YME India finalist
About Workshop Leaders
About the Judges

YME India Finalist

 Gaurav Joshua Vaz was unanimously selected as the India Finalist for YME this year for his in-depth understanding of Indian music, market, people and technology on Friday 28 March. Gaurav co-founded RadioVeRVe, India’s first and only one of its kind Internet Radio Station that exclusively promotes and features Indian Independent music across genres and languages. He is also the proprietor of MediaVeRVe, an Internet focussed Entertainment Company that runs RadioVeRVe and develops innovative products and services for the Indian music industry. Both companies began as 2 member start-ups and have been running successfully without any external funding for 2 years now. MediaVeRVe is already a profit making much sought after company for the various innovative ventures that it’s rolling out.

As part of RadioVeRVe, he is responsible for the content that goes on the station, contacting artistes across genres, languages and location to request them for their music and feature them on the station. He also heads the programming division to oversee and produce shows and interviews. With the two companies he is building a platform that can be used to promote deserving Independent artists and enable them to share space with mainstream artistes. As the proprietor of MediaVeRVe he is responsible for interacting with like-minded people from the industry, corporate houses and the artistes themselves to design unique and innovative products and solutions that are based on mainstream, Independent music and new media. Currently he is able to take Indian Independent music to over a million users over the Internet and through mobile phones which would only be a dream for an Independent artist! With smart marketing and strategic alliances, they are confident of taking Indian Independent music to the world showcasing a variety of music from India that will take the rest of the world by storm!

YME Runners-up

 Ritnika Nayan
CEO, Music Gets Me High (MGMH)

Ritnika started her musical career in 2001 at Hofstra University, New York, where she worked in the University concerts division for four years. During this time, she organized shows for artists like Maroon 5, Nickelback, Counting Crows to name a few and dealt in various parts of the Live music sector ranging from tickets, advertising, production and finances. After completion of her Bachelor’s degree in TV/Video from Hofstra, she returned to India, where she dabbled in Television and Film (Bollywood) as an Assistant Director. In 2006, Ritnika moved to London to pursue her Masters in Music Business management from Westminster University. She worked as a promoter in London for a year managing concerts at venues like the Troubadour, 100 club, Borderline and Nambucca. After a brief stint at Sincere Management (Peter Jenner), Ritnika moved to India to set up her music company that deals with artist management, live concerts and merchandise. She is a strong advocate for local music and believes the Indian music industry needs to be at par with the international world.

 Shatadru Sarkar
Manager, A&R and New Media, Saragema India Ltd

Born and raised in Kolkata, Shatadru finished his O’Level & A’Level Cambridge Board education at Calcutta International School. He studied Information Systems at Drake University in Des Moines, IA and then he worked with an advertising firm in Columbus, OH for a year before returning to India. He joined Saregama India Limited in 2004, as an executive in the Digital & Publishing department. Working closely with the VP, he set up the mobile & digital team at Saregama and was heading the Mobile music division. In 2007, he shifted into A&R and now handles mainstream non film A&R for the company.

YME Finalists

 Clint Cabral
Vice President, Business Development, RiffMobile Pvt. Ltd

Clint has been in the music business for 8 years and is currently the Business & Content Head at RiffMobile which aims to discover & showcase original unbranded music & artistes on new media platforms such as the Internet & Mobile (VAS), thus providing them with a new and dependable revenue stream. His core responsibilities included sourcing content, music repertoire and artistes.

 Viraj Sawant
Co-Founder, anECHO

A music enthusiast Viraj graduated in Commerce and procured a Diploma in Advertising and P.R. and a MBA degree in Marketing and Finance, after which worked with a film production company as the Marketing Manager for a year before co-founding anECHO. His expertise lie in establishing and maintaining business networks, conceptualizing and marketing innovative ideas. This I believe will help my company to achieve the goal of formalizing the contemporary music scene in India.

 Jehan Moddie
Events Programmer & Coordinator, Blue Frog Records Artist Management

As part of the Blue Frog core team, Jehan co-ordinates and programmes all their Club & Record Label events.  He played a key role in designing and setting up the creative programming model, as well as the logistical and financial systems in which Blue Frog Media Pvt. Ltd. operates its music programming that books bands from India and all over the world. Jehan is also a DJ, and while living in NYC he founded a DJ Collective and Events company called Sound Species which is still operational. He also has a degree in Film & Video Production and worked as a First-Assistant Director for feature films shot in London and edited in Mumbai for about 3 years.

About the award

UK is the third largest world market for the sale of music and is dominated by a small number of record companies and retailing chains. With the advent of digitisation and global convergence the industry is changing rapidly and today it is the fastest growing online music market in Europe.

YME is an exciting opportunity to engage with young entrepreneurs, nurture them to become the next generation of leaders in the Indian music industry, support them in their promotion of the best in national creativity, and linking them with the UK at this key stage in their development.

In 2008 the following 10 countries are participating in the YME awards: Colombia, Estonia,

India, Jordan, Kenya, Argentina or Venezuela, Lithuania, Malaysia, Nigeria, Poland

Who can apply:

• Entrepreneurs between 25 and 35 years as on June 2008 working in any of the following music sectors:
• Record companies; Artists & Repertoire (A&R); producing, recording, engineering; music licensing, and distribution
• Venue and/or festival programming and management
• Artists management and agents
• Music broadcasting
• Music journalism and publishing
• Music development & management
• Music marketing; public and media relations
• Music retail; online (including digital) and high street outlets
• Consultants offering specialist services in any of these areas

We recognise that a participant may be active as a musician or DJ, however their work as an artist should be secondary to their focus as an entrepreneur in the promotion of music. Musical talent/output will not be factored into the judging procedure – finalists will be judged solely on the merit of their entrepreneurial abilities in the music business.

For any further queries, you may contact:

Jily Joseph
British Council
Mittal Tower, C Wing, 2nd Floor
Nariman Point
Mumbai 400 021
T: +91 22 2279 0114

Or email: yce.india@in.britishcouncil.org

Selection Process

Young Music Entrepreneur (YME) - India Finalist

			A selection committee will shortlist the applications received, and conduct workshop followed by an interview.
			The selection committee will nominate an India finalist to travel to the UK to represent India and compete for the international award.
			The India finalist will get an opportunity to travel to the UK (London and Manchester) in June 2008 on a visit programme tailored to one’s business needs which includes group and individual meetings to introduce them to fellow entrepreneurs and exemplary initiatives, to give them an overview of the music sector in the UK.

International Young Music Entrepreneur (YME)

			All national finalists’ will be asked to suggest a song from their country for inclusion in the IYME CD – this track should be one which is not yet known in the UK industry but which they feel has wider international potential.
			During the UK tour the national finalists’ takes part in a judging procedure where they make a presentation to an experienced UK industry jury about their work and their understanding of, and vision for their creative sector in India.
			The jury selects the overall international winner of the award (International Young Creative Entrepreneur of the Year). The winner will receive a YCE bowl designed by acclaimed glass designers Gillies Jones Glass
			In addition to the award title, the winner receives a financial prize (£7,500) to be spent on a collaborative project with the British Council that builds the relationship between the winning country and the UK.
			The finalists’ will attend London Calling (19 - 20 June)

London Calling is one of the latest additions to the UK music industry calendar. Founded in 2005 it is now the UK’s biggest trade conference and exhibition for the international music industry: attended by major labels, operators, digital distributors, independent labels, artists, publishers, management, manufacturers, promoters, live agents and more, who are interested in building the ‘future of the music business’. This two day show features a combination of networking, educational and business events as well as a live music programme.

The 2007 event attracted approximately 3,500 international delegates and included exhibition space, a world-class seminar/speaker line-up, showcases, networking events, one-on-one business sessions, live music stages and more. All themed around the new challenges facing the music industry in the digital age.

OPTIONAL: The finalists might attend Glastonbury Festival (27 - 29 June):

Founded in 1970, Glastonbury is the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world. It aims to encourage and stimulate youth culture from around the world in all its forms, including pop music, dance music, jazz, folk music, fringe theatre, drama, mime, circus, cinema, poetry and all the creative forms of art and design, including painting, sculpture and textile art.

Read what the India YME Winner 2007 has to say

Girish (Bobby) Talwar, the India Finalist for the YME awards in 2007 is the Promoter Director of Only Much Louder, an Events and Artist Management Company, which professionally manages the leading bands in India including Pentagram, Zero, Pin Drop Violence, Helgas Fun Castle, Artistes Unlimited and are booking agents for about 8-10 other bands across genres of music including popular Hindi artistes. They also facilitate production services and infrastructure needs for live musical concerts and events.

The two other companies he manages includes Counter Culture Records, that produces, markets and distributes independent performers and musicians (Raghu Dixit, Pentagram and Pin Drop Violence) and Babble Fish Productions which produces music videos, advertisement films and corporate audio visuals.

A lawyer by profession he also plays for the band, ZERO. He is a member of Telecommunications, Information, and Media and Entertainment Forum (TIME), which is a part of the Young Entrepreneurs Wing at Indian Merchant Chambers.

The jury in India selected Girish as the national winner since he had a clear and strong vision and was extremely entrepreneurial. He had charisma and came across as a leader in his field. All his business models were clearly focussed on music as the core component.   

This was reiterated by the jury in UK who said, “Bobby is real networker who has already achieved a great deal through three companies serving the vast Indian market – including his role in bringing the first international music festival to India, the Big Chill Goa (Big Chill is a UK based music festival which has close to 40 foreign performers). He has principled aims to change perceptions of music as viable career option. In a comprehensive and interesting presentation he impressed with his ambition to take on Richard Branson, his industry role model, and be competing with Virgin in 10 years times.”

Following is an excerpt of Bobby’s feedback after his return:

On the whole, I must say that is was an experience of a life time, the places we went to, the things we saw, the people we met and interactions we had, could never have happened if it was not an opportunity given to me by the British Council, and for that I will always be appreciative. We met a diverse mix of people - from record label executives, to managers, to people from the council, to venue managers etc. Their perspectives were very enlightening. It made me relook at issues from a broader perspective and also from an international angle. It also helped me network with people in the music industry in the UK which will hopefully develop into working relationships over time. The programme was very educative. I feel that because I was exposed to this kind a programme at an early stage of my career, I can now decide clearly where I should go from here.

Workshop Leaders

Shelagh Wright
Associate, Demos

She has worked extensively with the public, charitable and private sectors on creativity, learning and innovation agendas. She is the co-author of So, What Do You Do?: A new question for policy in the creative age (Demos, 2007), Making Good Work (Demos 2007), The Last Mile; Inclusion, Innovation and Democracy: growing talent for the creative and cultural Industries (2006) and Design for Learning (Demos 2001) amongst many research studies.

She has made a number of key contributions to debates on learning and skills in the creative and cultural industries including as Chief Executive of the Diversity Strand of the Creative Economy Programme (DCMS 2006) and as a key contributor to Paul Roberts Review Nurturing Creativity in Young People (DCMS/DfES 2005/6). Shelagh has acted as an adviser and consultant to amongst many others, Creative and Cultural Sector Skills Council, Creative Partnerships, Arts Council England, Regional Cultural Consortia and Screen England.

She is currently undertaking research projects with the Glasgow School of Art for their ten year strategic review and with East Midlands Development Agency looking at creative and cultural leadership development and networks in the region. In addition she advises on the capital investment programme in building new schools.  Most importantly, she continues to work closely with a number of creative and social entrepreneurs and contributes to on-line practice networks and discussions happening within the sector. Before joining Demos as an associate, Shelagh was Director of the Sorrell Foundation, an educational charity working with young people to inspire creativity and to improve the quality of life through good design. She is a governor of a small primary school near Sadler’s Wells in London.

   Billy Grant
Co-Founder, TwoPointNine Ltd

2Point9 is a one stop entertainment company comprising a management company, record label, publishing company, live agency and marketing consultancy. It was formed in 2003 by ex-Telstar Records A&R and promotions team Billy Grant and Rob Stuart, and specialises in creating effective strategies for exposing “niche” markets to a mainstream audience.

At 2Point9, their key strength is their knowledge of the mainstream music industry: how it works and how to manipulate it, along with their extensive contacts. This, together with an understanding of “niche” music culture and proven ability to find bigger markets for “niche” music has kept 2Point9 ahead of the game in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Billy and Rob were recently cited in a Guardian newspaper ‘Power List’ of the most important ethnic minority figures in the media industry.

The pair began working together at Telstar records, where they pioneered the trend for mass marketing ‘niche’ compilations and were responsible for string of best-sellers (Dance Mania, Dance Boom, Agia Napa Fantasy Island, Junglemania, 100% Acid Jazz, 100% Pure Groove, Best Swing to name a few). However, it was through their successful steering of the careers of Craig David & Mis Teeq that they really made their mark in the music industry. The pair masterminded the A&R and promotion for Craig David’s debut album ‘Born To Do It’, which sold 7 million copies and turned out 5 Top 10 singles. They went on to sign Mis Teeq to the label, and A&R’d and promoted the platinum selling album “Lickin’ on Both Sides” which boasted five UK Top 10 singles.

On setting up 2Point9, they quickly established themselves as the No 1 record label for contemporary crossover Asian-western music. 2Point9’s first signing, Jay Sean, sold over 300,000 copies of his debut album ‘Me Against Myself’, and went multi-platinum in India, a territory where 2Point9 have enjoyed huge success.

2Point9 have successfully exploited a roster of British artists with a contemporary urban sound all over the world. They have toured extensively in the Middle East, Australia & NZ, Dubai, Hong Kong, USA & Canada, the Far East, Kenya and all over Europe. Their artists have regularly played to audiences in excess of 10,000; and by utilising the internet as a key promotional tool, 2Point9 is finding innovative ways to reach new audiences across the globe.

After successful careers in A&R and promotion, working with some of the UK’s biggest-selling artists,  they are now managing every single facet of a record label as well as managing artists. That experience has proved invaluable and has enabled them to successfully analyse and strategise a number of outside projects. In addition, their ability to adapt to the constantly changing music environment has been crucial.

The Judges

   SIMON GAMMELL
Director, British Council – West India

Simon was educated at the Universities of Cambridge and London. His first career was as a theatre director in Scotland, England and Italy; he also worked as a freelance journalist, teacher and film-maker. In 1985, he joined the British Council, and worked for several years in Italy and Argentina.

Between 1994 and 1999 he worked in London, first as Director of the British Council’s Performing Arts department, and latterly as Director of the whole Arts Group.  During that time he took a leading role in producing several theatre tours to India by companies such as Shared Experience, Out of Joint, The Right Size, The Kosh and the Royal Shakespeare Company (with Comedy of Errors, directed by Tim Supple – who recently directed Midsummer Night’s Dream in India). It was these projects that gave him his first experiences of India, and seeded the idea of seeking an opportunity to work here.

He arrived to take up his new job in Mumbai in February 2006 from Sydney, where he had spent the previous six years working as Director of the British Council in Australia. He lists as his main interests the arts, history, literature, travel, sports and people.

   ASHISH PATIL
General Manager & Vice President, Creative & Content, MTV Networks India Pvt. Ltd.,

Ashish has been in the media & entertainment business for over 12 years now. He began his career writing copy for Contract Advertising and due to pressure to “get a real job” went to Business School to major in Marketing. His love for creativity brought him back to advertising and Account Planning at SSC&B Lintas where he was a New Business Specialist with a 90% track record of landing accounts.

In 1998 he joined MTV. As Director Marketing he ran Consumer, Trade and Sponsorship Marketing and was responsible for some of MTV’s most successful campaigns including it’s entry into the Guinness Book for the World’s Longest Dance Party, the MTV Brand Equity Youth Marketing Forum, several creative and marketing awards including Brand of the Year and the Creative Advertiser of the Year at the prestigious Advertising Club Bombay Awards.

He made a lateral shift to head Programming & Talent Artiste Relations within MTV in 2004 adding on the entire Creative & Content function including Show Production and On-air Promos to his portfolio within a year. Some of the channel’s biggest franchises like the Pepsi MTV Youth Icon, Lycra® MTV Style Awards, MTV Hero Honda Roadies and the MTV India Music Awards were launched under him.

Ashish took over the Profit & Loss responsibility as General Manager for MTV India in 2006 where he’s been responsible for several new initiatives including its foray into co-production of films with Adlabs. The channel has seen among the highest ever ratings under his leadership and now holds a 40% share in its genre. MTV India is also the biggest turnaround story in profitability in Asia for the network and is today among the most popular youth brands in India across categories.

Ashish is very passionate about music, films, reading, writing, travel and photography. He’s written a few plays, directed a music video and teaches Marketing & Communication, Presentation Skills and Public Speaking. He spends his free time fighting over cars with his 2 year old son who he claims is a bigger prankster than him.

   ARJUN SANKALIA
General Manager- International Repertoire & Online
SonyBMG Music Entertainment- India

Arjun got his start in the music business rather early when he started a mobile discotheque company called “Ear Damage’ with some friends, while in university. On completing his masters in advertising, in 1996, he joined Ambience Advertising (now Publicis) in Mumbai, as a management trainee in account servicing.

In 1999, he joined Sony Music India, in the strategic marketing department, and has been with them ever since, rising to the position of Associate Director and business head of ‘all things international’. More recently, he has also been entrusted with the task of spearheading the company’s online initiative.

In 2002, SONY BMG India picked up on the sound of the Brit Asian youth through the launch of the seminal Boom Soundtrack and the ‘Friction’ series, jointly developed with BBC Radio 1 personality, Bobby Friction.

Arjun lists as his main interests’ music, writing, reading, and the study of people, cultures and history.

People that he’d like to have a beer with are:

• Oliver Stone
• Noam Chomsky
• George Lucas
• John Mayer
• George Clooney