Today’s MUSEXPO Europe Asia Spotlight saw a panel of experts on the region’s music business come together to assess the biggest opportunities and challenges facing the market.
Moderated by A&R Worldwide’s Sat Bisla, the panel comprised founder and CEO of Canvas Talent and co-founder of Farout Media (India), Anurag Rao, managing director of Outdustry (China), Ed Peto, head of programmes at BBC Asian Network, Mark Strippel, and managing director of Phase 1 Events and Entertainment, Oum Pradutt.
One of the key areas of discussion from the panel was the ways in which the Asian music business is collaborating with the rest of the world and what opportunities are available to UK-based artists looking to break into the Asian market.
Highlighting the Indian music sector, both Rao and Pradutt identified Bollywood as a major area of interest for companies in the region looking to break into western markets.
Rao said: “We’re seeing a lot of Bollywood producers looking at international markets and wanting to collaborate.”
The Indian market is also looking to expand and diversify the music it is producing in the region. Pradutt explained “although Bollywood still dominates in India, international music is definitely growing throughout the country”.
Strippel added: “We are constantly looking at how we can introduce UK-based artists to the Asian market.”
The panel also addressed the growing festival industry in India and the challenges facing the live sector.
Strippel highlighted the region’s ability to sufficiently host large-scale live events as a problem, stating: Infrastructure of festivals in the region has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, but the standard of stadia isn’t quite there yet.”
Meanwhile, Pradutt noted the problems posed by the Indian government in getting new festivals off the ground: “When festivals start to grow in India the government pounces for its pound of flesh, so the challenges facing new and growing events are vast.”
