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John Robb Robb is the lead vocalist in the punk rock band Goldblade. He was inspired by the DIY ethic of punk to form the critically acclaimed Membranes who released several albums in the 1980s. He went on to write for the music paper Sounds and allegedly was the first person in the world to interview Nirvana.
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John Robb is a vocalist in the punk rock band Goldblade. Based in Manchester, he frequently appears as a journalist/commentator on documentary/light entertainment music shows.
Robb was inspired by the DIY ethic of punk to form the critically acclaimed Membranes who released several albums in the 1980s. He then went on to write for the music paper Sounds and allegedly was the first person in the world to interview Nirvana as well as the first to write about the new Madchester scene of the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays in Sounds music paper in the late eighties.
Storme started working at Fat Cat Records in 1999 and then as PR manager for Iceland Airwaves. Her biggest feat was as Production Manager for Bloc Party on a worldwide tour throughout 2007. Storme has been interviewed for many pieces on Women in the Music Industry, including a feature in The Independent (2010). Storme was a finalist in the 2010 British Council’s Young Creative Entrepreneur for Music.SAT BISLA is the President and Founder of A&R Worldwide, a global talent discovery and development agency, and the annual music industry conference MUSEXPO. He is also DJ of the international radio show Passport Approved.
With Sat at the helm, A&R Worldwide has discovered and/or helped propel Keane, Lily Allen, Dido, Wolfmother, Ting Tings and many other acts toward international success. MUSEXPO originated in 2001 as a networking dinner co-hosted by Sat and Coldplay’s worldwide manager Dave Holmes. The concept to bring together forward-thinking executives from music, media and technology rapidly took hold. MUSEXPO became the first music industry conference and showcase event to launch successfully on three continents (North America, Europe, Asia/Pacific), and now hosts some of the most influential executive talent from around the globe.
Paul Ryan, music agent for The Agency Group and former guitarist of Cradle of Filth.
His first foray into the music industry was as the original guitarist for black/gothic metal band Cradle of Filth. He continued working as a musician until his career as a concert promoter took off and he was offered a job with The Mean Fiddler Group. After 2 years with The Mean Fiddler he was approached by The Agency and switched from concert promoter to booking agent.
Paul is currently still working for The Agency and represents both heavy metal legends (such as Ace Frehley (Kiss), Biohazard and Cannibal Corpse) and many bands from the contemporary heavy metal scene (such as Trivium, Bullet for my Valentine, Lamb of God, and Rise To Remain).
Ralph H. Christoph has been the co-founder and program director of C/O POP, Germany‘s first metropolis festival of electronic music. Since 2007, he has been head of strategy for the festival. In 2009, he founded C’n’B – Creative Business Convention. Before, he worked as music journalist, club promoter and booking agent. Currently, he lives and works in Cologne.
Music or music business was never a career Klaus was looking for but he ended up at this small punk rock label called Weserlabel and that’s how punk rock added up to house and theory. Today, he is the managing director of a leading German magazine for electronic culture, straying between gadgets, self design, digital economy and – electronic music.
Jez Collins has been working with the Birmingham music industry for over twenty years. He arguably understands more than anyone else, the effect local culture has on music and in turn the wider world, through the Birmingham Popular Music Archive project. The project aims to create an online archive of music practitioners from Birmingham and the impact they have had on the local, national and global music industry.
Bjørn Pfarr is the head of music programme and booking and also the alternate managing director of Hamburg based Reeperbahn Festival, Germany‘s leading club festival. Since 2008 he has headed the music programme, a 3-day event including 190 acts on 26 stages. Earlier, he worked in an event agency and studied practical cultural studies in Lueneburg/Germany. Bjorn Pfarr lives and works in Hamburg.
Fiona Stewart is now the Managing Director of Green Man Festival Limited, after having turned around The Big Chill (music festival) where she was the first woman to manage a commercial UK music festival. Instrumental in developing the Big Chill in Goa in India in 2007, as well as a Film 4 event at Somerset House, she regularly works with the British Council on cultural relations and trade promotion projects.
Achille Forler is the founder and managing director of India’s premier music publishing company, Deep Emotions Publishing. He represents 2.4 million works in South Asia, including Bob Marley, U2, Bee Gees, Metallica, Coldplay, soundtracks from films of NBC-Universal, Warner Bros, etc. He also sub-publishes worldwide the catalogues of T-Series, Universal Music India, Blue Frog, etc.
Nitin Joshi Initially a microbiology student, Nitin was a partner at the Studio Soundideaz, set up in Pune in 2002. As chief sound engineer, he recorded, mixed and mastered innumerable albums for labels like Times Music, Sony, EMI, Virgin, etc. He has also mixed songs for Marathi films. Currently, he works as a freelance live sound engineer with Agnee, Pentagram and Sona Mohapatra.
Samrat B a.k.a Audio Pervert has been involved in the electronic music scene in India for the last decade. Early ventures in electronic music and sound design include the seminal BOMBAY BLACK PROJECT (1999-2002) – A compilation and collective featuring 25 musicians from bombay. Various Bollywood song productions & background scores (2001-2007). SAHI BOL – The Urban Transmission, was envisoned & produced in 2008 with HINDUSTAN TIMES & HMV Records, was the first and most comprehensive compilation of songs from 18 different bands from New Delhi. He is a producer and composer based in New Delhi with numerous collaborations with indie artists such as Da Saz, Delhi Sultanate, Tempo Tantrick, Sridhar & Thayil, Shair & Func, Advaita & Delhi Electronica Supply Unit. He is one half of TEDDY BOY KILL, an electro punk duo emerging as an distinct and hard hitting electronica act from New Delhi. Creating music with synthesizers and virtual devices remains the main facet of his solo music adventures, with more than 20 singles available for downloads and streaming online. He has been actively involved in fostering the indie electronica scene with various organisations such Goethe Institut, C.O.Pop Festival Cologne & the Global Grooves Festival in New Delhi. He has recently produced remixes for Cologne based label Serve & Destroy, for artists such as Twila Too, Bob Humid and Ernest & Drake
Vasu Dixit is a free spirited individual and the music composer of the band
Swarathma. His lyrics speak of his sensitive rendezvous with life, while his stage act
speaks of the natural showman he is. Trained in Carnatic Classical music, Vasu was
trained in singing by his mother and Raghupathy Dixit, his elder brother.
Vasu also freelances on graphic designing and filmmaking projects.
While on night shift, he used to write several articles on a beat up computer. He laid them down in the format of a magazine, printed it in his own printing press. And voila! RSJ was born.
It’s safe to say that Amit Saigal has seen quite a bit of Indian rock. In fact, his old band, Impact, did win a few festivals in Delhi. He says. “From a time when bands were only doing covers, to today when bands are primarily doing their own material.
And that is a paradigm shift… There has been some level of intellectual stimulation that we have been able to create. Otherwise you have a situation where a band is being compared with another on the basis of which does the better Metallica cover.”
Dhruv too put it simply is multifaceted, a stage actor and producer, he also manages bands like Indian Ocean and Midival Punditz.
In 2007 Ishita Chaudhry, Founder and Managing Trustee of YP Foundation, was awarded The Student Citizen Karamveer Puruskaar – the National Awards for Social Justice and Action.
When in college Ishita had not anticipated that YP Foundation would become her full time occupation. Today, she is presenting the work of her foundation at the Clinton Global Initiative (an initiative by Bill Clinton).
Subir is the band manager for Parikrama, arguably India’s most successful independent bands and one of the most recognized keyboard artist in India.
Booby is a lawyer by training and a musician by passion. Bobby is a bassist for ‘Zero’, one of the most popular rock bands in India. He has created a support system for Non-Bollywood music in India.
An architecture student from Bangalore, Nikhil has been one of the popular presenters on MTV for over a decade. After a successful journey as a radio jockey he participated in the MTV VJ hunt in 1996 and emerged as a winner. And rest they say is history.
Nikhil is also a partner, creative director and host at the Sunburn Festival in Goa.
Vijay realized his passion at an early age and immediately got involved on business side of music. He already has his own record label and production house. A true polymath committed to opening up the market to different musical genres, it was no surprise he won British Council’s International Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year award, 2009
Amit ‘The Groovebox’ Gurbaxani writes about music for Time Out and Indiecision.
Arjun is a music journalist and founder/editor of Indecision.
Naveen Deshpande is the founder of Mixtape, a company that is a booking agency, Event Management, Tour management all rolled into one. Naveen currently manages Indus Creed and Infernal Wrath and does bookings for Shaa’ir+Func and Scribe.
Neysa has been working with the Indie music industry for over four years now. She started out working with Only Much Louder where she set up and managed one of India’s first Indie music labels Counter Culture Records. She’s currently setting up her own business working with artists, bands and music-based companies and focuses on marketing, business development and public relations.
Vishal is a man who has bridged independent and popular music. The front man for Pentagram and one of the best music directors in the country, along with Shekhar, he has performed alongside giants like Coldplay, Fatboy Slim and White Stripes and has also won many accolades. He also encourages fresh new talent.
Nitin Joshi a microbiology student was one of the partners of Studio Soundideaz, set up in Pune in the year 2002. He was the chief sound engineer, recorded, mixed and mastered innumerable albums here for music labels like Times music, Sony, EMI Virgin etc. In addition to albums has also mixed songs for Marathi films.
Now a freelance live sound engineer working with Agnee, Pentagram, Sona Mohapatra.
All in one is perhaps the only way one can describe this Bass Guitarist cum Radio Station owner cum Music Director cum Painter cum Event Manager cum Music Critic.
For all his varied talents his name is surprising pithy Gaurav Vaz.
Arjun,Star DJ, Arjun, founded India’s hottest live act – Jalebee Cartel, before launching his own record label. He has seen both sides of the music industry and there are few others who could match his experience in indie music.
Shreyas Srinivasan is the co-founder of NH7, a music discovery service. He also co-founded Radio Verve, one of India’s first Internet radio stations. He is a well-known open source developer and speaks extensively on open source and related technologies.
Bobbin James is currently the executive editor for Rolling Stone India. He writes about the Indian Rock music scenario. Bobbin was a fulltime advertising copywriter and freelance features writer for about five years. Responsibilities in advertising included developing branding, communication and launch strategies.
Shridhar Subramanian, MD for Sony Music Entertainment (SME) India since 2002, he has also been named President, India and the Middle East. A music industry veteran, he has overseen the company’s growth in a continuously churning market. Under him, Sony Music India has grown rapidly and also moved up the entertainment value chain, by producing Bollywood movies.
Vishal , founder of EDGE Entertainment, has been instrumental in promoting clubs like Fire ‘n’ Ice (Mumbai and Pune) and Magic. He also DJs under the name of V-Shall. With 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry, www.myfavdj.in is his venture to give back to the music community and recognise the best artists and DJs in India. In his spare time he likes to listen to electronic music.
is the 21 year-old, founder and driving force of the project, Music Basti. Music Basti is a youth-run charity that organises music workshops in homes for street children. Professional musicians, who are also successful recording artists, run the music workshops.
Akshai Sarin is an Indian composer, producer, performer, and a DJ. He has expanded his participation in music to starting a record label Rebirth and 360-degree music management through his AXYZ Music International group of companies. He is now conceptualizing energy-drink and lifestyle brand Red Bull’s Culture Program for India.
Kunal Kakodkar is a freelance music photographer from Mumbai, India, specializing in live music, band portraiture and other events.
Kris Correya is a DJ/Producer/Promoter from Mumbai, India who is
regularly cited by music critics and peers as one of the most influential players on Mumbai’s electronic music scene. He is also largely responsible for setting music trends and defining the musical identity of brands like Zenzi and Zenzi Mills. Both venues are iconic symbols of the alternative art & music scene in India and the best local and international DJs & performers often tripped over each other to get a billing on their line-ups.
Kris now heads DID Music, a team of enterprising individuals who are Dj’s, Visual artists, Music programmers & promoters. One of their first assignments is to handle the artistic direction, brand development & promotions of the F-Bar/Club (Mumbai), to be launched in January, 2011. As part of his DJing activities, he is one of the key players of the Bay Beat Collective (BBC), which plays and tours around India promoting alternative electronic musical styles like dubsteb, drum n bass & other bass heavy genres. As BBC, he has toured with LTJ Bukem in India, toured around Europe in July/August 2010 and also warmed up for London Elektricity in the UK.
Avinash Kumar aka Thiruda is a designer, filmmaker, artist, VJ and entrepreneur from New Delhi. In 2007, he started BLOT (Basic Love Of Things) as a performance and arts collective initiative, with partner Gaurav Malaker. They have now grown to become an acclaimed unit, traveling and performing in India and Europe. Recently, Avinash set up 2 studios – FattaBox and GreenHouse.
Jishnu Dasgupta, bassist and backing vocalist of the band Swarathma – Indian Folk-Rock band.
Uday Benegal is a musician, writer and filmmaker. He’s best know as the dynamic front man of the pioneering Indian rock band Indus Creed, which ruled the Indian stage from the mid-80s to the late-90s.
Uday has also written for a number of reputed publications, including The Village Voice, Rolling Stone magazine and Mid-Day. Uday is currently working on a film that he’s written, as well as a new album with Indus Creed, which should be out in early 2011.
Owen Roncon founded OranJuice Entertainment with V. G. Jairam to produce and promote concerts and music events. He is also the founder of Fountainhead Promotions & Events Pvt Ltd, a marketing firm.
G V Vilas is the Managing Director of Common Colors Entertainment. He holds a Master’s Degree in Media and Event Management with an experience in the field of Arts and Advertising for over 14 years. Vilas has hands on experience in Operations & Planning of Live Entertainment projects for the past 8 years in Live Entertainment Industry – both Events and Television production across India. He has also worked with the top media agencies – like Lintas and O&M
The Delhi based duo Gaurav Raina and Tapan Raj have been sighted as pioneers of a scene that has ushered in some of the freshest global music out of India. As India’s influence on the world through music, film and fashion proves to be ever growing, the Punditz have kept their hands on the wheel and have helped steer this ship into a new century of sound and culture.
Booking & marketing manager at BL Booking in Oslo, Norway. BL is an eclectic venue that books everything from noise to pop. During a year they arrange over 400 events. Einar has been working at BL since 2006. BL is a part of a cultural program inbetween Blue Frog and BL
Arnt has been working with yafestival for many years and is a partowner of the festival. yafestivale goes down in August every year in a park in Oslo.
In Norway ya is the most popular festival and has had acts like: Flaming Lips, Robyn, Tool, M.I.A, LCD Soundsystem, Iggy & The Stooges and many more. Arnt has been working with marketing and booking. Since the festival started in 2000.
1970 born in Wuppertal (Germany)
International Cultural and Business Studies at Universität Passau (Germany) and Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)
1999-2000 coordinator, German Festival in India 2000-2001
2000-2009 festival director Filmfest Dresden – International Short Film Festival
since 2009 regional Programme Director South Asia, Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi
Lutz Leichsenring is executive board member and press spokesman of the Berlin Clubcommission – the representative association for Berlin’s club, party and cultural event promoters. The music market is an important part of Berlin’s creative economy, making it the music metropolis of Europe. The Clubcommission gives a voice to the existing diversity in Berlin and monitors that the needs of their members, cultural embassies of the city, region and their economy are taken seriously. Lutz Leichsenring was in the committee member of the BERLIN MUSIC WEEK and is also manager of the publicity agency YOUNG TARGETS which goes into youth and trend-marketing in Germany.
The Editor of Metal Hammer, do we need to say more of him. Alex’s interests span the mainstream and the unusual in metal music.
The founder and head of Grand Union Management, David has managed acts like The Enemy, Killing Joke and Reverend & the Makers.
Tobias Thon has been active in the music technology domain for nearly 20 years – first as a producer and DJ, then as a technology journalist, and since 2003, as the communication manager for software innovators Native Instruments in Berlin.
His interest is in how contemporary music technology both influences and reflects artistic concepts and creative expression, and in how innovative tools and new technological paradigms are being perceived and utilized by musicians and producers in different genres.
General Manager at ArtistAloud.com at Hungama. ArtistAloud.com, set up since May 2009, is an initiative pioneered by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Private Ltd. to provide an opportunity for Independent Artists to build a connect with their fans and for fans to have access to own music that is unreleased and created by the Artist for them.
Artist Manager – Jalebee Cartel
Dev Bhatia is the manager of Jalebee Cartel, the most successful live electronic act from India who is often credited for putting India on the international EDM map. Dev firmly believes in the DIY approach and since his inception into “Team Jalebee”, Dev has helped make Jalebee Cartel a truly self sufficient entity.
Tasneem Vahanvaty is the Head of Music, Film and Interactive Arts at British Council for India and Sri Lanka. With a passion for the arts and an interest in a variety of art forms – theatre, film, music, fine art, this job suits Tasneem perfectly. Tasneem has taken a personal interest in the music industry in India and spends a lot of her energy trying to facilitate its growth.
Khalid has spent the last six years advising music companies and artists on a range of mainly commercial issues. His interest in music started at age 6 when growing up in Cairo where he learnt to play Egyptian tabla. Now a multi instrumentalist, Khalid has a lifelong passion for all things music.
Until March 2010 he was European Managing Director for TAG Strategic, a leading Los Angeles based digital entertainment consulting agency, advising brands, artists and labels in Europe and the US including Moodagent, UKTI, the Isle of Man Government, Coca Cola and others on commercial, digital and mobile strategies.
He was chosen as one of the Midem+ experts at Midem 2010 and is a regular attendee at events such as Midem, SXSW, Canadian Music Week, Popkomm and others, building a strong network of industry contacts at all levels.
Prior to that, he was one of the senior management team at London Calling, one of the biggest music industry trade events to take place in the UK.
Khalid is currently advising a number of artists/artist managers on marketing, distribution and promotion and is developing two major projects for announcement later this year.
After picking up the guitar at the age of 5, Warren would go on to play rhythm guitar in a few local bands with friends Siddharth Coutto (drums), & Girish ‘Bobby’ Talwar (rhythm guitar, bass). Sometime around 1997-98, they would form Zero, with Rajeev Talwar on vocals.ver the years, Zero grew to enjoy nationwide popularity in India. With Warren, Zero released 2 albums & an EP – Albummed (1999), Hook EP (2002), & Procrastination (2005). Warren gigs actively as ‘Blackstratblues’
He is known for his instantly recognizable, distinctive guitar sound & playing, incorporating immaculate phrasing and abandoning traditional, flashy “guitar hero” techniques, in favour of composing memorable melodies and playing with feel.
airam started his career with Fountainhead Promotions & Events Pvt. Ltd. when the company took birth as a 4-man operation. He led several teams such as client servicing, marketing and production helping Fountainhead achieve great heights in the event world. His personal strengths lie in the fact that he is extremely passionate about his work and is solely focused on getting the job done.
Randolph Correia is the guitarist and producer for Pentagram + Shaa’ir & func, two of the most successful bands out of India.
Fine art graduate 1991-1996
Joined Pentagram 1994. Released 3 albums with them since.
Member of Bombay Black 1999-2002. released 2 albums.
Formed FUNCinternational in 2003. Released 3 albums.
Formed Shaa’ir & Func with Monica Dogra (Shaa’ir) in 2006.Released 3 albums.
Has played guitar,composed,produced,remixed for various artists, film and television.
Currently working on Pentagram’s next release ‘Bloodywood’ set to release in Jan 2011.
Labeled an Ambassador of “The New India”, Monica Sharma Dogra is a Maryland raised musician, daughter of Kashmiri immigrants, who grew up listening to Hindu devotional songs, ghazals, and the Bollywood hits of Lata Mangeshkar. After winning a competition at the age of 16, she debuted at Carnegie Hall and then went on to graduate from NYU’s prestigious music performance program – which catapaulted her to appear in the New York Theatre Circuit doing both plays and musicals. She then found herself in India, while recording a solo-project with Andre Bettes in New York City, the producer of Madonna’s Immaculate Collection. It was there she met her music partner Randolph Correia, and formed the band Shaa’ir + func (S+F for short). S+F has been named one of India’s favorite bands by VH1, and played at some of the biggest festivals in the world, such as The Big Chill (UK), MIDEM (France), Glastonbury (UK), OYA (Norway), c/o POP (Germany), Indian Music Fest (Holland). S+F has written and released three albums in 4 short years of being formed. Critics have called them “the undergrounds most promising collaboration” and “the bestthing to happen to Indian Rock music”. As a solo artist, Monica Sharma Dogra, whom fans also know as Shaa’ir, is a spoken word performer, an active dancer, as well as an actor. Her newest projects include a lead role in Kiran Rao’s directorial debut, “Dhobi Ghat”, which received 4/5 stars by the Toronto star after premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, and singing the title track for soon-to-be released film “Break Ke Baad” with Vishal/Shekhar
Ma Faiza is fiercely passionate about Electronic Music. With more than a decade under her belt devoted to the development of the Indian EDM scene, she continues to blur the lines by refusing to be limited by style or tempo. Her varied, feminine sound encompasses many different genres of EDM, from full-on melodic psytrance, progressive daytime grooves, dirty electro, cool minimal to also ethnic, organic and harmonic global inspired beats and blissfully enticing chillout sets. The common factor is she plays fun, sexy, uplifting and positive music that just makes you smile and feel good.
Gaurav is one of the duo from BLOT, B L O T is the Basic Love Of Things – A mixed media electronica project based in New Delhi,India.Working with electronic music as the core, B.L.O.T creates experiences and transforms spaces via performances consisting of Live electronic music, visuals, light, and art.Read more: http://www.myspace.com/blotting#ixzz15KmC08hN
Padmanabhan is Sr. Manager, New Media Marketing and A&R for EMI Music, India.He is responsible for releasing numerous non-Bollywood albums ranging from Indian Rock bands to Ghazals, Sufi and other genres of Indian Music.
In his free time, He plays bass with his classic rock covers band One Night Stand and also plays lead guitar for several Indian / Bollywood outfits
Over seventeen years of total experience in the field of Events , Artiste Management & Experiential Marketing in over 45 countries worldwideCreator of a Music Property – Idea Rocks India , Siddhivinayak Maghi Mohotsav – Music
& Cultural Festival , Bidar Mahotsav ( Karnataka ) ,etc
Some of the Brands Serviced: Idea Cellular,Radio Mirchi, Hindustan Petroleum, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, NIIT, Kinetic, Times of India , Shree Siddhivinayak Mandir Nyas Mumbai , Min. of Tourism –Maharashtra & Karnataka , Tata Tele Services , Mumbai Indians , Business India , Magna Publications , ICC Durban , Sun International
Karsh Kale is an Indian American producer, composer and musician, known for melding Indian music with the modern electronic club music of his American upbringing. Growing up in Stony Brook, New York, Kale showed promise as a traditional drummer as well as an Indian percussionist from an early age. While still attending high school, he played in a number of local bands, specializing in classic rock with a bent towards progressive groups such as Rush and Kansas.
