, which will be available free to all Aircel customers with unmatched HD quality music videos and can also be accessed offline without any internet charges. It is also an ad-free app, which further makes for a hassle-free experience.

    Aircel chief marketing officer Anupam Vasudev said, “At Aircel, all our efforts revolve around what our customers need. We understand that music connects with people from across demographics, and especially with the youth that has been increasingly using smartphones to access video based entertainment content. Hungama-Pro offers all that our customers need – a hassle-free music experience with high-quality content from varied genres and languages, and we’re happy to offer this package exclusively to our subscribers. Hungama and Aircel share a common promise of going beyond limits to benefit customers, and we’re glad to tie-up with them for this truly user-friendly product.”

    The mobile app is available for download from the Google Play Store and the iOS App Store, to which Aircel customers receive free subscription for the first two months. The service will later be made available to the users at a price of Rs 120 per month.

    Hungama.com CEO Siddhartha Roy said, “Both Aircel and Hungama are strong brands in their respective segments, and this partnership aims to create a seamless experience between Hungama’s large catalogue of music videos and songs on Aircel’s robust data network. I am sure this will not only enhance the entertainment quotient for the end-users but also help both brands create a larger community of engaged users. The partnership between Aircel and Hungama aims to offer users access to the music they love on one of India’s best data networks. I am sure consumers will enjoy the seamless experience of our large catalogue of music videos and songs on Aircel’s robust data network.”