MUMBAI: Leading musical instrument manufacturers and dealer will participate in this year’s edition of Music Expo, the country’s exclusive trade show for the dealer/distributor network of Musical Instrument market in India, to be held from 30 May- 1 June at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon.

The event will focus on tapping the potential overseas markets for Indian Musical Instruments (MI) manufacturers. The Rs 340 crore domestic musical instruments (MI) market itself is divided into foreign brands which have 45 percent of the market and local products which account for 65 percent of the market.

India’s MI market is set to grow at 12-15 per cent in the next 2-3 years and become Rs 500 crores by 2017.

The first two days of the expo will be reserved exclusively for trade and institutional buyers. Organizers said top international brands like ‘Gibson’, ‘Mapex’, ‘Laney’, ‘Korg’, ‘Taylor’ would participate along with leading domestic dealers like Furtados and Bhargava’s who will showcase products and services of foreign and local companies.

Speaking with Radioandmusic.com, Palm Expo and Music Expo director, Ramesh Chetwani said the event was an invitation to network, generate new ideas, learn from industry leaders, initiate new deals, generate sales and grow revenues.

“At the exhibition, the first two days will be for trade buyers and no one will be allowed to play or test the instrument (displayed at the exhibition). This is to avoid disruption of business due to the sound of musical instruments being played at nearby stalls. We expect 70-80 brands to be displayed. We may not see too many exhibitors, but the main players will attend. Those that will participate will represent many brands. For example, Furtados has up to 61 brands under it. There will also be conferences and seminars and the 7th Indian Recording Awards (IRA) will be given out,” he said.

The expo’s conference and seminar schedule  include sessions on pro audio, lighting & staging technology, studio & music production, post production and broadcast and key technologies that shape the present and future of the industry. Day 1 will focus on Live Production, Day 2 on Studio & Music Production and Day 3 on Post Production.

Special emphasis will be placed on Indian instruments at the ‘Indian Acoustic Instrument Village’ at the expo where renowned Indian musical instrument makers will showcase their products during the event. Protection of brands and product identity through copyright initiatives in product design and technology will also be taken up.

A competition will also be held on the fast-growing DJ music genre where top artists perform along workshops on the current standard of Digital Djing evolution in the art.

Musicians and students will be allowed to test and play the exhibited instruments on Day 3. The final day will have live performances by some of India’s top artists including percussionist Shivamani, Gino Banks, Jai Row Kavi and Darshan Doshi, jazz pianist Louiz Banks, sitarist Niladri Kumar, fusion guitarist Ravi Iyer and bassist Sheldon D’Silva at the Harman Live Arena.