NOKIA ASSOCIATES WITH ‘MUSIC MATTERS’ & RADIOANDMUSIC.COM TO OFFER INDIA’S LARGEST MUSIC FORUM – “NOKIA MUSIC CONNECTS”

Mumbai, August 12, 2009: Nokia today announced the launch of Nokia Music Connects, India’s largest and first of its kind music forum, in association with Hong Kong based Music Matters and leading Indian media portal Indiatelevision.com’s radioandmusic.com. The industry event is envisaged as an annual gathering of the Indian music business scheduled to be held this year at The Taj Landsend, Mumbai on August 26th, 2009.

The day-long conference is supported by the umbrella organization of the music industry, Indian Music Industry (IMI), and will comprise of a series of high-powered panels featuring key industry executives including regulatory heads, music label honchos, advertising gurus, corporate leaders as well as leading creative professionals.

Nokia Music Connects promises to be a truly international affair. Joining India’s music industry leaders will be Seymour Stein, the man who discovered Madonna, Talking Heads, the Pretenders and the Ramones, Neil Warnock, the agent who brought Michael Jackson, Bryan Adams & Deep Purple to India and Rob McDermott, mega rock group Linkin’ Park’s manager.

Speaking on the occasion said Mr. Vineet Taneja, Director Marketing, Nokia India “We are delighted to associate with Music Matters and indiantelevision.com’s radioandmusic.com to bring Nokia Music Connects, a strategic music industry venture that brings the key music fraternity under one roof. The event will help create a strong music & entertainment ecosystem offering an exciting networking and ideation platform.”

He further added “With the current technology advances, the music industry is undergoing major changes and witnessing newer consumer demands. For instance, mobile music has become an integral part of the consumer experience today, with some researches showing that in India specifically 61% of the youth prefer to listen to music on their mobile devices vis-à-vis other gadgets. Nokia Music Connects, also therefore, would be addressing such trends to understand how consumers can be provided an enriched music experience.”

Speaking about Nokia Music Connects, Music Matters’ President Jasper Donat said, “For four years, Music Matters has promoted and celebrated all that is good within the Asia Pacific music industry around the world and we are absolutely thrilled to be able to produce an event in one of the region’s true musical powerhouses. I have personally spent a huge amount of time working in India in the early days of Channel [V] so am really looking forward to coming back to this amazing country. I am also excited to be working with Indiantelevision.com and eternally grateful to Nokia and all our sponsors and speakers for enabling our dream to become a reality”.

Mr Anil Wanvari, Founder, CEO & Editor in chief IndianTelevision.com Group said, “We are extremely happy to join hands with Music Matters and Nokia to put together this pioneering music industry platform for India. With Nokia Music Connects we aim to bring together the various constituents of the music business - telcos, music labels, music producers, retailers, aggregators, live event organizers, rights collection societies, artistes - from across Asia to connect and build relationships and to discuss vital issues and current trends in the industry.”

The forum will discuss several pertinent issues the Indian music industry is facing such as the mobile and digital landscape, the live music scene in India, the advertising industry's changing relationship with music and the evolution of Bollywood.

Key industry luminaries who will be spearheading the panels include (in alphabetical order):

About Music Matters
Featuring local and global music, entertainment and technology industry "players", Music Matters is a solutions driven forum and high level think tank designed by, with and for the music industry. Including sessions with some of Asia's and the world's most innovative and successful companies and individuals, the Music Matters programme examines the full music entertainment ecosystem in Asia. With focused panels and hard-hitting keynotes, Music Matters addresses the most important issues, challenges and opportunities that face the industry today, and promises to deliver the controversy and dynamism we do every year.

About Indiantelevision.com
Indiantelevision.com is a leading media company involved in online and offline publishing, research, creating and organising conferences, TV production, online marketing. Among its leading brands figure indiantelevision.com, tellychakkar.com, radioandmusic.com, The Indian Telly Awards, The News Television awards, The New Talent Awards, The Indian Digital Networks Summit.

About Nokia
Nokia is a pioneer in mobile telecommunications and the world’s leading maker of mobile devices. Today, we are connecting people in new and different ways - fusing advanced mobile technology with personalized services to enable people to stay close to what matters to them. We also provide comprehensive digital map information through NAVTEQ; and equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.

For further information contact:
Geetanjali Sharma
Nokia India Private Limited
Tel: +91 124 4199358
Email: communications.india@nokia.com

Gitika Kapur / Ambika Puri
Text 100 Public Relations
Tel: +91 9818711661 / 9811331624
Email : gitika.kapur@text100.co.in / ambika.puri@text100.co.in

12 August 2009 4:50 pm