Universal Music takes stake in Pune carnival

First time in India that a global label has done so in a music festival, the Enchanted Valley Carnival in this case

Universal Music Group, the global  American music corporation, has taken a 50 per cent stake in the Enchanted Valley Carnival, reportedly this country’s  first camping music festival.

UMG operates in this country through a fully owned subsidiary, Universal Music India.  

As a result of UMG taking the stake, the festival will be operated by a joint venture (JV) formed with Twisted Entertainment, founder of EVC. Enchanted Valley Carnival and Enchanted Village, the camping accommodation that accompanies the performance arena, are the core initiatives of the JV in the music festival and camping adventure spaces, respectively.

The festival will be on December 18-20 at the Aamby Valley City Festival Arena (in Pune district) with the presence confirmed of global superstars Tiësto and Fatboy Slim.

This is the first time in India that a music label has taken stake in a music festival. Also, the first time Universal Music has ventured into a business partnership of this sort anywhere in the world. The objective is to extend the scope of business within the music sector.

Devraj Sanyal, managing director and chief executive at Universal Music Group, South Asia, says: “We don’t believe music can only be heard. It can be experienced, too. Today, people might not pay to buy CDs or music on digital but they are willing to pay for a good experience and music. It also bodes well for us from a portfolio point of view, since apart from the core business of music, we  have non-core business like music merchandising and branded content and live events. This will add another dimension to our non-core businesses.”

Sanyal has experience in organising and marketing music festivals, being part of the original team that launched Sunburn. His team and he will be focusing the attention on the experience of enjoying music across genres, while camping just around the performance arena.

“We want to make the experience as easy and relaxing as possible. Camping around the arena means one cuts travel time to the venue. We shall also provide very good facilities on the site and, of course, we have a very good line-up of artistes,” he says. The festival has two long-term partners in the form of Bacardi and Saavn, the former being the title/principal sponsor. The booking partner for the event is Justdial and the team is looking at bringing in an entity from the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) segment, too.

Manish Seth, marketing director for India & Southeast Asia, Bacardi, says: "From the outside, we have seen EVC’s popularity grow enormously in the past two years as a great city getaway for experience-seeking urban millennials. With world-class artists like Tiesto and Fatboy Slim performing, we hope to again deliver experiences to remember for fans.”

Booking for the festival has opened and the tickets range from Rs 4,000 to Rs 60,000, depending on  accommodation and the package. Last year, the festival was completed sold out, with close to 15,000 in attendance.

Universal Music will in the future look at expanding this portfolio of festivals. “We do not want to compete. We want to do our own thing and feel having a portfolio is much better as a business strategy than having just one very big festival,” says Sanyal.  The festival will not be held in any other city as of now but could travel abroad within the Universal group.

TO ANOTHER LEVEL

• Universal will in the future look at expanding this portfolio of festivals   
   
• Universal’s team will be focusing on the experience  of enjoying music across genres, while camping around performance area
   
• Universal will in the future look at expanding this portfolio of festivals