New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Nokia
Music Connects) - Nokia announced the launch of Nokia
Music Connects, India's largest and first of its kind music forum, in association with Hong Kong based
Music Matters and leading Indian media portal Indiatelevision.com's radioandmusic.com. The industry event is envisaged as an annual gathering of the Indian music business scheduled to be held this year at The Taj Landsend, Mumbai on August 26th, 2009.
The day-long conference is supported by the umbrella organization of the music industry, Indian Music Industry (IMI), and will comprise of a series of high-powered panels featuring key industry executives including regulatory heads, music label honchos, advertising gurus, corporate leaders as well as leading creative professionals.
Nokia Music Connects promises to be a truly international affair. Joining India's music industry leaders will be Seymour Stein, the man who discovered Madonna, Talking Heads, the Pretenders and the Ramones, Neil Warnock, the agent who brought Michael Jackson, Bryan Adams & Deep Purple to India and Rob McDermott, mega rock group Linkin' Park's manager.
Speaking on the occasion said Mr. Vineet Taneja, Director Marketing, Nokia India "We are delighted to associate with Music Matters and radioandmusic.com to bring Nokia Music Connects, a strategic music industry venture that brings the key music fraternity under one roof. The event will help create a strong music & entertainment ecosystem offering an exciting networking and ideation platform."
He further added "With the current technology advances, the music industry is undergoing major changes and witnessing newer consumer demands. For instance, mobile music has become an integral part of the consumer experience today, with some researches showing that in India specifically 61% of the youth prefer to listen to music on their mobile devices vis-a`-vis other gadgets. Nokia Music Connects, also therefore, would be addressing such trends to understand how consumers can be provided an enriched music experience."
Speaking about Nokia Music Connects, Music Matters' President Jasper Donat said, "For four years, Music Matters has promoted and celebrated all that is good within the Asia Pacific music industry around the world and we are absolutely thrilled to be able to produce an event in one of the region's true musical powerhouses. I have personally spent a huge amount of time working in India in the early days of Channel [V] so am really looking forward to coming back to this amazing country. I am also excited to be working with Indiantelevision.com and eternally grateful to Nokia and all our sponsors and speakers for enabling our dream to become a reality".
Mr Anil Wanvari, Founder, CEO & Editor in chief IndianTelevision.com Group said, "We are extremely happy to join hands with Music Matters and Nokia to put together this pioneering music industry platform for India. With Nokia Music Connects we aim to bring together the various constituents of the music business - telcos, music labels, music producers, retailers, aggregators, live event organizers, rights collection societies, artistes - from across Asia to connect and build relationships and to discuss vital issues and current trends in the industry."
The forum will discuss several pertinent issues the Indian music industry is facing such as the mobile and digital landscape, the live music scene in India, the advertising industry's changing relationship with music and the evolution of Bollywood.
Key industry luminaries who will be spearheading the panels include (in alphabetical order):
* Apurva Nagpal, Seregama
* Arvind Rao, OnMobile
* Ashutosh Phatak, Blue Frog
* Atul Churamani, Saregama
* Brandon Bakshi, BMI
* Brian Tellis, Fountainhead
* John McLellan, Haldanes
* Madhu Mantena, Big Bang
* Neeraj Roy, Hungama
* Neil Warnock, The Agency
* Prashant Pandey, Radio Mirchi
* Rabbi Shergill, Artist
* Rajjat Kakkar, UMG
* Ralph Simon, MEF
* Rob McDermott, Manager, Linkin' Park
* Sabbas Joseph, Wizcraft
* Saleem Mobani, Airtel
* Saurabh Kanwar, Star Network
* Seymour Stein, WMG
* Shridar Subramaniam, Sony Music
* Vijay Lazarus, IMI
* Vikram Sahkuja, GroupM
* Vipul Pradhan, PPL
