LIVE music fests is the way forward: Vh1's Palia

This summer, India is all set to groove to the original sound of India’s homegrown music talent as Vh1 and Seagram’s 100 Pipers come together to provide music lovers an inimitable experience in the form of ‘100 Pipers Vh1 Sound Nation’. This a first of its kind multi-genre music extravaganza which will witness 28 artists and bands perform 23 gigs over a span of 10 days starting on 2nd May 2014, all culminating into India’s premier music awards night on May 11, 2014.

With an aim to strengthen its 'Live events' space, 100 Pipers Vh1 Sound Nation will travel the country with its music entourage of 28 of the biggest Indian artists and bands including cult performers such as Parikrama, Midival Punditz, Indus Creed, and Nucleya amongst others. Music lovers across Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Pune will get to experience multiple genres right from Rock to EDM, Hip-Hop to Blues and more.

Speaking to Adgully on the initiative, Ferzad Palia, SVP & GM, English Entertainment, Viacom18 Media Pvt Ltd. said, “Sound Nation as a property and a platform will encourage both our channel, which is known as a definitive platform for celebrating music talent and Indian artists who can get a platform to prove their talent across various cities."

"We are excited to partner with Seagram's in recognizing and honoring the local talent and bringing forth the multi-city music fest at a scale which is worth looking forward to," he added.

Though the main event will be on-ground but as shared by Palia, some gigs as well as the awards night will be telecasted on VH1. The event will be held in 6 cities and will culminate in an exciting awards night in Mumbai where Indian artists will be recognized and honored for their talent and contribution to music across 13 categories such as Rock, Electronic, Pop, Blues and Hip-Hop as well as for Best Live Performance, Best New Artist and Best Music Video. 

Girish Patil, AGM Marketing, Pernod Ricard India commented, “Our association with music has been a long standing one and we are excited to partner with Vh1 for Sound Nation which aims to celebrate and recognize local music talent. 100 Pipers Vh1 Sound Nation will engage music lovers through LIVE performances across the country leading to an awards night.”

Elaborating on the reason behind strengthening LIVE properties, Palia said, “We believe that LIVE is the way forward and is seeing an exponential growth every year. It has doubled in the last one year and will continue to grow".  

The ten day event will be supported by a 360 degree marketing campaign including various on ground and online integrations. The artist videos are already on air. The property will be heavily promoted on television, print, outdoor and digital. According to Palia, Vh1′s boasts of four strong holds which are television, live space, digital and the soon to be launched consumer products section. While TV stands as the strongest and digital has grown with social media outfits like Facebook and Twitter, the channel now has its main focus on the live space.

Speaking of the challenges that come in way of creating and executing such an activities Palia stated that there are logistical issues in organising such a property, especially when they are done in the indoor format. "The level of skillset and acumen required is different. However, we have advertisers who are encouraging and supportive of Indian English music now,” he said concluded.