Pepsi MTV Indies bets on growing Indie music scene

Channel to showcase more than just music; comedy, films, design and emerging sub-cultures like Biking and skateboarding to make a mark

Sohini Sen | Mumbai | February 10, 2014

(Left) Homi Battiwala and Aditya Swamy (Right) at the launch of Pepsi MTV Indies

Viacom 18's newest channel Pepsi MTV Indies is the country's first platform for the independent artist. Is it surprising that the channel which led the music revolution and introduced international pop culture to a whole generation - MTV - chose to bring out a channel specifically for the independent artist?

According to Aditya Swamy, Business Head, MTV India, the country is on the brink of another music revolution that has been simmering under the surface in India. Pepsi MTV Indies then is a platform - much more than just channel - to encourage that revolution. This will be brought through four different platforms - TV, mobile, digital and the live space.

"In India, during a concert or something bands would have to play cover tracks, or else no one would listen to them. But nowadays, bands play their original music. This overall theme of India pride makes us belief that it is correct time to bring out Indies,” said Swamy.

But just independent music cannot be a catalyst for a revolution. Therefore Pepsi MTV Indies will showcase more than just songs including profiles of artists, recommendations by them, stories around the world on music etc. Then, there will also be four other sub-cultures which will find space in the channel. Comedy will take a huge space in the channel with VJ's being replaced by stand-up comics who will entertain viewers. Independent cinema, which promises to be fun and young, will also be showcased in the channel. These can be anything from 5 minute short films to hour long features. Design, including graphic, street and album art will also find pride of place in the channel, as will slowly emerging subcultures like Skateboarding, motor biking etc. Unlike other channels which show a bit of each once in a blue moon, Pepsi MTV Indies will base its programming on and will have a generous sprinkling of each of these.

By launching another music channel, won't the viewership of MTV get eaten up a bit? The channel head doesn't seem to think so. The group now owns three music channels - including MTV and VH1. While VH1 is purely English, MTV is more about the popular Bollywood culture. This difference from the content point of view will let the viewers choose what they want to listen to when they want to listen to it. The shows from MTV won't repeated in Indies either - except SoundTrippin which seems to merge both channels together.

Moreover, the platform it will give to any independent concert which usually gets around 20,000 attendees will be well over 2 million. However, even though MTV's reach internationally is around 35 countries approximately, the channel will be kept within India for now. The content will also be mainly Indian independent artists, but will also showcase some international artists. This becomes important as the youth today are more open to international collaborations. Since the channel thought is that music should not have any boundaries, there won't be any linguistic barriers as well. So one might get to hear anything from North Eastern to Western Indian, from Tamil to Bengali - any kind of music in the channel.

"We would like to think of ourselves as a stage between the ground and the artist. This can be used to take the artist higher and higher. The channel itself will be created by the artists. They are the content creators - making music videos, short films, stand-up gigs etc. We are working with Life from the console, IndiEarth, Blue Frog etc. We are collecting all of this content and creating some of our own. And that is why we say it a platform created by the artist, of the artist, for the world," explained Aditya Swamy.

Technologically also, the channel is quite forward looking - using High definition, Dolby 5.1. Like most other channels from the group, this will also be a pay per view channel.

The youth which are extremely engrossed in the digital world can probably be reached best through the same medium. Therefore, MTV has designed a responsive and interactive website. The website has a live streaming facility and will enable users to create their own playlists which will include a hashtag. They have also designed the country's first Indie music recognition app. This essentially means that any independent music one listens to, he can search for the lyrics, chords etc. The app will also show related or similar sounding songs for people to experiment new music.

Can this be commercially viable? Swamy thinks that it is. With people ready to pay around Rs 5,000 for a concert ticket, events organised by them can generate good revenues. There is also a promising audience outside India for them to tap into, later. More people nowadays also use iTunes and more such platforms to download and purchase songs. With streaming services getting more popular, there will be an ecosystem to generate enough revenues. This will be over and above the subscription revenue as the channel has chosen a good time to launch - after digitization has kicked in. MTV is therefore hopeful that this will be an ideal platform for business and content to come together.

The channel has also managed to lock in a substantial part of financial commitment from Pepsi - who will be the title sponsor for three years now. While Pepsi is the title sponsor, they are open to receiving ad offers from other brands - including competing beverage brands. But the focus right now is to keep it close knit, inviting brands who will be deeply invested in the team.

"Pepsi has always been involved with the youth - it is a young brand, fun, vivacious. Therefore we always wanted to partner with youth platform points with shared sound and identity which would work for Pepsi as well. Though at first glance this looks very niche, I feel this is the start of something very big. Maybe the music is not organised but it is visible. And the partnership of two such strong youth brands - MTV and Pepsi - will be apt. We want to look at it not as a sponsorship, but as a movement. From here on as well, we would want to be a part of concerts and shows not as Pepsi but as Pepsi MTV Indies," added Homi Battiwala, Senior Director, Marketing (Colas, Juices and Hydration), PepsiCo India.

However, the channel is mainly depending on word-of-mouth publicity for their new channel as they feel for niche music recommendations by friends work more than an ad shouting the launch of a new space. Colleges are a part of their marketing plan with at least one of their bigger properties being a show where students are taught how to use the camera, shoot a video etc. Along with that, digital platforms of Facebook, Twitter and their site will be used to reach out to their target group. Live events and music festivals will lend a helping hand to the campaigns in the network of channels. They are planning to build an Indie music block on MTV as well so that people unaware of the concept can sample and taste it.

Sohini.Sen@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com