Mumbai: If music is your ultimate source of solace and joy, then you’re in for a treat. We’ve scoured the tech landscape to bring you a selection of cutting-edge gadgets that promise to take your audio experience to new heights. From crisp beats to immersive melodies, these devices are tailor-made for the discerning music enthusiast. Welcome to your very own “Music Lover’s Paradise.”
Nokia 130 Music: Start your audio journey with simplicity and nostalgia. The Nokia 130 Music is not just a phone, but a compact music player that lets you groove to your favorite tunes on the go. With its long battery life and dedicated music buttons, you can relive the charm of the past while enjoying your modern-day playlists. Featuring a big battery and a powerful speaker, the Nokia 130 lasts long and plays loud. Whether you want to go hands-free on calls or play the FM radio for the entire room, it delivers clear sound from dawn till dusk. Durable and user-friendly, the Nokia 130 will stand by your side day in and day out. Press and hold the music key to open the MP3 player and dive into your tracks stored on the MicroSD card. Alternatively, tune into local stations with the FM radio. Whichever option you choose, you can enjoy your music all day long, using headphones or the built-in improved loudspeaker. The choice is yours.
Nokia 5710: With the Nokia 5710, music becomes a lifestyle. This feature-rich phone boasts an integrated music player that ensures your tunes sound their best. Plus, its sleek design and customisable features make it a statement piece for any music aficionado.
Your music, your rules. The Nokia 5710 XpressAudio features a unique and game-changing design, purpose-built for new realms of audio freedom. The phone houses a pair of wireless earbuds beneath a sleek and robust slider – pop them out when you want to listen and put them back to charge when you’re done. And if you want to listen to music with friends, just switch to the phone’s loudspeaker.
Sony Party Speaker SRS-XV800: Turn any gathering into an unforgettable music experience with the Sony Party Speaker SRS-XV800. This powerhouse delivers powerful sound that fills the room, while its dynamic lighting effects create a club-like ambiance. Bring the party wherever you go!
Whether you’re hosting an epic party or enjoying your favorite movie or TV show, this speaker will provide the immersive experience you need. The XV800 offers powerful, room-filling sound no matter what you’re listening to or where you’re listening from. So, don’t compromise—play music loud and clear or enhance your movies and TV with the XV800.
Life should be lived at full volume. That means getting your friends together, turning up the music to full volume, and dancing all night to clear, rich sound. With our new X-series range of speakers, you can make the most of every single moment, power parties you’ll remember forever, and always live your life out loud.
Sony Earbuds WF-C700N: Immerse yourself in a world of musical bliss with the Sony Earbuds WF-C700N. These true wireless earbuds offer noise cancellation, allowing you to escape into your melodies without any distractions. Enjoy premium sound quality and convenience rolled into one.
The WF-C700N headphones with noise-cancelling, all-day comfort, and immersive sound quality allow you to enjoy music anywhere. Cancel out background noise with Noise Sensor Technology or use the Ambient Sound Mode to stay connected to your natural surroundings. Adjust ambient sound with the Sony | Headphones Connect app to control your listening experience.
Tecno Pova 5 Pro: Unleash your music’s potential with the Tecno Pova 5 Pro
This smartphone isn’t just about calls and texts—it’s a pocket-sized music studio. With powerful speakers and enhanced audio features, your tracks will resonate with depth and clarity. The RGB light at the back of the phone resonates with the emotions of digital natives. This LED light matches with the rhythm of the music with its Pure and Party mode vibing to your soulful party music.
When it comes to enhancing your audio experience, these gadgets are your keys to unlocking a world of sonic wonders. From the nostalgic charm of Nokia’s music phones to the contemporary brilliance of Sony’s speakers, earbuds, and headphones, your musical journey is about to get a serious upgrade. So, immerse yourself, groove on, and let the melodies transport you to your very own music lover’s paradise.
Mumbai: Thriller 40, a double CD set featuring Michael Jackson’s original masterpiece Thriller, including never-before-released tracks that Jackson worked on for the Thriller album, has been announced by Sony Music and the Estate of Michael Jackson in honour of the album’s 40th anniversary. More than 100 million copies of the album have been sold worldwide.
Thriller‘s immersive audio mixes by Serban Ghenea and John Hanes are now accessible at several DSPs, such as 360 Reality Audio on Amazon and Spatial Audio on Apple Music.
Walmart and Target both sell the original Thriller album on vinyl. The Target exclusive comes with a Thriller 40 slipmat, but the Walmart exclusive has a different cover. The original Thriller album is available as a hybrid SACD and an ultradisc one-step 180g LP via Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MoFi). The MoFi one-step is produced at RTI and is strictly limited to 40,000 numbered copies. It is derived from the original 1/2″ (or 30 IPS) analogue master tapes, which are converted to DSD 256 and then to analogue console and lathe.
The 40th anniversary of the best-selling album of all time is commemorated by the publication of Thriller 40. Last week, the immersive experience in Düsseldorf, Germany, marked the beginning of the pop-up events and global activations planned to celebrate the masterpiece created by the ‘King of Pop.’ Next up is the weekend-long immersive event beginning 21 November in New York.
The Michael Jackson channel will be available exclusively on SiriusXM and will run for a short time to honour the illustrious career of ‘The King of Pop,’ from his early work with The Jackson 5 through his solo work.
From 23 November until 22 December, The Michael Jackson channel, which features a Thriller special hosted by Steven Ivory, a friend of the Jackson family and a musicologist, will be broadcast on Limited Edition 2 (channel 502) and The Groove (channel 50).
Michael’s monumental achievement broke Grammy records, broke down musical barriers, and permanently altered the boundaries of pop music and music videos.
Since its debut on 30 November 1982, Michael Jackson’s Thriller has spent more than 500 weeks at the top of the Billboard album chart and has amassed over 100 million sales.
Mumbai: A digital music company and a leading automated distribution division, TuneCore, have announced the funding of a grant for India-based music creators.
The TuneCore Grant is a cash endowment of Rs 1,00,000 that will be awarded to one selected artist. Submissions for the grant will be accepted from 15 November to 15 December 15. Grant applications from artists should include an original single that can be in any language and genre.
Artists who participate and submit their singles will be judged based on their talent and potential by a panel of industry experts, including Spotify head of artist and label partnerships Padmanabhan NS, Lexic founder and entertainment lawyer Sandhya Surendran, UnderTheRada founder and CEO Rahul Sinha, Maed In India founder Mae Mariyam Thomas, Indian Performing Rights Society head of marketing, communication, & member relations Rumpa Banerjee, Turnkey Music & Publishing managing director Atul Churamani, Wild City and music festival Magnetic Fields co-founder Sarah Elizabeth Chawla, celebrated chart topping and award-winning artist Nikhita Gandhi, and TuneCore’s head of South Asia Heena Kriplani.
TuneCore CEO Andreea Gleeson said, “The Indian music market is robust with talented independent artists, and I’m excited that, by offering financial support in the form of the TuneCore Grant, we are able to provide a rising artist with the resources to continue to create work that inspires and resonates with audiences around the world.”
TuneCore South Asia head Heena Kriplani commented, “Despite the difficulties presented by the pandemic, music creators have continued to inspire and persevere. As part of TuneCore’s ongoing efforts to eliminate barriers faced by independent artists, we are excited to fund this new grant and remind our artists that we are here for them.”
Earlier this year, TuneCore unveiled the new unlimited program, allowing constant music creation to be made more accessible for all artists by giving them the ability to release an unlimited number of singles and albums for one flat annual price. The unlimited program gives artists the freedom to create more music and experiment with different release strategies to advance their careers and feed their growing fan bases. Even those sensitive to pricing can experience TuneCore’s expertise in independent distribution and become eligible for upstream distribution through Believe’s Label & Artist Solutions or Believe Artist Services divisions’ “Signed By” program which has benefited over 400 TuneCore artists globally.
Mumbai: Meghna Mittal is GSharp Media’s co-founder and chief marketing officer; the company has two brands under its umbrella: Songfest India and Hoopr. Songfest focuses on giving musicians the creative freedom to explore new sonic avenues; Hoopr is India’s first music licensing marketplace that intends to offer cutting-edge solutions to both musicians and content creators alike.
Ever since its inception, GSharp Media has been focused on building creator-centric products. Mittal has led these initiatives and focuses extensively on crafting innovative marketing strategies while also playing a key role in scaling up products. Her strengths lie in staying close to the consumer, understanding the market requirements, and creating the right product that solves the customer’s pain point. She was pivotal in steering several viral marketing campaigns for Songfest, which accumulated more than 100 million views for its YouTube channel.
Her latest venture is Hoopr.ai, a music licensing marketplace that offers cutting-edge viral solutions to brands and video creators in collaboration with some of the most popular artists. The idea behind it is to offer a multitude of songs, background scores, and sound effects to creators regardless of the kind of content they create and showcase some innovative music from India’s best musicians and composers. Mittal and her team aim to help the creator economy reach new heights in India and around the globe with the platform.
Prior to joining GSharp Media, Mittal led the marketing initiatives for Hubilo and YesssWorks for more than seven years. A music lover herself and a people person, her interests include designing and building consumer-centric products, creating exciting content, and crafting unique music solutions for brands. She also has a huge, self-cultivated network of influencers across the country and believes that every creator deserves to have the best tools at their disposal for creating invigorating content.
On the personal front, she is extremely passionate about cooking and loves feeding her guests different delicacies. Indiantelevision.com caught up with Mittal to find out the growth strategy of the company.
Excerpts:
On Hoopr.ai
Most founders create products that solve a certain pain point they themselves have experienced and for which there is a large market but no clear solution. A few months into the pandemic, Gaurav Dagaonkar (GSharp Media founder) and I were running the content production studio Songfest and realised that costs and means of video production had come down heavily due to the lockdown. Most clients of Songfest and Songfest itself heavily use stock video & music to complete productions and save costs. It was at this stage that we realised how limited the availability of Indian stock music was.
It was this particular project for which we needed a Hindi hip-hop, street rap kind of track, and we couldn’t find even one across all platforms in the world. The international music licensing platforms didn’t carry Indian music, and we didn’t have any of our own. I mean, we’re talking about a country with a combined value of $15 billion if you put together the film, television, advertising, and music industries, and strangely, not one music licensing marketplace existed before Hoopr. We ultimately had to get the track created, which cost us a lot more time and money than the budget permitted.
So we started thinking about the millions of Indian vloggers, podcasters, live streamers, and digital content creators, including startups, who create daily video content for their Indian audiences and would be requiring relevant Indian music. On the one hand, using music without a licence results in a copyright or content ID claim, which takes away a creator’s monetisation rights for that video, while on the other, there is hardly any Indian music available to licence. That got us to start thinking seriously about building Hoopr.
But the final catalyst in this decision turned out to be a unique one. Anushka Sen is an Indian influencer with over 35 million followers on Instagram and two million on YouTube. She received a copyright claim for using a song belonging to Songfest and asked for a micro licence that could be purchased. I remember this one day when we came across a report that projected India having more than 100 million content creators by 2025, and Sen also wanted to buy a micro licence from us. We started building Hoopr from that day on.
On Hoopr.ai’ revenue model
We offer subscriptions to individual creators and businesses. Apart from that, we also offer custom plans for enterprises.
On the growth
We’re proud of the fact that we have received traction from customers all over India. It’s a testament to the power of the creator economy that we’ve seen traction from not only individual creators but also interest from brands and businesses across India.
On the challenges for monetisation of content including music
Let’s look at the content—music and video—separately. YouTube is currently the most important source of content monetization, at least for Indian creators.However, in order for this monetization to begin on YouTube, one must have more than 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time. Post that too, it requires millions of views to make a reasonable amount of income. Typically, if YouTube pays 2-3 paisa per view in India, a typical YouTuber ends up earning somewhere close to 15 to 30 thousand for a million views.
But the million views are hard to get, so the challenge for the Indian content creator is to be regular, attract a large audience, and create content in a sustained manner. Also, a small fraction of video creators end up making substantial money from platforms such as YouTube. A lot of the other short-form platforms do not allow monetization similar to YouTube, although it is likely that this may change in the future. Aside from this, content creators face a number of other challenges that limit their ability to monetize. Sometimes there could be licensing issues, creators may end up using music tracks that might get muted, or there could be a copyright claim or a takedown.
For musicians, it can be relatively easier as one can create music tracks and distribute them to multiple streaming platforms, and typically there is a pay-out associated with each stream. However, the challenge in this case is to get discovered, heard, and seen when the competition is cutthroat and there are thousands of tracks uploaded every single day.
On how covid impacted this area
The covid pandemic fuelled the digital revolution and accelerated the growth of content creators, social media community engagers, and even curators. During this time, both Dagaonkar and I realised that our agency and brand clients were actively looking to licence Indian music but were not able to find relevant content. We experienced this difficulty while creating promos and marketing videos for Songfest. But the turning point came when one of India’s leading content creators, Anushka Sen, got a content ID claim on YouTube and called me to buy a licence. A subsequent deep dive into the numbers of the creator economy revealed that millions of creators in India require music for their content and are willing to buy licences to avoid copyright claims.
Having launched the platform now, the industry envisages Hoopr as a potential go-to platform to find the right music for video content.
On the products like Songfest that GSharp Media operates
GSharp Media is a music tech and content company, and the idea has been to create and operate brands and products in the music domain that are interconnected and have synergies with one another. With Songfest and Hoopr, we have these synergies. Songfest is a brand that creates customised brand solutions. We create branded content, such as music videos, television commercials, and so on. Songfest also operates a YouTube channel with over half a million subscribers. The biggest asset of the company is the network of 3000+ music creators that we have.
On the latest campaign
We have launched a new campaign called “#HarGharCreator” with an ad to celebrate and empower creators across India. Hoopr.ai is solving a billion-dollar problem faced by content creators and businesses every day: that of discovering and licensing the right music for their videos. India’s 80 million+ creator community comprises vloggers, podcasters, gamers, filmmakers, live-streamers, and influencers who create audio-visual content on a variety of topics. With over 25,000 tracks and sound effects, Hoopr.ai is not only enabling these creators to get specific music for their needs but also helping them avoid copyright strikes and legal issues.
Furthermore, what’s also changing is the mindset with regard to content creation, with more people embracing it as a career choice. And that is exactly what the ad captures. In the ad, a young college student can be seen telling his strict father that he doesn’t want to be an engineer but rather a content creator. The reaction of the father makes the ad a must-watch for all content creators and their families.
A creator is now emerging in nearly every home across India, and we want to help them find phenomenal Indian music for their videos. Apart from individual creators, the music on Hoopr is also being used by brands, enterprises, and OTT platforms, as it is cleared for use and free from any copyright strikes or takedowns.
On trends being seen when it comes to music tech
There are a lot of developments happening in music technology. Right from production to distribution and consumption, to areas like licensing, building communities, and fan funding of collectibles, music tech has seen a lot of developments and interesting start-ups over the last couple of years. When it comes to music production, we are seeing tools that allow people to collaborate. There are multiple music distribution services that have evolved over the last four to five years that allow artists to distribute music across different streaming platforms. We are also in an era where the majority of music is consumed through streaming platforms. As a result, apps such as Spotify are continuously evolving their algorithms and recommendation engines to contribute to a better user experience. We have also seen the emergence of licensing platforms that have opened up new doors of income for musicians.
Two areas that are still in their nascent stage but will only continue to grow are AI-generated music and the ability of artists to create and distribute NFTs. These could unlock new doors as far as the music industry is concerned and could bring with them new opportunities for artists, new sources of funding, etc., all on the back of technological development.
On the future of the podcast format in India
Any kind of individualised content creation is here to stay, whether the creator makes a living out of it or does it out of passion and knowledge sharing. Any kind of content creation is going to grow from here, mainly because there are so many new tools that are coming up that help creators create content. In the case of podcasts, it’s a bit easier, as one can create podcasts in the comfort of their homes. They are able to record using microphones, which have become cheaper using workstations. Distributing podcasts has become easier too. The biggest driver is the fact that people want to share their knowledge, experience, and learnings, in addition to the huge appetite of the digital audience to consume this content.
India still has the potential to grow multifold in the domain of podcasts and some related fields too. Companies like Pocket FM do well in India, along with regional companies like Kuku FM, which are also producing a large number of audio books. Very soon, it will translate into individuals creating systematic podcasts. The future of podcasts in India is promising, and one of the biggest drivers will be regional content or regional podcasts, as 70 per cent of India’s population consumes regional content
Mumbai: Hoopr, a music licencing company, will feature artists from diverse backgrounds, professions, and other walks of life through Hoopr Originals. The idea is to help discover undiscovered talent in India.
Hoopr will also provide the artists with an additional chance to unlock revenue through sync. Their original tunes, which will be on Hoopr, will be accessible for users to licence and use in their videos, vlogs, and other content. In addition to helping them spread their music globally, the site will also help them get discovered.
Hoopr CEO & co-founder Gaurav Dagaonkar said, ” With Hoopr and Songfest, we have worked with numerous celebrities over the past few years, such as Shaan, Divya Kumar, Ash King, Monali Thakur, Mame Khan, Shamali Kholgade, and several large influencers too. However, as we have been building Hoopr over the last eight to nine months, we’ve seen incredible depth and diversity in terms of new songwriters, composers, music creators, and producers across India.
“So, we felt that Hoopr must be a platform that helps project this talent and gets these amazing artists discovered. Hoopr Originals is that platform, which will help new artists who are creating tracks for Hoopr get exposure in the industry. These artists are creating songs that encompass many languages and bring with them a unique blend of musical influences. An example of us doing this recently includes the song, Kyun main Kahoon by Abhinav Singh. Abhinav is a great singer songwriter, but he also holds an important role in the corporate world. There are many such talented individuals across the country, and we’re excited to produce their music and get it out there.”
In addition to releasing songs by Abhinav Singh, Hoopr has also released songs featuring artists such as Anirudh Bhola and Adarsh Shinde and paved the way for up-and-coming artists to collaborate with established names in the industry such as Mame Khan. Furthermore, Hoopr will be releasing songs that feature artists as diverse as Rupinn Pahwa, Shubhangi Tewari, Rishi Pathak, and Fuzzculture in the near future.
Dagaonkar adds, “We have worked on creating music videos with Hoopr originals artistes and will continue to do so. Additionally, we’re also excited about distributing these tracks worldwide.”
Hoopr is a music licencing platform that provides music that can be used across a wide variety of content, including videos and vlogs by individual creators, professional ads, TV series, movies, live game streaming, etc. The Mumbai-based company provides music that has all the appropriate licences, so anyone who uses it doesn’t have to worry about royalties, copyright issues, etc. Crucially, this means that using music from Hoopr helps users avoid takedowns and lawsuits.
The platform features a variety of music, from contemporary Indian pop to traditional Indian classical, from electronica to music that is unique to the various rich cultures that exist across India. Subscribers to Hoopr can access 25,000 music tracks and 3,000 sound effects from artists all over India. The music on Hoopr is also completely exclusive to the platform.
It is noteworthy to mention that many of the films that recently won awards at the India Film Project used songs from Hoopr. The artists of these songs got their due credit and recognition, which might not have happened if they weren’t on the platform.
Dagaonkar, an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, and Meghna Mittal, formerly of Hubilo and Yessworks, launched the company in 2021, which raised $1.5 million in its seed round in December 2021.
Hoopr added that it is seeing 100 per cent month-on-month growth in the number of users since its launch, and these users include content creators, filmmakers, enterprises, and brands across India. Some of its users include content creators such as Ashish Vidyarthi and Tanya Khanijow, along with brands such as New Jagran Media.
Mumbai: Entertainment Network India’s (ENIL) Mirchi, one of India’s largest city-centric music and entertainment companies, has strengthened its leadership position as it has announced the appointment of Yatish Mehrishi as its CEO.
Prashant Pandey, who was previously managing director & CEO of Mirchi, ENIL, will continue his role and duties as managing director.
Mehrishi will be spearheading the company’s performance across all dimensions and will continue to ensure Mirchi remains the audience’s go-to destination for all things music and entertainment.
He is a seasoned professional with over 23 years of experience across diverse sectors spanning FMCG, telecom, and fashion, having worked with organisations like Pepsico, Motorola, and Arvind Fashions, which was his previous stint as chief revenue officer.
Having worked with ENIL earlier for 11 years as chief operating officer, he brings with him a rich experience and a strong understanding of the radio, media & entertainment industry.
Commenting on Mehrishi’s appointment, BCCL managing director Vineet Jain said, “Over the past 20 years, Mirchi has evolved into a multi-platform, multi-format brand that has a presence across FM, live, and digital realms. In line with Mirchi’s new transformational journey, I am confident that Yatish’s return to ENIL will help accelerate our journey of being a digital-first brand.”
Commenting on his new role, Mehrishi said, “I am super excited to be back with ENIL. For years, Mirchi has been the consumers’ go-to for music and entertainment, dominating the audio industry, and now, with its new app, Mirchi Plus, it is set to redefine the audio entertainment industry further. With the recent shift in consumer behaviour towards digital, I am looking forward to championing Mirchi’s digital journey and replicating our radio journey’s success.”
Mumbai: During the past two Covid infected years on-ground events took a severe hit. This had an extremely negative impact on the revenues generated from live events and public performance of music. However, with normalcy returning The Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS) CEO Rakesh Nigam is optimistic about generating revenue of Rs 60 crore from public performance for the current fiscal. The revenue generated will increase from fiscal 2019-2020 (pre-covid), which was Rs 52 crore. The overall revenues generated at IPRS from across verticals for the fiscal are pegged to be above Rs 300 crore.
“IPRS has started engaging with a lot of people. We have taken a proactive stand with the users, who are also coming out of the pandemic. We will consider giving them discounts and ask them to pay for music. People are now positive about taking licences. We have boosted our on-ground team to meet the growing requirement. We have adopted a 360-degree approach and are trying to motivate people to get licences to play music in public. We also try and give discounts to coerce them to take licences.”
He adds that there is more advertising taking place on digital platforms like YouTube which will benefit the music industry. There is a revenue share and so there will be income growth. However for subscription-driven OTT platforms or music used for television, there won’t be an impact from ad revenue. The festive season has more of an impact on public performance and on anything that is driven by revenue share. “The festive season for us in public performance is a full six-month period. It starts in October and goes on till March. In the summer, things slow down and during the rainy season not much happens. Apart from this, in October corporate events, general events, parties, etc., all start taking place.
The mood today is very positive. We expect a growth in consumption, which was on a standstill for the past two years. As malls have opened, footfalls in theatres have increased. Things are looking bullish across the country. Recently, malls had stopped using music to cut down on costs and save every penny. Now they are willing to spend money and take licences. They use music in the background to create the right ambience.,” Nigam points out further.
“The fervour is across the country. Everyone is waiting to go out and break the shackles, be free and enjoy. So, retail sales are going up. Malls are quite positive. The mood picked up in August. The festive season is Diwali through Christmas.” IPRS, he says, has started engaging with clients. They had asked for discounts in the previous two years which the IPRS had agreed to help during a very difficult period.
In terms of the growth in the number of artists and music publishers, the growth has been over 50 per cent, he says. “During the lockdown, we made everything digital. We made the online application process as smooth as possible. Only the signature on the statutory documents has to be done offline. We have also held digital seminars and campaigns to reach out to music creators and publishers to tell them that IPRS is a society to extend support. We also reached out to music authors and composers who felt the brunt of Covid. We gave financial support. This sent out a positive message that we are an organisation that does not just collect royalties. We also help when it is required. As a society, we help the less privileged members. We gave financial relief to a lot of members during the pandemic. As a result of all our initiatives to help and support we have also grown in numbers. From 4,000+ we are now a community of over 9000 songwriters, composers and music publishers from across the country. We have seen this growth in the past three years. During seminars, we focused on the fact of learning and earning. We educated people on the new things that are shaping the music industry and careers of those associated with it. How can they be at par with things happening around beyond music creation? What is happening on platforms like Youtube? What is metadata? And all that is relevant for them to reap the best benefits as a creator and publisher.”
IPRS also aims to educate music users through our campaign that speaks about fair pay and fair play of music. #LicenseLiyakya? is the message. “Why not pay fairly for the usage of music? This encourages creativity. 90 per cent of people online listen to music. We are bullish. Why not ensure that you subscribe and pay for music? That is how we have come up with the campaign. If there is no music at your event, how will it sound? Please help us serve you better by paying for the music. This will encourage authors and composers to create better music for them.” In terms of IPRS members, he said that they can play their role by letting copyright societies like IPRS know where their music is being played. “They also have to push to see that those places obtain a licence as that will only benefit the music creators and publishers.”
Mumbai: MTV Beats adds the festive fervour and zeal to the most awaited time of the year- Ganeshotsav. Adding zest to the homecoming of lord Ganesha, MTV Beats brings fans of music and Bappa together, and a chance to win exciting prizes and merchandise, with a dynamic “Bappa Beats” celebration across Mumbai!
Grooving through the streets of Mumbai, two branded canters will explore a new area each day across the 10 festive days, visiting multiple Ganpati Pandals. Taking the MTV Beats malamaal festival en route, the branded canter will comprise a Beats Baby and a host asking visitors trivia about Bollywood, Ganpati and a lot more. Winners will receive branded merchandise of MTV Beats malamaal festival, an exciting watch-and-win contest on the channel!
Adding to the gusto and verve, a Beats Mandli led by the Beats Baby and consisting of rappers, lezim performers, dhol players, and acoustic bands, will perform at multiple Ganpati Pandals across the city along with the canters on the 8th and 9th day of the Ganpati Festival.
Mumbai: With Beats of Marapani, InnoDesigns pays homage to India’s furniture artists with a groovy music track that seamlessly blends carpentry sounds with Onam melodies.
A passion for home furnishings and technology inspired InnoDesigns, and it translates creative ideas into unconventional designs. Every piece that propels them forward in their design journey is created in collaboration with Indian furniture artisans.
InnoDesigns COO and strategy head Neetii said, “As a brand we believe furniture manufacturers are the lifeline of India’s furniture industry, and as a brand it’s an honour for us to celebrate their craftsmanship and contribution.”
InnoDesigns marketing and sales head Himanshu said on the track, “It was time to bring back the focus on our local furniture manufacturers. And what better occasion than Onam to start this conversation in Kerala. This tribute is also about prepping up the consumer in Kochi and Calicut for Onam as we bring in some unbelievable offers for them.”
LeapX’s Henry Moirang said on this, “For us the brief was clear. Bring alive the brand’s belief that the furniture manufacturer is the protagonist here. So we weaved his craftsmanship and the festival of Onam to make a call-to-action that people of Kerala find relevant and worth advancing. Thanks to Himanshu and his team for making us a part of this journey.”
Mumbai: The Indian audio and music landscape has undergone a paradigm shift in the past few years. On-demand audio content and podcasts are transforming people’s listening habits, just as on-demand video has changed how viewers watch television. Music streaming platforms have been gaining traction driven by the growing appetite for on-demand music and the rising popularity of podcasts, with a pandemic-prompted shift in the public’s content consumption patterns. The Indian music streaming market is projected to cross $870 million by the year 2025, according to the data from market research firm Statista.
On day two of the sixth edition of Indiantelevision.com’s The Content Hub Summit 2022 held on Thursday in Mumbai, executives of the music and audio content industry share their insights on ‘Decoding the business of audio, music and podcast’. The informative session chaired by Ideabrew Studios co-founder & CEO Aditya Kuber saw industry insiders comprising Hungama Digital chief executive officer Siddhartha Roy, Showbox vice president -Programming & Strategy Clyde Dsouza and Pocket FM senior vice president – content Ashu Behl discuss ways and means to drive the next wave of business growth in the digital audio space.
The summit was presented by Viacom18, and co-powered by Applause Entertainment and IN10 Media Network. Aaj Tak Connected Stream is the association partner. Industry partners are Fremantle India, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, One Take Media, Pratilipi, Pocket FM and The Viral Fever. The Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association (IMPPA) is our community partner.
With widespread internet penetration, and affordable smartphones becoming a common commodity even in the country’s tier three and four towns, the boundaries of the music streaming landscape have been pushed.
Showbox’s Clyde Dsouza, represents the more traditional media which some may say is on its way out. In his view, the more things change the more they remain the same. He said “While the platforms will keep evolving, the core piece- which’s the content- be it audio or visual- will always remain the same. So, the curation, the programming, the packaging- all of that remains the same. It’s just that the distribution models will keep changing.”
While the Indian market is now choc-a-bloc with digital music streaming platforms, OTTs that are purely ‘non-music’ and ‘audio-based’, such as Pocket FM, are also getting launched. These OTTs are evolving the audio-listening space into three broad categories, namely the traditional informative podcasts, audio books and lastly, the dominant category of audio series, explained Pocket FM’s Ashu Behl.
“The biggest barrier to user acquisition for us was there are not many audio user-acquisition channels, unless we go to competitors like Gaana or maybe, Hungama. So, we actually leveraged a video-led acquisition approach where we got consumers to sample audio content in some form of video, maybe a five-minute or three-minute clip,” continued Behl. “When the audience gets ‘stuck’ to the content or the story they then latch onto the content and download the app and continue to listen.”
How has the digital side of the business affected revenue on the traditional side, Ideabrew Studios’s Aditya Kuber asked Showbox’s Dsouza. From an advertising perspective one might have expected a downturn from digital platforms eating away at the advertising revenue, but there’s actually been an upturn, observed D’souza.
“I think traditional TV media is grounded within the ecosystem of the advertiser, the client, the audience and the measurability,” he added further. “Showbox has seen a huge uptick, not only in terms of viewership, but also in terms of advertising. So, music channels are still robust and it’s a while away for the traditional space to be upturned as such.”
The industry stakeholders discussed some of the newer payment methods in terms of micropayment models, and how smaller pieces of content can be converted into paid pieces of content.
“When we started monetising, we did so with an annual subscription model, but then we realised there’s an entry barrier for users to pay even nominal amounts,” said Behl. “So, we completely did away with it and started micro-payments, where the initial user can start spending, say as low as nine rupees, and listen to a number of episodes of a particular show.” This has lowered the entry barrier for the users, as well as, helped retention and stickiness of our long-form content.
When it comes to streaming platforms- more so music-driven- the entire category, each of us are aggressively continuing to grow our communities and each of us have different ways and forms in the way we are going about it, said Hungama Digital’s Siddhartha Roy. “From a payment perspective, it’s not the price. It’s all about the fact that if I’m getting the service free, why should I be paying? So, each of us are running different programs on how to move the consumer from a ‘free’ bucket into ‘paid’.”
What is the role that brands can play, in terms of advertising and effectively tapping into a platform’s community of users, asked Kuber, while going beyond the standard sponsorship or advertising route? The key for brands could be to step up by taking calculated risks and partnering more with the content, say the panellists.
Taking the same content, and packaging it and giving the brand proposition across music, OTT and broadcast, creating a 360-degree play with the brand’s passion was some of the other means spoken about. Another innovation is integrating the brand’s stories as a part of an audio series or content, where brands can actually monetise and see the outcome.
One of the major challenges brands face today is measuring the return on investment (RoI) on their investments in the digital audio space. How are the platforms aiding the brands on this, asked Kuber.
Digital as a medium is the most transparent measurement of what you would call ‘brand value’, says Roy. “It could be done through an impression, a view, or through the time spent. So, the amount of data that is being put out to brands, the effective RoI for the money that they deploy on advertising in digital – it can’t get more transparent than that.”
That context-setting and target-setting needs to be done at the time of engaging with the brand, he added.
The panellists also debated on having a standardised tool of data measurement for brands to measure their ROI, when it came to digital platforms.
On dealing with upcoming challenges and rising competition in the audio content space, experts were united about applying the standard tenets of staying ‘relevant’ and ‘committed’, while continuing to add something new and of value to the ecosystem.
