How Piggy Chops And Adnan Sami Represent The Indian Music Scene

Every year, Nokia Music Connects throws us off with speakers who may have little or nothing to do with music. In 2010, they roped in South Indian actress Khushbu Sundar as one of the speakers. This year, Priyanka Chopra, who is just out with her vanity project, err, single, “In My City”, is an opening speaker and out-of-work singer Adnan Sami will deliver an artist keynote speech. 

Now in its fourth edition, the conference manages to redeem itself with some interesting, influential speakers as well. American music blogger Bob Lefsetz, who writes on the Lefsetz Letter, a daily email newsletter on the music industry, will be in conversation at the event. Lefsetz [November 6th, 5.15 – 5.45pm] will speak about the live music industry, the future of music labels and online distribution. Also on the schedule is British producer Steve Lillywhite, who will discuss music production and working with artists such as U2, The Killers and Dave Matthews Band. 

A massive, well-planned image building exercise kicked off by the Australian government now extends itself to the music scene leading to a new segment on the conference’s lineup. The county’s top artist manager, Tank, plans to make a pitch to Indian artists who wish to tour abroad [November 6th, 3.15 – 4 pm]. “Changes in local license laws, low cost air travel and very active support from government has seen the originally summer festival lead live scene become a yearly concern with venues packed with music fans who ”˜don’t care where you are from but where you are at’,” adds Tank.

The other speakers to look out for include major international music promoter Michael Chugg, who will discuss the future of music performances in the Asian region on Day 1 (November 6^th), Vijay Nair, co-founder of event management agency Only Much Louder, who will talk about the music festival boom in the country on Day 2 [November 7th, 10.30-10.45 am] and Nikhil Chinapa, cofounder of event management agency Submerge, who is on the Electronic Dance Music panel on Day 1 [November 6, 5.30 – 6.15 pm].

The fourth edition of Nokia Music Connects will be held in Mumbai at the ITC Grand Central on November 6th and 7th.  Registration starts at Rs 3,400. Go here for the entire schedule