Guvera Asia business development head Ananya Amin, in an interview with Radioandmusic.com, spoke exclusively on the service's India plans.

Where in Mumbai will House of Guvera be situated?

We are scouting a venue that will reflect the concept of House of Guvera (HOG), to include a full-fledged creative event space for artists, musicians and brand partners. We plan to host various events including brand events, music launches, band performances and exclusive artist performances in India. HOG is about supporting local music and helping brands connect with fans.

Are you signing a deal with an artist management agency in India or will Guvera  have a team that will look into it?

We will work closely with both established and emerging local and international artists through both their management teams and via labels we partner with. The goal is to bring music experience to life in a raw form and bring a new music experience to fans. Brands are also becoming more and more interested in aligning their brands with music and music related content. HOG will help bring that to life in India.  

How many artistes will you get on board for content creation in the first few months? Which music genre will it focus on?

House of Guvera will bring a vast set of music genres to life. We will focus on genres that are growing in popularity in India, including Hip Hop, Rock, Metal, EDM and mainstream. We also have the capacity and interest to bring a fusion of Indian and Western influenced music to the consumers and brands in India. House of Guvera is set to be a unique platform to not only engage with Indian users, but also take some of the artists we discover in India to the rest of our markets around the world. 

How much will you invest for this project in India?

House of Guvera is an extension of the Guvera business and is another pillar that emphasises our 'Made by Music' core. We are committed to bringing music experiences to life for our users, and giving the brands we partner with the ability to produce exclusive music content that is aligned with their brand strategy in the marketplace. India is a major focus for Guvera and will receive significant attention from the group to get this right and deliver an equally significant impact for music in India.

Will the site of 'House of Guvera' be geo-targeted?

To start with we want to give access to global audiences, which is exactly where the concept kicks in. We want stakeholders to draw inspiration from global and local concepts.

How will this help Guvera to grow further?

We believe this is one of the many strong differentiators for Guvera. We believe consumption patterns are evolving with brands increasingly looking for ways to produce fresh and exclusive content that engages users. We are currently partnering with brands to bring brand channels to life on the Guvera platform. The HOG pillar takes the partnerships to the next level, with us now being able to provide a content arm where we can work with brands to produce exclusive content that aligns with their strategy. From backstage interviews, to short films, to live performances, HOG has the capacity to partner with brands to bring this content to life.

Tell me about your marketing spends?
Guvera primarily focuses on digital campaigns. Having said that though, we recently released our first TVC campaign and it resulted in massive outreach and growth of our user base. We have been rewarding our users with various competitions around music - our latest being the University stream off competition where we have hosted playlists from top colleges in India and the winning college gets a sponsorship amount from Guvera. These initiatives help us stay relevant within our target audience.

How has association with several brands grown in India?

Brands love the fact that we are able to help align their offering with music in a way that nobody else can. House of Guvera is the latest example of this. From Banks, Automotive to E-commerce, Consumer electronics and Online travel we are in talks with several brands to understand how they connect with their audience via music. What makes the difference is how we engage the audience, which is absolutely non-disruptive and native. The seamless user experience is what attracts brands towardsGuvera’s branded channels. We keep making these offerings better and better with solid in-house innovation.

What are Guvera's plans in India?

India is a key region for Guvera. We have reached five million users in nine months of launching here and are growing at a strong pace. The focus is to reach a substantial user base in India by December 2015, work closely with the brands on board, cultivate strong, new relationships and establish House of Guvera as a leading performance venue in Mumbai. 

Can you talk about any new partnerships with labels?

We currently work with all of the major international record brands as well as several local labels including Hungama, Saregama, Eros, Times Music, Universal, Sony, Warner, Believe Digital and Orchard, through which we boast of a catalogue of 18 million plus tracks.

We are presently in talks with a few more content aggregators and labels and are working out the terms of our partnerships with them. The same should definitely help us boost our content library as well as scale our user base significantly, across the country.

Will Guvera be made available in neighbouring countries of India?

We definitely will at some stage. For now, the focus is on getting a sizeable market share of the existing countries we are live in and make legal music available to everyone.

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