Panelists for the 2nd session at The Exchange.

Chinapa, Sanyal, Morani and Tellis speak at The Exchange

by  Dharm Patel Business Events | November 9, 2014 | News

UK Trade and Investment Submerge Brian Tellis Nikhil Chinapa Owen Roncon

An initiative by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) in association with Submerge, The Exchange concluded at The Lalit in Mumbai on Nov. 7. It was an endeavour to get British and Indian talent, trade bodies and industry professionals in the music industry together to understand the region and discuss potential business opportunities.

Concluding the day-long conference was a multi-city music showcase by Grammy-award winning British house trio, Dirty Vegas and trance music legend, John Fleming from Nov. 7 to 9 in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Pune.

The conference saw representation from key names from the music industry, regulatory heads, music label honchos, management agencies, international speakers and Indian and international artists across all genres of music. Some of the speakers and moderators at the event included Devraj Sanyal (MD, Universal Music Group), Nikhil Chinapa (Director, Submerge), Mohomed Morani (Director, Cineyug), Brian Tellis (Chairman, Fountainhead), Owen Roncon (Director, Oranjuice) and many others.

See the entire schedule here.

Here is a summary of one of the sessions, where the panellists discussed ‘Brands & Music – When they combine forces.’ Moderated by Roncon, the speakers included Tim Eynon (CEO, Provogue), Sanjay Roy (Marketing Lead, Heineken India), Thanush Joseph (Marketing Director, 70 EMG), Arnold Wilson (Head - Marketing & Business Development, Submerge) and Paul Pacifico (Manager - The All Stars Collective).

In terms of brand association with festivals, they said it was vital that brands carefully integrated with the fests instead of just placing themselves, aka ‘brand slapping’, making sure there is a perfect fit. Wilson said: “We don’t plan for brands before knowing what they want at our gigs - we need to know what they require and then build accordingly, whether it’s a product showcase or even a store launch.” They concluded that brands have to be careful who they partner with since how the event was managed is a reflection of them.

The Exchange is part of a week-long trade mission that has been put together by UKTI, in partnership with AIM (The Association of Independent Music) and British labels trade body BPI (British Phonographic Industry). The trade mission, called ‘Music is Great Britain’, from Nov. 1 to 8 saw representatives of the UK music industry host a program of educational seminars, networking events, conferences and artists showcases in a concerted bid to tap into the fast-growing Indian music market and grow British presence in the territory.