One of the people responsible for keeping the cultural calendar brimming with exciting musical events in any of the Indian metropolises is Naveen Deshpande, of the artist and event management agency Mixtape. Established in 2010, Mixtape has been producing festivals such as the Sula Fest, Eden Festival and the President’s Showcase musicial event; while also managing and booking popular indie artists such as Indus Creed, Monica Dogra, Donn Bhat + Passenger Revelator, Scribe, Bhayanak Maut, Sky Rabbit, Whirling Kalapas, Frame/Frame and OX7GEN. On turning five this year, Mixtape is putting together a five-city anniversary tour featuring 10 bands/ acts that will perform between June 11-14, in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Pune. One of their artists Donn Bhatt has also snagged a gig at the Glastonbury festival on June 26.Deshpande, who started as a drummer for death metal band Black Hole Theory and worked as radio jockey at a Planet M store in Pune as a teenager, practically grew up alongside the very nascent indie rock scene in the country. As this scene evolved, mutated and branched into alternative rock, fusion, electronic and other live music avenues, Deshpande used his passion for music and penchant for the business to stack up experience in managing bands, booking shows, dealing with promoters and venues, and eventually producing shows.Gradually, his company Mixtape that started out as an artist management company ventured into production, bookings, touring and now lighting and AV design solutions for stage shows. The latter will be handled under the moniker Ground Kontrolle, and Deshpande, who is also a trained light engineer, hopes to make this lighting and AV collective the go-to solution provider for any kind of light design requirement in the country.Tell us about this special anniversary tour. What can audiences look forward to?So we complete five years this June and as part of the celebration we have put togther a free showcase of artists that we work with. Most of them will be playing a new set from the upcoming season or their new album or EP. The showcases are being held in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore, and are open to all.What are the key talents necessary in your line of work?The most important factor is to have in-depth knowledge about the music industry. You are basically a troubleshooter who has a solution to every problem, and that’s an important ability when you’re managing artists. In the lighting world, it’s more about how an individual ‘sees’ the music through his eyes. Imagine drawing art to music.What are the challenges involved in producing something like the President's Showcase gig?It was one of the most challlenging events we have done. The President’s office usually allocates a maximum of 60 minutes of his time for any cultural event but we managed to get 90 minutes from him for our showcase. The challenge was that there were three artists and a collaboration at the end which required a stage changeover, and as per the brief given to us the changeover could not last more than two minutes. We had almost two days of rehearsal on a timer which was done under the supervision of the President’s office and thanks to efficient teamwork, we have now managed to produce this showcase for two consecutive years quite smoothly.Do you still produce college festivals? What are the musical leanings of the current college crowd, seeing as they're going to turn into a bigger festival crowd in a few years?The college festival circuit is one of the biggest streams of revenue for a lot of artists. The latest trend is hosting international acts, both live as well as from the electronic spectrum. I think college festivals are a great platform for any artist, especially for newer artists who are presenting their music in front of a young audience that is hungry to listen to something fresh and unique. We do not produce college festivals however we do a lot of bookings of Indian and International talent for their festivals.In your personal opinion, is there a difference in the musical preferences and attitudes of audiences in the different cities in India – Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore?I don’t think there’s that much difference. The industry is not so big yet, so people aren’t really spoilt for choice. You will see a lot of familiar faces from rock concerts also attending the electronic music concerts in most of these cities.In what direction do you see your new project Ground Kontrolle growing? I have always felt that the presentation of a show for an artist is a crucial element, one that we haven’t paid much attention to in India. A show has a powerful impact when collaborated with a synched light and AV presentation. So I felt there was a need to do this on a bigger scale and extend it to even smaller artists, as I felt this should be a part of their basic presentation. Hence, I set up Ground Kontrolle to train people in lighting design and AV content. We aim at helping artists to up their game and also develop job opportunities around the available live content. We are looking at covering all kinds of events across the spectrum, ranging from theatre, indie music festivals to Bollywood shows.Do you feel that to a large extent we have draconian laws and mindsets when it comes to things like music concerts and events for the youth? Yes . The support from police and local authorities is still quite limited and hence, licensing is the biggest challenge for any live concert. But organisations like EEMA (Event and Entertainment Management Association) are working towards making it easy for the industry. I feel that if the government extended it’s support it could really help put India on the map and the country could be possibly become one of the biggest markets in the world. The other issue is the ticketing culture. Putting up an event is not a cheap affair and there is only a certain part which is covered through sponsors. Hence it is important to sell and buy tickets in order to help the event grow which in turn helps the industry grow.With so many new bands, festivals, clubs, gig venues, coming up in the last few years, have we already seen the most exponential growth in this particular entertainment space or are there more and different things to come?I see India becoming one of the biggest music markets in the world. There is a lot more to come. A more professional approach to various things would help the industry grow and we could generate many more job oppurtunites in the live events sector. Today, I can say that you can easily live off being a musician, technician, artist manager, lighting designer and we have just begun!
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