Live music production network Indigo Live is organising ‘Cry Freedom’ concert to address the issue of freedom for women. The event aims to support 51 women by raising funds for various organisations.
Apart from this philanthropic concert, Indigo Live has orgainsed renowned gigs like Live Arena concert tour featuring Snoop Dogg, Music Gurus featuring Grammy and Billboard award winning artists, and Music Matinee - a fusion of live music, art and fine dining. In order to understand about the plans of Indigo Live for year 2013-14, Radioandmusic.com got in touch with Indigo Business Group COO, Sanjay Prabhu who shared his expansion plans, but remained tight-lipped when it came to spelling the details of the upcoming large open-air gigs.
Excerpts:
How will you spread the idea of freedom through the concept?
We are using a combination of multiple media channels that will help us achieve the dual objectives of raising general awareness about the initiative and of reaching out to the youth more specifically to drive home the message of ‘Freedom for Women’ in India and drive responsible behavior. So while we have mass media to increase overall awareness about the initiative, we also have tactical initiatives being undertaken to reach out to the target audience more efficiently and in a much more relevant manner.
You will soon witness communication on 9XO and Indigo 91.9 FM and Timeout Magazine, our partners who have wholeheartedly supported the initiative. We expect to utilise over 10,000 seconds between the two channels to spread the message.
Simultaneously , digital and social media vehicles are also being activated to develop and maintain connect with the youth, who spend more time on the web. Our own social media and our partners initiatives such as Mypurplemartini.com, The Bangin Beats and Festival Sherpa will collectively reach out to upwards of 3 lakh young people from the key cities in India, including Mumbai and Delhi. These initiatives would be using creative routes to engage the audience in a relevant manner, whilst driving home the point of ‘Freedom for Women’.
And to drive home the point about people turning a blind eye to the physical crime related issues faced by women in our country, we will be distributing eye patches that symbolises the ‘turning a blind eye behavior’ that most of us suffer from. Our core campaign thought revolves around the idea of ‘Don’t be a B.I.T.C.H.’ that stands for Blind Eye (I) That Condones Harassment and that has been the centre-point of our communication via digital media. We want to use the campaign thought and the amplifier idea (eye patch) to be able to leave an impactful message amongst the youth, hoping to drive home a point – when you see a woman in distress, help her out is the message that we would like to give-out.
We also plan to reach out to select companies requesting their permission to put up posters about the events and inviting them to support the initiative.
What is the target audience for the concert?
We are targeting the metro audiences, both male and female, between the age brackets of 21-35 primarily. We hope approximately 400-550 will be attending the concert.
Will Cry Freedom always focus on women’s freedom or will it look at focusing philanthropy cause?
Cry Freedom is a platform for expression of freedom for the youth, using the universal language of music. Cry Freedom will always standup for what freedom means to the youth of the country today. It will always aim to generate adequate noise and funds to help the cause that we work for. The point being – we just don’t want to make noise, but we want to take concrete steps that help the cause.
How important is it to organise philanthropy causes like these?
When you realize you have a platform that helps bring like-minded people together for a cause, raising awareness and public responsiveness for the cause becomes as important as the philanthropic aspect of the cause. Both go hand in hand. While philanthropy is an important agenda for Cry Freedom, it keenly focuses on changing public perception and behavior to the subject of the cause.
How much investment will you put from your side?
As producers, we have seeded the idea and are willing to invest in making the idea successful.
Will we see any huge live gig happen very soon from your side? Any plans.
We will soon be announcing the gig calendar for the year. We have a bouquet of products being lined-up for the year, across segments of small, medium and large gigs.
Which months are off-season for live open-air gigs and what are the activities you do during that time?
Typically the period of June to September have been considered off-season for our business so far, with respect to large open-air gigs. This period is utilised for planning and putting the various pieces together for the gigs to be launched during the period of October to March.
What are the challenges for Open air live gigs that India’s music scene faces and how as a live event company you explore it?
Infrastructure, government regulations, fluctuating exchange value, investments required in media and promotions (for a stand-alone, non-media entity like us), etc. are some of the key challenges.
What are the challenges faced in organising events in Tier II cities; does it attract as much audience that is needed?
The market for live western music concerts and festivals in Tier II cities is being explored only recently. So far, we have seen only select cities like Pune and Chandigarh being listed as target markets. The notion is that the metro audiences are far more ready and willing to consume this kind of entertainment due to language preferences and relatively higher disposable income. But we will see a gradual growth in these markets in the coming two to three years, with the growth of media, easy and fast availability of international news related to the scene and with the general willingness of these audiences to experiment with newer forms of entertainment.
What is the future for live music in Tier II and III in India?
There are many factors that have been restricting the growth of live music scene in these markets, such as infrastructure, share of pocket, language preferences of audience etc. But these are noticing gradual change for the better and in less than a decade, we will see at least 3-4 Tier II cities being flag-posted in the live music industry mapping. They are the next destination for producers like us, who want to expand the market.