MUMBAI: Acknowledging corporate India’s role in supporting the country’s Indie music, Only Much Louder Entertainment (OML), CEO Vijay Nair said that brands were the biggest contributors to the country’s burgeoning live act circuit. Nair was interacting with Indian Television.com Pvt Ltd CEO and co-founder Nokia Music Connects forum Anil Wanvari on day two of Radioandmusic.com’s Nokia Music Connects in Mumbai.

Nair revealed that live events still survived on brand sponsorship and not ticket sales. “Brands are the biggest champions for live music and they contribute Rs 600 to 70 million to the Indie-live act circuit. We survive from brands and their contributions that far outweigh any revenue from ticket sales. This kind of support has enabled many musicians to work as full-time musicians,” he said.

Corporate support had also expanded from liquor brand sponsorship to other brands which were now associating themselves with Indie live acts and concertsninformed Nair. “Unlike common perception, India’s youth is keen to experiment and listen to new independent music beyond international hits and Bollywood songs. Young people are absolutely ready for new music,” he added.

Nair opined that although live shows were growing in strength thanks to corporate sponsorship, the business would stabilize only in the next 4-5 years. “I don’t see Indie artists making much money from the digital medium because most of them want to give their music for free. Money in the mobile platform is also low where again the artists give their music for free,” he added.

Sharing details about OML, Nair informed, “With successful live festivals like the Barcardi NH 7 under our belt, we are using the same ‘mantra’ of promoting Indie artists, OML has expanded to other verticals like television and film production with an objective to cater to the urban youth who are into alternative culture.”

“Our recently concluded Barcardi NH 7 music fest in Pune saw more ticket sales than Latin pop star Enrique Iglesias’ show”, Nair said while adding that OML’s debut NH 7 fest in Delhi earlier this year saw 10,000 people attending the event.

OML’s TV and film vertical already accounted for 30 per cent of its revenues. It currently had the ‘Bring on the Night’ show on MTV, a television channel for the youth. The show had music performed by Indie artists. Further, OML’s soon-to-be-released debut documentary film would be on a heavy metal band’s performance in Shimla.

Nair revealed further that OML did not face any pressure from investors to go ‘mainstream’ nor would its expanding business portfolio change its underlining objective to provide independent and alternative forms of entertainment.