MUMBAI: As content has become easy to get through, the need to monetize it has increased. US based Catch Media, Inc. and Hungama Digital Media unveiled their joint venture ‘Hungama Smart Cloud’ for the Indian market on the opening day of the fourth edition of Radioandmusic.com’s Nokia Music Connects in Mumbai.
The JV partners claim that their service would introduce Indian audiences to a much improved smart world which would allow users to connect and share content through cloud with different devices and also allow them to monetize consumers’ content. Hungama Smart Cloud would allow advertisers or music labels to keep track of the highest consumed content and monetize the private libraries which consumers have been accumulating through various means.
Catch Media Inc. founder Boaz Ben Yaacov said, “It’s important to provide the consumers what they want and make them happy, but at the same time it’s important to monetize that content. We have to provide the consumers with information in real time on whatever device they wish to. Our Smart Cloud will not only allow consumers to access content from anywhere but will also help them keep a track of the content they have accessed over months. The new service is set to open a whole new market for Indian promoters and advertisers to monetize the digital content.”
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Preceding the JV unveiling was a panel discussion on ‘The Digital Transformation’ moderated by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment MD and CEO Neeraj Roy. The panelists included Universal Music Group Devraj Sanyal, Indus Creed frontman Uday Benegal, Nokia head of global portfolio and product marketing entertainment director Niels Munksgaard and Catch Media Inc. founder and CTO Boaz Ben Yaacov.
The panel discussed about how music had undergone a huge revolution with heavy consumption through online streaming services. Highlighting the evolution and consumption of music, Benegal said, “We didn’t have internet during our time but now services like iTunes and Spotify have provided huge platforms for artistes. Earlier, there were no opportunities for artistes because of Bollywood. With the digital advancement, the time to let record labels alone to look into marketing music has gone, artistes and the record labels must have a mutual understanding and market the music together.”
Endorsing Benegal, Sanyal added, “It’s important for labels to realize that it’s time to initiate newer and smarter ways to offer music to their consumers. A year ago, we at Universal realized that digital is the future way to go apart from just promotion on TV.”
The digital transformation has not only availed artistes to reach to their consumer but it has also provided an opportunity for consumers to get live and instant access to their preferred artistes or music. “With the evolving Cloud eco-system and streaming service users have been offered an opportunity to get instant access and with the evolving technology the access to content has become much easier and simple,” Munksgaard added.
