VJ, Play that Song!

One of the basic rules of being a music lover is not to grudge someone else their music. Yet, there have been many western music lovers in India, who have cursed the onslaught of the desi invasion on the music networks in India, over the years.

With mainstream international music channels like MTV and Channel V going all out to cater to the new proud to be Indian viewer, who wears his Hindi film obsession unabashedly on his sleeve, many Indians with an affinity to western music could only grumble at the state of affairs. Now, with niche international music channels like VH1, Soundtrack and Trace TV being beamed into India, that should change quickly.

Vikram Raizada, Vice President, Marketing, MTV, which promotes VH1 in India, observes, "Yes, there is a definite need gap. We have this played back to us in virtually all the research we've done. The new Indian is a fairly wired, tech savvy, extremely connected, aware and a global citizen. It's been a long journey for us. When we launched MTV in India in 1996, we achieved success after we went the ‘desi cool’ route. And now, 9 years later, we have come full circle and actually launched a fully international product!"

On their marketing strategy, Raizada observes, "We've identified some strategic touch-points to address our viewer. Our events are very specific — whether it be the VH1 Jazz Masters Concert in January this year, where we brought down four Grammy-winning jazz artistes: Al Jarreau, George Duke, Ravi Coltrane & Earl Klugh; or the Sting tour in February and thereafter the Mark Knopfler tour in March. The same extends to the rest of the marketing mix. It's about selective bonfire marketing rather than setting the forest on fire!" Agrees Sunil Khanna, CEO, Dish TV, which distributes Trace TV in India, "Being a niche channel, Trace TV's promotion is very specific to pubs, night clubs and music shops, where we sponsor parties or events."

Dish TV currently has close to 114 channels on its platform and Khanna expects this number to go up to 200 by year end and adds, "The way the industry is shaping up, there is going to be many more niche channels that will find their way to India. There is a clutter of general entertainment channels in the country today." Trace is the signature brand from Alliance Trace Media BV (ATM), which is a European holding company registered in the Netherlands. ATM controls 80.01 per cent of Trace TV, the other shareholder being MCM (a joint venture of Lagardère and Canal Plus).

On Trace TV's entry, Raizada says, "Their entry here only vindicates our stand that India is a ripe market for international music & lifestyle! We're encouraged by this move. More such channels will only grow and establish the market further."

There is currently no move on either channel's part towards localising content. Khanna says, "We are very clear on what Trace TV stands for, which is a western music channel and any move to localise content would not make sense to it's positioning. It is localised to the extent that certain time bands in its programming hours are sensitive to the local culture."

To read the entire story, grab your copy of Impact Advertising and Weekly magazine issue dated May 9-15, 2005