MUMBAI: Taking forward its quest to promote Indian contemporary music, Chennai Live is back with the third edition of ‘Band Hunt’ in a big way. This year, the station has invested about Rs 3.5-4 million in the property and has major marketing and promotional plans in store to make it a huge success.
Speaking about the property with Radioandmusic.com, Chennai Live COO Prem Kumar says, “This is one of our biggest property and this year we have invested huge amount in the talent hunt. We are the only station promoting independent bands aggressively and aim to increase our efforts in providing them a platform to prove themselves.”
This year the property has been extended to Bangalore, where independent bands can register and participate in the talent hunt. Also a special ‘corporate’ category has been introduced for corporate executives and professionals in both the cities. These amateur independent bands by professionals will not compete with independent bands and will be treated as a separate section altogether.
The registration process will commence from 20 July and the last date is 15 August. Each band should comprise of more than two members and the participants are open to perform on any genres of music. The selection process will be based 85 per cent on judge’s votes and 25 per cent on audience votes. The competition is open to regional bands from other cities as well. The auditions are scheduled to be held on 18-19 August in Bangalore and 25-26 August in Chennai. Fans can vote for their favourite bands through mobile across all networks. The winning band will get a chance to record their album on EMI Music and win a cash prize of Rs 1.5 lakh.
Kumar reveals, “Last year we received a number of entries from many other cities and infact our second prize winner was from Bangalore. We aim to take one step at a time and have thus launched the property in Bangalore this year. Secondly, we feel that the professionals should be given a chance as well to showcase their skills and have introduced a special category for them.”
With the property being promoted on a large scale this year, the number of bands being selected in each round has also increased substantially. The channel is expecting around 200 registrations in the semi-professional category, 100 from each city and around 20-25 bands will be selected for the semi-finals to be held in Chennai. The entries will be further shortlisted and a total of 8-10 bands will participate in the finals to be held on 23 September in Chennai.
The main partners of the event this year are Aloft, Paypal, Times of India (Bangalore and Chennai) and Techzone. The network has also formulated a wide marketing campaign to promote the property. The station has introduced The Purple Fest’s Aloft Edition this year. The event is a run-up to the competition and features independent bands performing a concert at the Aloft Hotel in Bangalore and Chennai. “The Purple Fest is a monthly event that we introduced recently and is already doing well. We generally feature one independent Chennai band, on the last week of every month. But as a run up to the Band Hunt, we will be featuring one band every week in each city who will perform concerts open to the public,” he states.
The channel will also play tracks from eminent independent bands in all languages from 5-6pm everyday as its on-air promotions. Apart from that, Chennai Live will also host numerous on-ground activities and campaigns in colleges giving young students the opportunity to audition in these events.
Commenting on the promotions Kumar says, “There are a lot of independent bands today playing music in different languages. Not many people get to hear them as they could be from anywhere in India. So apart from having a one-hour slot dedicated to the genre, we are also slipping in a song or two between other time bands as well. We are also having auditions in colleges to encourage students to participate in the hunt and showcase their talent.”
Platforms for independent artistes are slowly gaining momentum in the country. While digital is seen as the future for indie music, such initiatives and competitions go a long way in encouraging and boosting the emerging talent today.
MUMBAI: Taking forward its quest to promote Indian contemporary music, Chennai Live is back with the third edition of ‘Band Hunt’ in a big way. This year, the station has invested about Rs 3.5-4 million in the property and has major marketing and promotional plans in store to make it a huge success.
Speaking about the property with Radioandmusic.com, Chennai Live COO Prem Kumar says, “This is one of our biggest property and this year we have invested huge amount in the talent hunt. We are the only station promoting independent bands aggressively and aim to increase our efforts in providing them a platform to prove themselves.”
This year the property has been extended to Bangalore, where independent bands can register and participate in the talent hunt. Also a special ‘corporate’ category has been introduced for corporate executives and professionals in both the cities. These amateur independent bands by professionals will not compete with independent bands and will be treated as a separate section altogether.
The registration process will commence from 20 July and the last date is 15 August. Each band should comprise of more than two members and the participants are open to perform on any genres of music. The selection process will be based 85 per cent on judge’s votes and 25 per cent on audience votes. The competition is open to regional bands from other cities as well. The auditions are scheduled to be held on 18-19 August in Bangalore and 25-26 August in Chennai. Fans can vote for their favourite bands through mobile across all networks. The winning band will get a chance to record their album on EMI Music and win a cash prize of Rs 1.5 lakh.
Kumar reveals, “Last year we received a number of entries from many other cities and infact our second prize winner was from Bangalore. We aim to take one step at a time and have thus launched the property in Bangalore this year. Secondly, we feel that the professionals should be given a chance as well to showcase their skills and have introduced a special category for them.”
With the property being promoted on a large scale this year, the number of bands being selected in each round has also increased substantially. The channel is expecting around 200 registrations in the semi-professional category, 100 from each city and around 20-25 bands will be selected
for the semi-finals to be held in Chennai. The entries will be further shortlisted and a total of 8-10 bands will participate in the finals to be held on 23 September in Chennai.
The main partners of the event this year are Aloft, Paypal, Times of India (Bangalore and Chennai) and Techzone. The network has also formulated a wide marketing campaign to promote the property. The station has introduced The Purple Fest’s Aloft Edition this year. The event is a run-up to the competition and features independent bands performing a concert at the Aloft Hotel in Bangalore and Chennai. “The Purple Fest is a monthly event that we introduced recently and is already doing well. We generally feature one independent Chennai band, on the last week of every month. But as a run up to the Band Hunt, we will be featuring one band every week in each city who will perform concerts open to the public,” he states.
The channel will also play tracks from eminent independent bands in all languages from 5-6pm everyday as its on-air promotions. Apart from that, Chennai Live will also host numerous on-ground activities and campaigns in colleges giving young students the opportunity to audition in these events.
Commenting on the promotions Kumar says, “There are a lot of independent bands today playing music in different languages. Not many people get to hear them as they could be from anywhere in India. So apart from having a one-hour slot dedicated to the genre, we are also slipping in a song or two between other time bands as well. We are also having auditions in colleges to encourage students to participate in the hunt and showcase their talent.”
Platforms for independent artistes are slowly gaining momentum in the country. While digital is seen as the future for indie music, such initiatives and competitions go a long way in encouraging and boosting the emerging talent today.
