MUMBAI: Viacom’s English music channel Vh1 plans on celebrating established artistes in the indie space with their newest on ground property, 100 Pipers Vh1 Sound Nation in six cities in India, culminating in an award function finale in Mumbai on 11 May 2014.
Described as a multi-genre music extravaganza, Sound Nation will take place in six cities over a period of ten days, organising 23 gigs with 28 artistes. The line-up of artistes includes names like Parikrama, Ash Roy, Lost Stories, Madboy/Mink, Indus Creed, Dualist Inquiry and Nucleya among others. The judges have not been announced, so as to not let their decision be influenced.
The event was supposed to take place in 2013, however, was postponed due to various logistical reasons. Parts of the show will be televised in two-three episodes which will feature on Vh1.
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When asked why the property is being materialised now, Ferzad Palia, VP and General Manager, English Entertainment, replied, “We have played out 3000 hours of content over 8 years. We started India Rules, which was created for such artistes because we wanted to be that platform for the space. In addition to that we are an international English music channel. At all of our international gigs, you will always have an Indian artiste. We have gone out and made videos for the likes of Pentagram and Lost Stories. Thankfully, now the space itself is growing and people are willing to invest in making videos. The kind of stuff that you see on Vh1 is otherwise millions of dollars worth. There is a lot more that we can do and want to.”
The artiste selection is based on the musicians that Vh1 believes are the best in their specific genre. “We have mainly shortlisted the artistes that have created something and released it in the last one year. It is not based on the legacy or the history of the artiste, but on what they have done. We have chosen the top most in the genre, also giving a local platform to guys that are big in each city. So you will probably see one local artiste and one national level artiste,” said Palia. The winners may then get a chance to start off on an international platform, be it their own international channel or an award function.
The shows happening per city will be curated with the intent to marry some of the new artists with some of the most popular artistes on the scene. “We are trying to see which artiste fits in best where and with whom. We will obviously not match a metal band with EDM but something that goes well together,” he added.
Speaking about how the artistes have been shortlisted for the award, Palia said, “The first year of having any awards is to narrow down on the criteria. So what we have done is, since we are going across genre, we have selected 10-15 that we think are the best, and given them to a panel of judges to be further narrowed down to five. It will be across the country, not city wise. They do not know who is voting for the other, since it is done remotely. It will again go to the same judges, who will speak and decide.”
The digital activity for the event is not going to be much, as per Palia. “This being the first year, we need to o a lot more mass media; there is a lot of print, outdoor and television already on. It is being promoted across all Viacom18 channels. On digital, we are going largely social media. We will be activating about 400 hangouts or so across the country. Digital is not the core communication because it is not even consumer voting. If that were so, then digital would make a lot more sense. We are open to maybe having that next year,” he confirmed. He also added that the final event may be live streamed.
The awards will include 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. Best Live Performance will be the live performances of the past one year across venues and judges will be those who have watched the nominated bands through the year.
The prices of the tickets will be decided by the bar. Some of the performers at the award ceremony will be Your Chin, Indus Creed, Midival Punditz and Madboy/Mink, who will also be eligible for the awards.
Palia spoke about his future plans for the property: “This year it is only six cities. That too is fairly ambitious for the first year, but we decided to go for it. Next year, we are hoping to expand it to at least 10 cities and maybe populate more gigs in each city. Hopefully the awards will be more and more prominent and hopefully we will bring in more new artistes as well, since this year it is daily established artistes. I think the important part is to get Year one right.”
So far, the only sources of funding for the event are 100 Pipers and two or three other brands that Vh1 is in talks with, that will be announced in the next few days.
