Page 44 - Forbes India (December 2015)

EntErprisE livE EvEnts and music fEsts

a marketing tool. “What I realised contribution that these festivals can
was that putting up a payment have on the local economy, there
gateway would be a hindrance to is scarcely an industry more prone
my music’s popularity,” says Bakshi. to government interference. “The
Instead, and this is commonplace for government doesn’t even consider
most artistes today, Bakshi decided music tourism to be real,” says Singh.
to give away his music for free, in The malaise lies not only in the
exchange for the listener’s email convoluted processes for licences,
address. This enabled him to get but also in the arbitrary nature of law
his fans to attend his performances enforcement when it comes to these
instead of making a small amount events. “A policeman can just walk
of money from legal downloads. up to your festival and shut it down,”
“It has been a good strategy to sort says Nair, who has consistently
of galvanise the troops,” he says. been advocating a better system of
On the face of it, the future of the approvals for festival promoters.
sector looks bright. The demand for There is some hope though, says
live music events and festivals is being Nair. In early September, the Delhi
driven not just by big foreign artistes government announced that it would
but also by homegrown talent like Jaideep Singh, senior vP & business head, have single-window clearance for
Bakshi and Sagar. Besides, few sectors integrated network Solutions events in the city. He hopes that
are as perfectly aligned to benefit from the other states will follow suit.
India’s much-touted demographic (which is held in the open Black Rock Besides, music is a continuously
dividend as this, say experts. desert in Nevada) all take place at a evolving business. While the IP events
Probe a bit further though, and significant distance from large cities. space, fuelled by India’s insatiable
some shadows begin to appear. The demand for entertainment has
basic unit used to measure the success enDinG on a hiGh-note continued to grow, experts suggest
of a festival is flawed, says Nair. The As a result, these festivals, across that the sustainability of the business
attendance is “absurdly” calculated the IP events space, contribute models will define its future course.
by counting the number of people significantly to the local economy. A Meanwhile, as the season gets
attending each day, he says. This notable example in this regard is the under way, the music festival
leads to inflated numbers as the same Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF). “We machinery is gearing up for another
person attending a festival over three did a straw poll of a cross-section of quarterly cycle. (The music festival
or four days will be counted as three businesses in Jaipur,” says Sanjoy Roy, season in India extends from October
or four different people. Nair believes MD, Teamwork Arts, which organises to March.) “I performed in Shillong,
that not only is this misleading, it is the JLF. Teamwork Arts, which also then in Kolkata and I’m also going
also a hazard for first-time promoters hosts smaller music festivals like to play at a college in Pilani. Then
who make their calculations based Sounds of Freedom, found that the you spend two days at home, and
on these numbers and are later JLF helped bring in an additional Rs it begins again,” says Bakshi.
unable to meet their revenue targets. 20 crore into the local economy. The artistes aren’t the only ones
“The NH7 Weekender in Pune Despite the evidently positive involved. It takes more than a village,
draws about 28,000-30,000 unique or a workforce of about 5,000 people
visitors over the weekend,” says to set up a festival like Sunburn, says
Nair. “I could tell you the number THE DEMAND Singh. From fire safety and crowd
is 90,000 by the same logic.” control, every eventuality has to
Moreover, organisers uniformly cite FOR LIVE MUSIC be accounted for while setting up
the lack of venues in metro cities as the EVENTS IS a music festival of that scale, not to
number one challenge for the industry, BEING DRIVEN mention the elaborate stages and all
says the FICCI-KPMG report. that goes with them. The financial
But while this may hold true for BY BIG FOREIGN aspect of the business isn’t very typical
standalone events, it is not necessarily ARTISTES AND either. “Basically, our balance sheet
mExy xaviEr so for music festivals. In fact, the HOMEGROWN Nair. It is imperative then that firms,
begins from zero every year,” says
largest music festivals the world over,
TALENT
from Glastonbury and Tomorrowland
not unlike some of the artistes that
to Coachella and Burning Man
they sign on, end on a high note.
44 | FORBES INDIA DECEMBER 11, 2015