Herald
Café: This is going to be
the third year of VH1 Supersonic in Goa. What have you’ll garnered from the
past two editions of the festival?
Jaideep Singh: More than learning, it has been more about moving to the next
stage. I believe, there are three core parts of building any festival brand.
One, having the right mix of music, and the line-up. And over the years we have
built that to the next level in terms of the mix of different genres of
artistes and the scale of artistes. Having the right creative minds from the
domestic and international market is important. This includes involving the
local community and getting the Goan DJs to be a part of it. There are around
15 Goan DJs who are going to be playing at the festival this year. It is about
having people like Nikhil (Chinapa), Rohit Barker, and getting the domestic
scene going on. That keeps the heart of the festival up. We have been investing
in that and building the space which is the first pillar of building any brand.
The second is about what you see, as far as the experience is concerned – the
stage set-up. Last year, we had Iron Heart. This year, people will see the next
stage of Iron Heart – very international, unique – something that the fans
would want to capture and experience for a long time. The Spectrum stage is
going to move to the next level of production. Finally, the third piece is
about the vibe of the festival, which is about how our fans are treated at the
festival, the kind of people that you see around you, how we talk to our fans.
Then there are things that the fans experience before the festival and during
the festival. There are a lot of brand engagements going in. I think these
three things make the festival and that is where we have been evolving.
HC: What are your
comments on the single window system for tourism events in Goa? How has it
helped you?
JS: I think it is good to
have all the stakeholders sitting at one place, where you can voice your
concerns, hear their concerns and decisions happen faster. You can have
engagements with them at the senior management level and then it is about the
people on the second tier who can engage with the departments to make sure that
everything moves smoothly. SLPC (State Level Permission Committee) is a
fantastic initiative in that direction.
HC: There have been
opinions on shifting the EDM festivals to the South of Goa for better
management of the huge influx. Given a chance, would you opt to move to the
South next year?
JS: It’s too early to say
that. I think we have got a good venue and ground with good local partners.
Things are going well for us at Candolim. But it depends on how the discussions
move in the next year. As of now, my stand would be that we have got a great
thing going on in Candolim for the third year and we would love to carry on the
festival in here.
HC: What do you think is
the future of EDM in India? Has it reached saturation point?
JS: I think for any genre
of music, the saturation depends upon how the stakeholders take it. If we do
not evolve as the music is evolving globally and if we do not change the
experience for our fans, it will saturate. That is precisely why we are looking
at newer artistes and newer genres to be put up. You need to evolve. If we
don’t evolve and stick to one place saying this is what works and I’m going to
be doing only this, you will saturate. So I think we will keep evolving and
hopefully the evolution will help sustain the journey longer.
