Take the sunblock, leave behind the drugs

The first ever Sunburn Electronic Dance Music festival will attempt to create a community out of the scattered audience for the category in India.

Roger Waters, Aerosmith, Iron Maiden and Beyonce were here. Rapper 50 cent will follow. Suddenly it seems like Indian music lovers, after years of being deprived of the unmatched pleasure of live performances, are being treated to a fair variety of musical talent, even if it is still mainly Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi that play hosts.

And now, there seems to be the beginning of a slew of music festivals, a la Glastonbury or Roskilde. One Tree Music Festival kicked it off early this year with some fine exponents of jazz, blues and avant rock. PDM Entertainment followed with the Kingfisher Metal Fest this October.

And now, they've announced their latest musical property, Sunburn 2007, being heralded as Asia's first electronic dance music (EDM) festival. Forty eight hours, a beach in Goa, the December sun, 21 DJs and performers, a 15,000-strong audience; still, it'll be all about the music.

But hang on, didn't Goa host The Big Chill, also a dance music festival, just this summer? "That's an international festival, Sunburn is all Indian," clarifies Devraj Sanyal, CEO PDM India. Indian promoted and organised, that is. International acts will still be the key draw at the festival.

British DJ Carl Cox will lead the way with his "three-deck wizardry", as will Above & Beyond, also at the top of the global dance music scene. Others will troop in from some of the most "electric" dance clubs in the world in Ibiza, UK, Holland and France.

Local DJ favourite Nikhil Chinappa, who handpicked the crop, is "excited multiplied 100 times over". Chinappa was the ideal choice for creative consultant for the festival having personally driven the genre in India for the last decade.

"I never intended to commoditise electronic music. I've just wanted to share the joy I derive from it with others," he says in an abstracted fashion. And he'll be there, sharing his joy along with DJ- wife Pearl "" just one of the many Indian acts that'll be promoted at the event.

"Festivals are the way forward," says Sanyal of PDM's accelerated foray into the music festival business, "single acts are passe, they offer no real value for sponsors." Indeed, turnouts at some of these recent events have been disappointing.

"To justify bringing down a multi-million dollar artist, you better be able to engage with more than 4,000 people," he continues. Sunburn will have principal partner Smirnoff forking out the dollars.

"We make sure that the event's brand dynamic is based on the partner brand's architecture," says Sanyal of the partnership. Indeed, Smirnoff has been known to spend some serious monies on experiential marketing via musical platforms.

PDM doesn't believe in one- time affairs either. While Kingfisher metal fest will take one major international band to at least three locations every quarter, Sunburn will be an annual event, eventually spreading itself across locations in Asia, including Dubai and Singapore.

The foreign locations will be promoted by Harvey Goldsmith, one of UK's best known rock event promoters (Live Aid/ Live 8).

The execution across locations will be the job of Jim Baggot, another industry professional who has handled the likes of the imposing Glastonbury festival. "We decided to cut to the chase and get as big as we can in Year One," says Sanyal.

Some of that grand, international profile will come from donning the right shade of green as Sunburn will make efforts towards reducing the event's environmental impact. And drug use won't be tolerated, although in reality, that'll be just as hard to regulate.

The event will wrap up respectably at 10 pm on both days, complying with government restrictions. Well, one of the event partners is Goa Tourism, so they haven't much of a choice there, but that association did come in handy when they desired (and got) Candolim beach for the venue. Sanyal says it's more to do with encouraging people to have fun "" responsibly.

PDM claims to have mastered the game of delivering value for sponsor brands, from pre-programming activities to on-ground activity on the day, and allowing enough retail opportunity for the brand through merchandise. Sunburn will attempt to create a band of loyal followers, to be united through a website and sustained online action.

"A brand desires nothing more than to have a community created exclusively for it; the power it can then exert over their tastes and preferences is huge," he says.

Meanwhile, PDM is confident about turning a profit in Year One, primarily through ticket sales (tickets will be priced between Rs 3,000-3,500 per day).

But isn't electronic music still seen as a niche genre and therefore, presumably, unviable? "Being the first mover at creating a great product out of a niche makes more business sense than fighting over mass," says Sanyal.

Chinappa, who founded Submerge, an EDM community some years ago, says this festival will be the trigger to push the category.

"Rock, metal and dance music, it's now all covered in way of festivals, and someone is bound to pick up hip hop," Sanyal points out. That spells nothing but good news for music lovers.

And if you do decide that Sunburn has been good the first time around, they promise to top it each year. The online gateway to the organisers will even allow you to decide which performers come next year. Want Tiesto? Try asking.