Mumbai: Vh1 Supersonic is back with a bang after three years. Vh1 Supersonic is one of India’s biggest multi-genre music and lifestyle festivals, with a range of pop culture-defining experiences! Vh1 Supersonic 2023 has unveiled its stellar line-up of international musical sensations, Anne-Marie and CKay to India for the very first time! Marking their debut performances in India, the global artists and headliners will be joined at this eighth edition by India’s favourite musicians including rapper DIVINE, singer-songwriter Anuv Jain and indie sensation Prateek Kuhad. Performing LIVE for the first time will be OAFF & Savera, music producers of the critically acclaimed film music of the 2022 Bollywood movie Gehraiyaan. Adding to the indie scene at Vh1 Supersonic 2023, Farhan will also be seen performing his indie-English set.
Vh1 is India’s only 24-hour International entertainment channel that provides viewers with their daily dose of International music, Hollywood, Pop culture and Lifestyle. Vh1 is a part of Viacom 18. Since its inception in January 2005, Vh1 has grown tremendously reaching over 75 million people in India and the English music audience by 180 per cent in the last five years alone. The channel has pioneered the heady combination of programming content and lives on-ground activities.
IndianTelevision.com in conversation with Viacom18 LIVE (Integrated Network Solutions) business head Gaurav Mashruwala, on the shows come back and the excellent line-up of artists, making the show very interesting and exciting for the audiences.
Mashruwala is responsible for developing and executing various live experiences and entertainment projects.
Edited excerpts:
On the growth of VH1 Supersonic
Vh1 Supersonic predominantly started as an EDM and techno festival. Over the years, we realised the consumption of music and the genres of music was changing. We started evolving from EDM techno to a multi-genre music festival. In addition to EDM and techno, the festival currently has Rock, hip-hop, Reggae, and Indie music. Hence, there are a tonne of things that we've added through our different stages. That is one aspect of the growth. The second thing we’ve noticed is that when people come out for a two-day or three-day festival, they are coming with a group of friends, family, etc. to enjoy. Everyone likes music, but they also enjoy having great experiences, so we decided to make this a music festival as well as a lifestyle festival.
On modifying the offerings to grow
We have collaborated with NRYTA to do an NFT immersive art showcase in trend with what's happening in the NFT space.
Also, we have a partnership with Impresario Entertainment and Hospitality for food and beverages. They will create pop-ups for our entire Super Flea curated from their top line of restaurants and bring in professional bartenders for cocktails. This year, Supersonic will include a mini cocktail festival, which will also feature food and beverage pairing.
In the realm of arts, we have Super Street, which is our fashion and art zone. Under that, we have tied up with Sunday Soul Sante who is doing the entire fashion curation with us. Furthermore, we have collaborated with NRYTA for the art piece. Together they will bring more than 100 young and upcoming designers both in the art and fashion space to showcase their wear.
So, from just a music festival, we've grown to a multi-genre music and lifestyle festival with fashion, art, and F&B, all a part of it.
On the challenges of curating the show after three years
I believe that a festival of such magnitude needs at least a year to arrange, so we started preparing in early February 2022. India experienced its highs and lows throughout the pandemic, and so did other nations. Every nation developed its laws and rules. The toughest issue, from a pandemic perspective, was bringing together cultures from many nations a year in advance when you don't know what is going to happen in the following 30-45 days.
On the artist lineup this year
After a three-year hiatus, Vh1 Supersonic is back, and it's crucial to preserve its original spirit. The way people are consuming content has changed dramatically during the past 2.5 years. People today are discovering music through a lot of social media platforms, so we have brought in our headliners who are excellent with their music and are also very popular on social media. We’re keeping in mind the evolving music consumption patterns to keep it on-point and on-trend.
We have well-known Indian hip-hop/rap artists like DIVINE, 'Seedhe Maut,' and Tyga is also an international hip-hop phenomenon. Also, there has been a shift in how individuals listen to electronic dance music (EDM), and the change is moving towards house and techno. We are launching the BUDX Spectrum Stage, which we created in partnership with Budweiser. This will be our house of techno music where people can enjoy techno, house and dance music. Therein we have brought in our headliners like CamelPhat and Bob Moses which go to the tune of our spectrum phenomena.
We have also seen that people are interested in immersive experiences. Innellea, one of the artists, will be doing a 3D stage show. This will be a really good experience for most people who come to the festival.
On ticket pricing
Supersonic as a festival has always tried to make music and lifestyle accessible to everyone. We have kept our ticket pricing extremely cost-effective. We started with a price of Rs 2499 for a three-day festival which we thought in today's day and age is extremely reasonable and even today after announcing all our artists and experiences, we are still at Rs 4299 plus taxes. We have been attempting to make the festival accessible to everyone by working on the ticket pricing in this manner.
On safety measures at the event
We have strategically positioned a lot of surveillance cameras all across the festival. To assist anyone with security and health concerns, we also have female security guards and an internal crew team. We have also built a mini clinic inside the festival, staffed with over 100 doctors and nurses ready to help out our festival goers, artists and crew.
On the live events industry
Instead of a change, the live events category has expanded as a result of the numerous events taking place in the fields of art, design, F&B, music, kids and family, etc. In the Live events space, we operate in both the kids and family space and the Youth music space. At Viacom18 Live, we have grown Vh1 Supersonic into a multi-genre music and lifestyle festival which also has mini-festivals within the festival itself. It comes under the youth music space. For kids and families, we are doing a musical show called Peppa Pig Live. Four rounds of the show have already taken place in Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Bangalore. Last weekend it happened in Hyderabad.
