Tips managing director Kumar Taurani - Organised music retail sector will help industry

Tips managing director Kumar Taurani was recently elected chairman of the Indian Music Industry, under which the two royalty collection bodies - PPL and IPRS operate. Taurani, a veteran of the Indian music industry, says he will soon draw up plans to get the entire industry on one platform, and fight piracy head on.

Excerpts from a chat with Radioanmusic.com editor Aparna Joshi.

What is your agenda for the IMI in the year ahead?

Absolute Radio programme & operations director Clive Dickens - Our aim is to breach the 3.3m listener mark in five years

A quarter after he took charge as the programme and operations director of Virgin-turned-Absolute Radio, Clive Dickens appears to be a man in control. Scheduled to visit India this week for Ficci Frames 2009, Dickens is unfazed by the latest Rajar ratings and criticism of Absolute's performance from some quarters.

Tasked with building a new brand for the 15-year-old national music station, Dickens says the team has charted out a definite marketing strategy, heavy on digital, that will help the station achieve its numbers in the space of five years.

Resul Pookutty - 'I am humbled and honoured and this is great news for all technicians back home'

Indian film Sound Mixer and Sound Designer Resul Pookutty has won the British Academy Of Film & Television Arts, 2008 (BAFTA) award on Sunday evening and might well go on to win the Academy award for Sound Mixing of Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionnaire later this month.

Vh1 India Associate General Manager Ferzad Palia - A lot is going to change in the way we support Indian musicians with international dreams

Vh1, India's only international music and lifestyle channel is known to bring down international shows and artists to India regularly. With new shows like Jazz Masters, Big Brother, Saturday Night Live, Global music Express and Yo Momma, Vh1 is scaling new heights with its programming and foray into the live music scenario.

Vh1 India Associate General Manager Ferzad Palia speaks on programming, scale-ups, and future plans of VH1 with
Radioandmusic.com's Chirag Sutar -  Read on.

Universal VP content and A&R Rajeeta Hemwani - The idea is to get the best and most innovative albums on the table

After being associated with top music labels in the past, Rajeeta Hemwani joined Universal eight months ago as vice president, content and A&R. She was the creative and marketing brain behind some of the albums of artistes like Gulzar, Jagjit Singh, Asha Bhonsle, Shubha Mudgal, Shankar Mahadevan, War of the DJs and DJ Suketu. Prior to Universal, she was head of content & Artiste and Repertoire at Reliance ADAG's Big Music after being associated with Times Music for ten years as Associate Vice President, Artiste and Repertoire.

Radio MUST head Pankaj Athavale - For us, the most important thing is to sound interesting and intelligent

Mumbai University initiated its community radio station – Radio MUST 107.8 FM in February 2008. The unique initiative completes one year next month. Airing content initially for four hours, the CR now broadcasts 13 hours of programming   In a conversation with Radioandmusic's Anita Iyer, Radio MUST head Pankaj Athavale looks back at the year gone by, initiatives of Radio MUST and sustainability of CRs in India.

Can you introduce your radio station to our readers?

Radio Indigo COO Jayyant Bhokare - I hope to see retail advertising growing faster because it benefits more

In a market that preferred to turn Kannada en masse early in 2008, Radio Indigo stands out as a player that preferred to play the game by its own rules.

Jayyant Bhokare, who took over as the Chief Operating Officer of Radio Indigo 91.9 FM, a Jupiter Capital Venture in mid 2008, brought in over 14 years of cross-functional experience in Media Sales and Management, Business Development across Print, Television, Radio, Digital and Outdoor to the station he now calls home.

SFM Project head Nisha Narayanan - I wish the government had permitted independent news on radio before they allowed political ads

With its Siliguri launch in October, Sun Network's SFM has its presence across 43 stations and would be largest network after its remaining two stations (Aizawl and Gangtok) become operational. In an interview with Radioandmusic.com's Anita Iyer, SFM 93.5 Project head Nisha Narayanan converses about the issues like royalty, independent news, political ads in the radio sector, challenges of radio in small towns and the SFM's plan for the year 2009.

Ameen Sayani - "AIR can co-exist with private players"

Behno aur Bhaiyo...main apka dost Ameen Sayani bol raha hoon...aur aap sun rahe hain Binaca Geet Mala", these mesmerising lines still have a recall value across generations. The man behind the golden voice, Ameen Sayani chats with Radioandmusic.com's Anita Iyer tracing sixty years of evolution of radio, penetration of private players in the radio space and changes in the radio fraternity over the decades.

DNA Networks MD T Venkat Vardhan - Live entertainment is still not a priority industry in our economy

T Venkat Vardhan started DNA Networks in India over 20 years ago, when ground events in the country – fashion shows and sports events mainly, catered to small city based audiences. Started with a vision to provide solutions and a platform to successfully conduct an event on a scale akin to those in overseas markets, the company has come a long way, responsible for bringing in international artistes of repute to Indian shores.

In a chat with Radioandmusic.com, T Venkat Vardhan talks about the live entertainment scenario in the country.