MUMBAI: Saregama's Carvaan has been a hit in the market since its launch, partly because it uniquely keeps retro music alive thus achieving the music brand’s aim to reach everyone who is fond of music.

In a conversation with Radioandmusic, Saregama managing director Vikram Mehra spoke about the success of their newly launched product Carvaan and future plans.

Carvaan was launched in May this year. The product consists of 5000 retro songs along with Bluetooth and USB connection for the consumer’s playlist. Without pre-launch marketing strategies, Carvaan became a huge hit in the Indian markets on the word of mouth publicity.

“We did not go with the traditional marketing pattern, but digital marketing is happening. The product is available in 2500 retail outlets that have hoardings of Carvaan for the people to know about the product. Also, for online we have a partnership with Amazon where people can also buy Carvaan easily through Saregama.com,” said Mehra.

Also Read: Saregama launches Carvaan - a digital music player for the older generation

Post GST, the prices for the two Carvaan’s, porcelain white and electric blue has been same as before Rs 5990 where as two new colours launched in the third week of July -   oak wood brown and charcoal grey - cost Rs 6450.

Carvaan was initially launched in porcelain white and electric blue later came into the market. The two colours have been doing well on Amazon and newly launched coluors helping to seek customer attention.

Launched with an objective of a gifting item, Carvaan has two types of primary customers. One, the 45 plus bunch of crowd buying for itself while the younger group purchasing as a gift item for their parents.

On the basis of recent research, Mehra was excited to share that Carvaan was also used as Rakshabandhan gifts.

“We believe that as festival seasons are coming in, gifting becomes very big phenomena in India. Carvaan is a kind of gift that no one can replicate. All our research validates that nothing else can replicate the two emotions in our lives. One if someone can make the same food as your mom cooked when you were young and someone can give you the same music that you heard when you were young. These things are filled with lots of nostalgia and warmth and Carvaan fits in there very right. So this is not only about music, but it is also about bringing back the memories,” said Mehra.

As the product is a talk of the town, the sales are going up with attracting customers from different corners of the country. Because it is Hindi, a huge demand is waving from the North and the West belt, including Kolkatta. In the South, metro cities like Bengaluru and Chennai are giving a great response.

The consumers using the product have high demand for a physical remote to operate Carvaan. Also, later this year, a Tamil version of Carvaan will be launched and slowly we will move forward to other regional languages too.

Carvaan is not only a hit in the Indian markets but demands from overseas have started coming via emails. “We have not officially launched overseas but we plan to do it around Diwali in the US markets. It is seen that Indians outside India are much more interested in such kinds of product. These people are connected to the culture much more and music is a great way to be connected to your root,” said Mehra.

The industry is in a tangle that free music is taking down the music industry. Because of easy availability of music, people do not believe in paying for it. Sony Music recently tried its bit by adding a price tag to the song Phurrr from Jab Harry Met Sejal which did not work well.

To this Mehra has a different opinion. He said, “This statement that the Indian customer does not want to pay is a mistaken one. Indian customer is no different than any other if you give value they will pay. It is the value proposition that needs to be put on the table. The person should feel there is genuinely some value being added. Carvaan is going on the same sentiments and what we are providing by Carvaan is convenience. Get through your favourite song on the press of the button without struggling through any apps and the customer is willingly paying for this convenience”.