Tag: OML

Amazon Prime Video unveils trailer of comedy talent hunt ‘Comicstaan’

MUMBAI: International tech giant Amazon’s video streaming platform is putting a great deal of effort to gain a foothold in the Indian market. Since its launch, the company has focused on ramping up its original content, with comedy forming a key component of its growth strategy. With the trailer launch of Comicstaan, Amazon Prime Video has made another addition to the list.

The talent hunt series has been produced by Only Much Louder (OML) that has put out shows such as On Air with AIB and Comedy Hunt. To mentor as well as judge competitors, Tanmay Bhat, Kenny Sebastian, Sapan Verma, Naveen Richard, Kaneez Surkha, Kanan Gill and Biswa Kalyan Rath have been signed up by the platform.

The new Prime original series consisting of nine episodes will be available to members from July. The first four episodes will be released on the launch day, with others following suit on a weekly basis.

Hailing comedy as an equally attractive category like cricket and Bollywood Amazon Prime Video India content head and director Vijay Subramanian said, “When we asked our customers what are things they would love to watch comedy was right up there. So, there were two things we could do. One, acquiring some of the best comedy movies in Hindi and other regional languages. Same time, we can actually create a new space with stand-up comedians.”

Amazon’s competitors Netflix and Hotstar are also trying to tap into the comedy scene. ALTBalaji even launched stand-up comedy videos in regional languages.

“We will continue to acquire the best movies across various languages. We are going to ramp up on our Indian originals. In second half of this year we are going to launch three more. Next year we hope to have 10 originals. And you will continue to see some other biggest blockbuster films on our service.” Subramanian commented on Amazon Prime Video India’s plans for next year while speaking to Indiantelevision.com.

While there were speculations in the media that Amazon Prime Video was contemplating kick-starting its own production house, the spokesperson of the company did not offer any clarification. However, he said the company is right now focused on just getting good content by betting big on originals. The equation with partners like OML, Excel Entertainment, the production houses with which Amazon Prime Video partnered for Indian originals, are very good right now.

“Comicstaan is the exciting next step in our long and fruitful relationship with Amazon. It ties all the best parts of Indian stand-up together into something fresh. Getting the country’s top comedians to nurture and mentor new talent is an idea that excited us, and it’s been extremely rewarding to see it all come together,” OML COO Ajay Nair said.

Recently Amazon has added a new prime subscription plan at RS 129 per month for Indian consumers. When Subramanian was asked about that, he emphasized on the flexible options for customers to choose the plan.

The company realises that being locally relevant is very important to survive in Indian market. Hence, their investments for regional expansion plans will continue. However, when it comes to Indian original shows the company will prioritize its Hindi library for now.

Also Read :

Amazon India’s new monthly subscription plan

India fastest-growing market in first year for Amazon: Jeff Bezos

June 27, 2018
TVF’s ‘ideas man’ Tarun Tripathi joins OML

MUMBAI: Tarun Tripathi, the brand awareness and brand solution head of The Viral Fever (TVF), the digital entertainment channel for the younger generation which seldom watches television, has joined Only Much louder (OML).

For the young, TVF had created a web series called Permanent Roommates, touted as the second most-viewed long-form web series. TVF had also released its second original series, TVF Pitchers, about engineers at different companies who quit to launch their startups.

Tripathi, who states in his profile that he is in the business of ideas, has come on board OML as the chief strategy officer from 1 September, 2017.

Tripathi joined TVF in January 2016, where he was leading branded content and marketing. Tripathi also worked for HUL’s ‘phd’ as a business head for 19 months. He was responsible for digital media buying, planning and strategy.

Tripathi, the founder of a startup called Collectivity, a consultancy focussed on the intersection of technology, content, and the bottom of the pyramid, also worked with Myspace as the director – marketing and content (India) for 17 months.

Starting his career as an assistant consultant for KPMG Mauritius, he moved to Trikaya Grey in Mauritius where he wrote copies for two years and then headed Yash Raj Films’ marketing department for around six years before moving to Myspace.

Also Read:

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ChuChu TV on YouTube records 10m subs with 154 kids videos

Satisfying writer, client and customer is biggest challenge: Arunabh Kumar

September 7, 2017
VICE India hires Pragya Tiwari as content head and OML’s Samira Kanwar as head – video

MUMBAI: Last year, the global news industry’s disrupter Shane Smith’s VICE Media announced a joint venture with the Jains’ Times of India group. And, after that, there was silence from Shane and his gang of alternative newsmen.

But, apparently some progress has been made by Shane and Jay Rosenstock, if one goes by the buzz online.

Pragya Tiwari, a film maker, and former web editor of Tehelka, who recently got a masters degree in public administration from the London School of Economics, recently updated her Twitter profile stating that she is the editor-in-chief of VICE India.

And she tweeted: “Good people, @VICE is coming to India! If you’d like to work with/write for us email me on indiapitches@vice.com. Also, pls spread the word?”

In response to the flood of applications and queries, she said that she had been appointed as the content head of VICE India and was looking for writers in Hindi and English.

Tiwari’s Linkedin profile states that she is a “Freelance writer and journalist” and that she writes on politics, policy and culture for many different Indian and international publications. She is also the editor-in-chief of The Big Indian Picture as well as creative director of balconytv.com, which she will leaving to others to run.

VICE India has also snared former Only Much Louder (OML) content director Samira Kanwar as the head of Vice – video. The lady has oodles of experience having worked for Channel [V] as a director/producer and as the CEO of OML division Babble Fish Productions.

“Rosenstock and Shane have been big admirers of the work that Vijay Nair’s OML team produce,” says a media observer. “Hence, it is no surprise that they roped in Samira.”

Tiwari has tweeted saying that VICE India is looking for journalists in Delhi and Mumbai – having both text and video journalism experience. Not just full timers, but even freelancers.

And, she has further tweeted that VICE’s Indian version will launch soon.

Also Read:

Vice Media to build largest OTT platform, expand to 80 markets by early ’18

VICE to launch digital service with ToI Group 1Q 2017

August 24, 2017
Amazon Prime Video India ties up with OML
MUMBAI: Amazon Prime Video India has entered into a partnership with OML (Only Much Louder) to release 14 comedy specials exclusively for Amazon. The shows are set to launch in May.

“Each of the hour long specials will debut on the platform exclusively in May. OML best comedy talent will available to prime members exclusively and on demand,” said Amazon Prime Video India director and country head Nitesh Kripalani.

Recently, Zodiak Kids had announced that it has sold a series of titles to Amazon India, in a deal amassing over 100 hours. The shows are set to launch on Amazon Prime Video in early 2017.

Amazon India has acquired all four seasons of the popular children’s animation Horrid Henry. The show centres on a boy who constantly feels like life just is not fair. He is only a kid, but with a perfect little brother like Peter, a Mum and Dad who would love him dearly if only he starts behaving, well like a kid, and a moody girl next door who is on a mission to make Henry’s life miserable, who can blame him?

Talking about the partnership, Only Much Louder COO Ajay Nair adds “We are very excited to partner with Amazon Prime Video on this series of stand-up specials. Stand-up comedy in India has become massive over the last few years with a huge fan base across the country and the comics have worked tremendously hard to create and perform the funniest material for their fans. Amazon Prime Video is a great destination for fans to watch full hour-long sets of their favourite comics in one go.”

The comedians whose specials will be released as part of this partnership include:
- Sapan Verma (Obsessive Comedic Disorder has already launched on Amazon Prime Video in December 2016 to rave reviews)
- Sorabh Pant (My dad thinks he’s funny has already launched on Amazon Prime Video)
- Kanan Gill
- Kenny Sebastian (Don’t be that guy)
- Zakir Khan, (Single magar haq se)
- Biswa Kalyan Rath
- Naveen Richard (Don’t make that face)
- Anuvab Pal (Alive at 40)
- Varun Thakur (Vicky this side, Varun that side
- Azeem Banatwalla (Cometh the hour)
- Neville Shah
- Aadar Malik (Stand up – The Musical)
- S Aravind (Madrasi Da)
- EIC Outrage special, a live show based on EIC’s immensely popular EIC Outrage series will be part of the series.
These specials will be shot at iconic venues across the country in the first half of 2017 and two to three specials will be released exclusively on Amazon Prime Video every month.
January 19, 2017
Amazon Prime Video India ties up with OML
MUMBAI: Amazon Prime Video India has entered into a partnership with OML (Only Much Louder) to release 14 comedy specials exclusively for Amazon. The shows are set to launch in May.

“Each of the hour long specials will debut on the platform exclusively in May. OML best comedy talent will available to prime members exclusively and on demand,” said Amazon Prime Video India director and country head Nitesh Kripalani.

Recently, Zodiak Kids had announced that it has sold a series of titles to Amazon India, in a deal amassing over 100 hours. The shows are set to launch on Amazon Prime Video in early 2017.

Amazon India has acquired all four seasons of the popular children’s animation Horrid Henry. The show centres on a boy who constantly feels like life just is not fair. He is only a kid, but with a perfect little brother like Peter, a Mum and Dad who would love him dearly if only he starts behaving, well like a kid, and a moody girl next door who is on a mission to make Henry’s life miserable, who can blame him?

Talking about the partnership, Only Much Louder COO Ajay Nair adds “We are very excited to partner with Amazon Prime Video on this series of stand-up specials. Stand-up comedy in India has become massive over the last few years with a huge fan base across the country and the comics have worked tremendously hard to create and perform the funniest material for their fans. Amazon Prime Video is a great destination for fans to watch full hour-long sets of their favourite comics in one go.”

The comedians whose specials will be released as part of this partnership include:
- Sapan Verma (Obsessive Comedic Disorder has already launched on Amazon Prime Video in December 2016 to rave reviews)
- Sorabh Pant (My dad thinks he’s funny has already launched on Amazon Prime Video)
- Kanan Gill
- Kenny Sebastian (Don’t be that guy)
- Zakir Khan, (Single magar haq se)
- Biswa Kalyan Rath
- Naveen Richard (Don’t make that face)
- Anuvab Pal (Alive at 40)
- Varun Thakur (Vicky this side, Varun that side
- Azeem Banatwalla (Cometh the hour)
- Neville Shah
- Aadar Malik (Stand up – The Musical)
- S Aravind (Madrasi Da)
- EIC Outrage special, a live show based on EIC’s immensely popular EIC Outrage series will be part of the series.
These specials will be shot at iconic venues across the country in the first half of 2017 and two to three specials will be released exclusively on Amazon Prime Video every month.
January 19, 2017
YouTube fanfest returns to India for 3rd edition

MUMBAI: Youtube Fanfest is back in India for a third time and how! On its third edition now, the mega celebration boasts of a 30 artists line up of digital artists and content creators, who will take centre stage on 18 March 2016 in Mumbai. The show will be co-produced by Only Much Louder and Branded, and has Pepsi, Pantene, Amazon.in and Clean and Clear as sponsors, with Pepsi coming onbaord for the second time. Star acts include SuperWoman aka Lilly Singh, Kanan Gill, Connor Franta, SANAM, TVF and AIB

Sharing his excitement over the fest, YouTube India head of entertainment and content Satya Raghavan said, “India has undergone a content creator revolution. Over the last few years, Indian YouTube creators have gained millions of new subscribers and have taken over the imagination of the youth in India. In our view, 2015 was a breakout year for the young industry and the ecosystem has really evolved in India, with mobile driving massive growth for online video consumption. Now, we’re seeing online creators break open the gates for a whole new kind of entertainment for Indians online, with advertisers looking to tap into this space in a meaningful way.”

While the idea is to reach out to maximum number of people and inspire them to not only celebrate the existing content creators, but join the community as well. YouTube is banking on organic promotion of the show through artists and their subscribers. “It is largely organic. Several thousands of content creators put out videos on their channels, and they have their millions of subscribers, who themselves have their own social media platforms to put the word across. We don’t think we need any more marketing,” said Raghavan.

About the booming digital content industry and the mushrooming of OTT players across the board Ragahavan said, “I think it’s great that more people are doing things around video. It will only expand the pie. Especially with bandwidth opening up in the country hopefully thanks to the several 4G services. It is an exciting time for content creators and video content consumers to be in India.”

Making the most of the platform, Culture Machine, OML, Qyuki, and The Viral Fever (TVF) also announced four new original properties on YouTube. Firstly #LaughterGames, where nine comedy creators will launch their own comedy web series, featuring YouTube comedians such as East India Comedy, Put Chutney and Kenny Sebastian. Qyuki will launch Jamminin’, a show featuring Bollywood composers and YouTube music creators. In the coming months, Culture Machine will be launching Beauty Hunt, a beauty/style-centric program, while OML will launch season 2 of its successful Comedy Hunt, the search for India’s next comedy act, while veteran web show creators TVF will be launching a search for the next generation of web series creators. A Tamil Comedy Hunt with Vision Time, a Telugu Comedy Hunt with ETV, and Katha, a Tamil/Telugu web series property are some of the launches that can be expected from south India later in the year.

To reflect on YouTube’s growth in India Raghavan shared some data: “While overall watchtime in India has grown by 80 per cent YoY (with 55 per cent of that watchtime on mobile) and the hours of video uploaded from India has increased at 90 per cent YoY, content uploaded by India’s independent creators has risen especially quickly. For instance, watchtime of independent musicians grew over 92 per cent YoY; comedy and entertainment grew 100 per cent YoY; beauty and fashion videos have grown over 138 per cent YoY. Another notable area of watchtime growth came from the south, with Tamil and Telugu content seeing a 75 per cent spike in YoY growth.

March 17, 2016
YouTube fanfest returns to India for 3rd edition

MUMBAI: Youtube Fanfest is back in India for a third time and how! On its third edition now, the mega celebration boasts of a 30 artists line up of digital artists and content creators, who will take centre stage on 18 March 2016 in Mumbai. The show will be co-produced by Only Much Louder and Branded, and has Pepsi, Pantene, Amazon.in and Clean and Clear as sponsors, with Pepsi coming onbaord for the second time. Star acts include SuperWoman aka Lilly Singh, Kanan Gill, Connor Franta, SANAM, TVF and AIB

Sharing his excitement over the fest, YouTube India head of entertainment and content Satya Raghavan said, “India has undergone a content creator revolution. Over the last few years, Indian YouTube creators have gained millions of new subscribers and have taken over the imagination of the youth in India. In our view, 2015 was a breakout year for the young industry and the ecosystem has really evolved in India, with mobile driving massive growth for online video consumption. Now, we’re seeing online creators break open the gates for a whole new kind of entertainment for Indians online, with advertisers looking to tap into this space in a meaningful way.”

While the idea is to reach out to maximum number of people and inspire them to not only celebrate the existing content creators, but join the community as well. YouTube is banking on organic promotion of the show through artists and their subscribers. “It is largely organic. Several thousands of content creators put out videos on their channels, and they have their millions of subscribers, who themselves have their own social media platforms to put the word across. We don’t think we need any more marketing,” said Raghavan.

About the booming digital content industry and the mushrooming of OTT players across the board Ragahavan said, “I think it’s great that more people are doing things around video. It will only expand the pie. Especially with bandwidth opening up in the country hopefully thanks to the several 4G services. It is an exciting time for content creators and video content consumers to be in India.”

Making the most of the platform, Culture Machine, OML, Qyuki, and The Viral Fever (TVF) also announced four new original properties on YouTube. Firstly #LaughterGames, where nine comedy creators will launch their own comedy web series, featuring YouTube comedians such as East India Comedy, Put Chutney and Kenny Sebastian. Qyuki will launch Jamminin’, a show featuring Bollywood composers and YouTube music creators. In the coming months, Culture Machine will be launching Beauty Hunt, a beauty/style-centric program, while OML will launch season 2 of its successful Comedy Hunt, the search for India’s next comedy act, while veteran web show creators TVF will be launching a search for the next generation of web series creators. A Tamil Comedy Hunt with Vision Time, a Telugu Comedy Hunt with ETV, and Katha, a Tamil/Telugu web series property are some of the launches that can be expected from south India later in the year.

To reflect on YouTube’s growth in India Raghavan shared some data: “While overall watchtime in India has grown by 80 per cent YoY (with 55 per cent of that watchtime on mobile) and the hours of video uploaded from India has increased at 90 per cent YoY, content uploaded by India’s independent creators has risen especially quickly. For instance, watchtime of independent musicians grew over 92 per cent YoY; comedy and entertainment grew 100 per cent YoY; beauty and fashion videos have grown over 138 per cent YoY. Another notable area of watchtime growth came from the south, with Tamil and Telugu content seeing a 75 per cent spike in YoY growth.

March 17, 2016
AIB launches ad wing with Truly Madly’s ‘Creep Qawwali;’ plans major expansion

MUMBAI: The rather (in)famous comedy group All India Bakchod (AIB) has some ambitious expansion plans up their sleeves. The group has launched its advertising wing called Vigyapanti, which kick-started with their latest comic presentation – Creep Qawwali. A keen observer would notice that the video is in fact an advertisement for the start-up dating portal – Truly Madly.

What’s more, brand AIB isn’t putting a stop to their expansion plan with just Vigyapanti as the group also has plans to foray into long-form content production as well as movie production.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com about the group’s plans for the next couple of years, AIB’s Tanmay Bhat says, “There is no precedent to what we do — from entertainment to working with brands and start-ups. We are soon getting into long form productions and hopefully into movie production by the end of next year.”

Coming to Vigyapanti, while AIB has taken on embedded branding projects for various established brands, their latest output is a first from their newly conceived advertising wing.

Bhat says, “One of our copy writers suggested the term. It sounded almost like ‘adgiri,’ which rings close to the way we approach a brand. The name Vigyapanti just fits with brand AIB.”

Bhat is on a mission to establish a 15 members strong team of copywriters by the start of next year.

One doesn’t need to look too far in history to notice AIB’s roots in advertising. Bhat has been associated with the advertising industry before. “I was supposed to become a copywriter before AIB and stand-up comedy happened,” says Bhat in his signature comical intonation. So why this call back to advertising? “Because our biggest source of income, even for the YouTube channel, is working brands,” comes his simple answer. “Brands is where the money is.”

AIB’s ad wing idea didn’t pop out of nowhere. The four team members – Bhat, Gursimran Khamba, Rohan Joshi and Ashish Shakya – were toying with the idea of starting an agency for over eight months now. “We were dwelling on the thought without any copywriters on our team. After meeting a bunch of people for about six months, we were able to get some fine writers onboard with us,” says Bhat, referring to the new additions to the team namely Girish Narayandass, Devaiah Bopanna, Vignesh Raja and Mihir Lele.

However, it wasn’t until AIB worked with Truly Madly that they locked the idea of using their strength to make start-ups massive. “Working with a start-up is a very refreshing experience. There’s no bureaucracy involved unlike the big brands. So we decided, maybe we should focus on start-ups, which are either getting funded or are looking to get funded,” shares Bhat, adding that the romantic idea of “using our popularity to good use” is part of the appeal.

A pertinent question here is, how affordable Vigyapanti will be for such start-ups? If they go by their romantic ideologies and lessen the cost, how will this be a profitable business for the brand? To this, Bhat says, “We plan to go about this on a case by case basis. For those who can’t afford us, we might decide to do away with the creative cost and charge them only for the production cost. We are also seriously considering on picking up equities from them as opposed to monetary transactions.”

This doesn’t however mean that AIB will cut all ties with the mega brands who seek their expertise. They will continue to do promotional videos for sponsors and other established brands through their YouTube channel.

When quizzed about OML’s (AIB’s managing body) involvement with Vigyapanti, Bhat replies, “OML manages AIB and its business so they are with us on most of the things that we do. Now they have moved on from being just managers to consultants. I like having Vijay and Ajay Nair involved. In fact, the idea of pivoting to start-ups and picking up equities instead is an idea, which came from Vijay Nair. Given his experience, he is someone who can think long term in the ecosystem.”

While Bhat declines to divulge the names of all the brands Vigyapanti has onboard, he does add that Hotstar is their next client. As was previously reported by Indiantelevision.com, AIB will be doing a news comedy series called On Air with AIB for Star India’s over-the-top (OTT) platform Hotstar. “Vigyapanti has also done promos for AIB’s upcoming show on Hotstar. We will take care of their digital and outdoor promotions as well,” says Bhat.

Pertinent to note here is that the collaboration with AIB for the show made Hotstar an exception to Vigyapanti’s ‘start-up only’ rule.

“We are already in talks with four or five start-ups regarding equity and stakes. Hopefully, by the end of the year, we can roll out our client list for the next five to six months,” says Bhat.

October 9, 2015
Random Chikibum win OML’s YouTube Comedy Hunt

NEW DELHI: Random Chikibum have been named as the first ever winners of Comedy Hunt, India’s first web hunt by Only Much Louder’s (OML) to find the next comedy stars on YouTube.

They survived cheeky tasks and difficult challenges posed by the mentors, week after week, yet were able to impress the toughest and most competitive comedy brigade throughout the competition.

The comedy veterans of YouTube and mentors All India Bakchod (AIB), Kanan Gill & Biswa Kalyan Rath, SnG Comedy, East India Comedy, Jose Covaco, Abish Mathew, Aditi Mittal and Shudh Desi Endings had set out on a three-month long journey to give way to new talent and provide infinite unique opportunities to the audience.

The aim was to find a team that will make you laugh every time with most creative and unique videos.

The hunt saw participation from all over India – with 1578 entries from over 60 cities out of which just 40 entries were shortlisted. YouTube creators and judges of Comedy Hunt then sifted through the entries and shortlisted comedycreators on the basis of originality and creativity of the video content, during the most exciting seven weeks of challenge round put up by the mentors for over two months.

Finally with weekly eliminations process, Weird Communications, Take 900, Funny Brownies, Forked Up and Random Chikibum emerged as the Top 5 Comedy Hunt contenders.

Announcing the winner, AIB said, “When we started AIB, comedy was lesser known and looked down upon. But today we have come a long way and with pit stops such as Comedy Hunt, the race for being the king of comedy is truly rewarding. We would like to congratulate Random Chikibum, who withstood the test of time and even after much scrutiny, made us laugh each time.”

YouTube India head of content and operations Satyanarayan Raghavan added, “Comedy Hunt is India’s first ever show on the online platform that inspires creativity. In our efforts to bring the new talent and unleash their potential on the YouTube platform, we associated with Comedy Hunt. We are extremely happy with the tremendous response that the contest generated on YouTube.”

Sharing the stage with their mentors AIB, Kanan & Biswa, SnG & East India Company, Random Chikibum showed their excitement after winning the race to be funny and hooked the audience by sharing their experiences and inspirations throughout the entire competition.

Only Much Louder (OML) director Ajay Nair said, “The invincible success of Comedy Hunt is a true evidence of the changing face of comedy in India. We would like to extend our congratulations to Random Chikibum for winning the competition. We believe these shining stars of today are now all geared up to make India laugh, adding to their daily dose of laughter.”

Random Chikibum added, “What started as a source of laughter in closed rooms is today a recognised art on the digital platform. Winning Comedy Hunt 2015 is a dream come true for us and we owe it to all our mentors who have extended their unconditional support. We believe this is just the beginning of our dream journey and we promise to make you laugh every time.”

As part of the winning team, Random Chikibum will now get a chance to share the platform with some of the biggestcomedy creators and will be associated with major brands through exclusive contracts. Besides this, the team will also be rewarded with high quality equipment gear that will enable them to create many more unique content rich videos on YouTube.

October 2, 2015
Live events in India need huge impetus from government

MUMBAI: In order to discuss the long road ahead in making India a productive profit centre in the global live event landscape, a session dedicated to the same was conducted on the final day of FICCI Frames 2015 held in Mumbai.

With a vision to wash away the red tape and enable business environment, the discussion was led by a panel comprising entrepreneurs like Cineyug director Mohammad Morani, OML CEO and founder Vijay Nair, Ice Global owner Sushma Gaekwad, Viacom18 INS Jaideep Singh, Coca Cola India VP – marketing Debu Mukherjee and Percept joint MD Shailendra Singh. The session was moderated by anchor Mini Mathur.

Gaekwad kick-started the discussion by saying that issues relating to licensing norms and taxation policies amongst others needed to be sorted out. “We have to sort out these issues. There is a lot of work ahead of us but yet the industry has the potential to grow,” she said.

Gaekwad believes that the industry has taken the first step in sorting everything out and like-minded bunch of entrepreneurs have started coming together as an association. “Earlier each business was of its own, but now as an association, we can sort issues that each of us bring to the table.”

Percept’s Singh went on to add that almost 58 per cent of India’s population was below the age of 25 years and the young population is extremely restless and has tremendous amount of energy. “What young people need in today’s time is entertainment. Live entertainment is a very serious business, but the government has never understood the industry and has not taken it seriously. One can’t even imagine that how much business the industry can bring, how many job opportunities it can create and how well it can entertain. We are deprived as a country for live entertainment just because the Government doesn’t believe that this industry should be taken seriously,” he opined.

For Festival curator Nikhil Chinappa, making the sense of 1.25 million population in the country is the biggest concern. He believes that in the space, the numbers are vast and so are the opportunities. “Even though we are talking about the opportunities, but we need to know whether there are more people buying tickets or are the same people trying to buy different tickets again and again?”

Answering his own question, he replied saying that research indicated that there are no new people, who buy tickets but the same ones who are interested in buying always.

Agreeing with Chinappa, Singh continued to say that in this sector, it has not been able to harness new members in the industry. “We can only grab eyeballs of the newbies by our strong business models and that is going to lead the success path,” he said.

Picking up to what Gaekwad pinpointed on the licensing part, Nair feels that Maharashtra has been left behind when it comes to licensing policies. “If an artist is performing at the same venue for 10 times in a year, he has to apply for licenses all the time, which is not needed. Moreover, the situation is going to get worse with the new laws coming in. For example, 14 per cent of service tax has been added to buy tickets.”

Percept’s Singh believes that everything in the society happens from top down. “If there is a ministry sitting at the top to look at these issues at the forefront, then why are we begging in front of them? They have to understand that this is the need of the new Indian. Young India wants entertainment. Why should we pay the price or suffer?” he questioned.

He further said that it is impossible to make money in live entertainment today. “The opportunity that live events provide is massive. When will the government understand this?” he further lamented.

On the other hand, Viacom18’s Singh believes that the government alone cannot be blamed alone because the onus lies on the entrepreneurs, who are working in this space too. “I believe that this should come from top, but we are also equally responsible for it maybe because we are not pushing it or fighting enough for it. We need to put our business propositions together and fight for it right up there. We need to prove our might with numbers, which they are not seeing right now.”

Mathur questions, “Are we doing enough as an industry?” To which, Gaekwad responded that the fraternity has taken the first step by coming together and working towards it and is confident that by next year it will be talking a different language. But she also believed that currently there is a lack of vision, which needs to be improved. “It is not only about the local spender but also about the international spender.”

Talking about the industry’s future, Chinappa stated that to him vision is accessibility. “If you want the music and dance industry to grow, one needs to ensure that it is easily accessible for people and that can happen best through social media platforms. Digital platforms are the best mediums where people can share and exchange ideas,” he said.

Viacom18’s Singh further revealed that brands too have been taking the industry very seriously. Where there is reach, there are brands. According to him, in the first year it got close to 10 – 12 brands on board, whereas the second year saw some improvement with close to 25 brands. What’s more, the third year saw a fantastic response with about 60 brands coming on-board.

Throwing light on the solutions to make the industry more profitable, Percept’s Singh said that the market will grow where there is a sense of security. To top it all, the three E-formulas will always work wonders – educate the market, empower and entertain the consumers.

The session concluded with each of them focusing on issues like making music more available and accessible to people, strong compelling business to generate numbers, collaborate and work together as an association for faster progress and yet be competitive by focusing on the consumer’s need.

March 27, 2015