Behind the scene of high on life martin garrix

Moreover, music festivals today are barely about the music-itвЂ™s about selling an experience. вЂњYou need strong financials, either funding from someone, or your dad has to have money, because people arenвЂ™t attending in large enough numbers yet to be able to support the music festivals.' вЂњRight now, music festivals wonвЂ™t make money,' says Arpito Gope, former head of activation and events at Rolling Stone India. ItвЂ™s a long game, and it takes a tremendous amount of money to see a festival through to profitability. Eastwind ran for one edition, as did metal festival BIG69. Then, both my partner and I said fuck it, because we saw the trend going completely south,' says Nair. Invasion Festival, OMLвЂ™s EDM experiment, вЂњlost a of lot of money when we did Prodigy in the first year and with David Guetta in the second year, we recovered the whole thing. Storm Festival in Bengaluru folded up in three years, Rock in India in five, and Ragasthan in two years. Great Indian Rock Festival in Delhi called it a day after 15 years with the death of founder Amit Saigal in 2012. Independence Rock, IndiaвЂ™s oldest festival that ran for 26 years, shut shop after sponsorships dried up. It sounds great, but the truth is that most music festivals in the country have folded up. ItвЂ™s my fundamental business ethic and itвЂ™s served me well in my 22 odd years in the business.'

вЂњYou make the decision and then make that decision work for you. вЂњThere is never a good time to invest,' says Sanyal. But given the volatility of the market and profitability dancing on a knife edge, did it make sense to invest in a festival at this point in time? I chose to acquire as that was the smart business thing to do,' says Sanyal. My options were to build my own or acquire. вЂњFor me, after my years with Sunburn, it was logical to get my own festival. Devraj Sanyal, MD and CEO, UMG South Asia, who was also co-founder of Sunburn, led the deal. Last year, music giant Universal Music Group bought a 50% stake in Enchanted Valley Carnival that takes place in Aamby Valley in Maharashtra. Every year, thereвЂ™s a new festival announced. ItвЂ™s almost impossible to believe to the outsider, it looks like a booming market. ThatвЂ™s just a fact having known every other festival and what they do, everybody is in debt at this point of time.' вЂњWeвЂ™re the only profitable festival in the country, currently. The remaining 30% is divided between festivals like VH1 Supersonic, Enchanted Valley Carnival and the smaller ones.' But, hereвЂ™s the shocker. вЂњI know what we make, and I know what Sunburn makes, because weвЂ™re friends, and we are two-thirds of the music fest business in the country. Nair is one of the very few promoters willing to go public with his numbers. вЂњRs150 crore is the highest estimate for the festival market today,' says Vijay Nair, CEO of OML, the company that organizes Bacardi NH7 Weekender. ItвЂ™s easy to be taken in by all the chest thumping-itвЂ™s a lot of big numbers. Ask industry punters about the current size of the music festival market in India and theyвЂ™ll throw around figures from Rs250-500 crore. Its rival, ViacomвЂ™s VH1 Supersonic, claimed the same number of people over its main festival in Goa and auxiliary events all over the country. Sunburn festival, held annually in Goa, reported a footfall of 350,000 in 2015, with tickets starting at Rs7,250. If industry numbers are to be believed, up to 1.5 million unique attendees (individual entries not counting repeat ones) are buying tickets to these fests.

In India, over 25 big-ticket festivals now happen every year, up from two 20 years ago.

Behind the scene of high on life martin garrix