For the first time ever, the Indian music industry and its allied sectors will come together on a common platform to discuss issues facing the music business at Nokia Music Connects 2009.

A joint venture conceptualised by Hong Kong based Music Matters and leading Indian media portal Radioandmusic.com, Nokia Music Connects is envisaged as an annual gathering of the Indian music business to be held this year at the Taj Lands End, Mumbai on 26th August.

The day long conference will comprise a series of high powered panels formed of key industry executives, who will dwell on and discuss several pertinent issues facing the music industry in India. Speakers at the various panels include regulatory heads, music label honchos, advertising gurus, corporate heads as well as top notch creative professionals from the music industry, both from India and abroad. Those participating in the conference will be key players from all these sectors, making the event as much of an exciting networking platform as a forum where vital issues facing the industry will be discussed and a path to the future will be forged. The venture is supported by the umbrella organisation of the music industry, the Indian Music Industry (IMI) and will be marked by research presentations on the business and consumer aspects of the business, along with the panel discussions. We are also happy to be able to announce Nokia as title sponsor of the event which will be called– “Nokia Music Connects – The Indian Music Forum”. The panels that will make up the conference include one on Mobile/Digital issues, one on live music events scene in India, one on the advertising industry's changing equation with music, one on Bollywood, among others. Among the industry luminaries who have agreed to be part of the conference are

• Vijay Lazarus, IMI
• Seymour Stein, WMG
• Atul Churamani, Saregama
• Shridar Subramaniam, Sony Music
• Neeraj Roy, Hungama
• Ashish Patil, MTV Networks
• Vikram Sahkuja, GroupM
• Brian Tellis, Fountainhead
• Sabbas Joseph, Wizcraft
• Ralph Simon, MEF
• Vijay Singh, Fox Star Studios
• Bhushan Kumar, T Series
• Madhu Mantena, Big Bang
• Rob McDermott, Manager, Linkin’ Park
• Anthony D’Souza, Director “Blue”
• Saleem Mobani
• John McLellan, Haldanes
• Vipul Pradhan, PPL
• Ashutosh Phatak, Blue Frog
  
  We hope to make Music Connects an event to remember and one that turns into an annual event that the industry will want to return to, year after year.