A few years ago, there were people who wore ties and pinstriped shirts; some crunched numbers, others worked on what they called brand imaging.
A few years ago, there were people who wore ties and pinstriped shirts; some crunched numbers, others worked on what they called brand imaging.
There was another set of people who wore whatever they wanted and composed and played music. For most part, the two moved in separate circles; only recently have their paths met. And the collusion has been beneficial to all involved.
The corporate sector has finally caught on to the local live band scene — an area they once viewed with trepidation — and are no longer limiting themselves to big acts alone.
“Till 2004, local bands in the city were not mainstream or active. It was more of an underground phenomenon, and most looked at it as a hobby,” says Nihar Manwatkar, co-founder of AnEcho, an organisation that promotes local artists and bands. They recently conceptualised the Shark Tooth event that saw 42 live performances, across cities in India over a six-month period.
“All this has changed, and one of the reasons for this is that corporates have realised that music is an efficient medium to connect with their audience,” says Manwatkar. The money involved doesn’t run into crores, but depending on the duration and magnitude can cost anywhere between Rs40 to 60 lakh.
“Corporate sponsorship is rarely limited to one pub in one city,” says Smriti George, manager of Delhi-based company, Prospect, which promotes contemporary original music. Corporate sponsorship was a long time coming. One of the reasons, according to George is aggressive promotion by music companies and an increase in crowd awareness.
Yamaha took it one step further with their rock festival Yamaha Roxx that saw the participation of a number of bands from all over India. But Yamaha was blown away by the response. “We never expected it to be such a success.”
And no one’s complaining, not yet, anyway. The pinstriped guy is happy, the bands are now household names, and the public gets to enjoy a good show. But people like Smriti and Nihar have their hands full with the events that are happening. “There’s never a dull
moment,” says Nihar, but he’s not complaining either.
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