MUMBAI: 82% Indian youth being hardcore music fans (As per research conducted by Synovate), music scene in the country is on the path to becoming more open minded towards every genre of music. Exploring the hidden potential, making its maximum utilization and a great deal of innovation are the keys that will propel the Indian industry to pinnacles of success. And this makes the essence of a range of panel discussions that will happen over the two-day event of �Nokia Music Connects'.

After a rocking pre-event party at Hard Rock Caf?©, Nokia Music Connects, an event that brings national and international music fraternity together on a common platform kicked off today afternoon at Taj Lands End, Bandra.

Nokia Music Connects is a joint initiative between Hong Kong-based Branded which organises music forum called Music Matters and Mumbai headquartered Indiantelevision.com Group's Radioandmusic.com.

The lavish musical affair commenced with a soothing performance by popular Australian singer-songwriter Old Man River who has toured his show across the globe to India, Japan, Italy, Germany, Israel, UK and the US. He was backed by Mumbai-based singer Hamiska Iyer and a few Indian classical musicians. The duo beautifully crooned the track �Shanti Aaye' which was a blend of eastern and western influences.

Nokia Music Connects is a an ideal platform for networking and brings together professionals like label executives, publishers, composers, singers, service providers to labels, music retailers and distributors, telecom executives, VAS providers, content aggregators, online digital outlets, lawyers, managers, event companies, brands, advertisers and ad agencies, media, consultants, film, TV channel, radio executives and government, among many others.

Jasper Donat, co-founder of �Branded' was the master of ceremonies, as in the compere for the day.

After the key note session between the acclaimed and the experienced professionals, an interesting panel discussion was held between Global Director of Ovi Music Services for India, Adam Mirabella; Saregama MD and CEO Apurv Nagpal; Paradigm Talent Agency's head of East-coast division, Marty Diamond and Mobilium CEO Ralph Simon.

The moderator for this panel discussion, Indiantelevision.com Group founder Anil Wanvari had a short but a knowledgeable discussion with each of the panelists on various issues concerning them in the music industry and about the Indian music industry at large.

India has music for every occasion from birth till death. Bollywood and regional music is in great demand in India. Also most of the channels have atleast two �Talent Hunt' shows which is a good step. But along with this Indian music companies are facing a lot of challenges like the Copyright. We spend 30% of our time in sorting out the legal battles,... said Nagpal addressing the Copyright issue that is much-talked about lately.

Nagpal pointed out that after barriers like trade and language, piracy is the biggest beast that's attacking the  industry. That's the reason Saregama has recently launched its legal portal that provides freedom from piracy and gives a chance to the music enthusiasts to listen to songs for free. We need more of such websites coming up,' said Nagpal while suggesting ways to tackle piracy.

As the years are passing by, India is becoming all the more passionate about music  Five years ago the country had few FM stations and no mobile phones that gave an exclusive music experience  But today the thought process has undergone a change and people have several options  What the country needs currently is a new business model. Don't you agree to this?

�The next generation has a huge responsibility to shoulder. Artistes get a very small amount for the sale of music and this needs to be addressed. Today music is spread across four screens and they are film, television, web and mobile which are essential elements of modern day. A record company has to keep these in mind as well as look after the artistes,... said Simon.

Synovate study reveals that Sonu Niigaam, AR Rahman and Akon are most-favourite artistes in India which is a great piece of news but what about artistes who can enthrall the audience with their live acts. Will they get a chance to showcase their talent in front of the larger Indian audience? This remains a vital question that poses the industry today.

Diamond suggested, We need to educate the people on music and it requires a lot of convincing. New players need to be welcomed in the business. And infrastructure for live music needs to be developed and the artistes need to be given a good deal of support....

The chat between the panelists came to an end with Mirabella talking about how music appliances can connect with the consumer and widen the relationship between music and the listener by catering to various social patterns that varies from listener to listener.