MTV all set to rock your screens, launches Coke Studio@MTV, Season 4

MTV’s another big property makes a comeback…..! Coke Studio@MTV that lets the music aficionados experiment in fusion music and makes us connect to our roots returns with an “always on” format with Season 4. With a promise of bringing together popular music producers and artists from different parts of the country, Coke Studio@MTV has effectively been combining countless musical influences, from Hindustani, Carnatic and Indian folk, to contemporary hip hop, rock and pop music.

A journey that started three years ago, Coke Studio@MTV has been successfully showcasing the musical diversity of India and this time takes its philosophy ahead with a new line of music producers who are set to mesmerize the musical tone of the audiences from March 1, 2015.

The 4th season was launched yesterday by Amit Trivedi, Papon, Pritam, Sachin Jigar, Clinton Cerejo, Rekha Bhardwaj, Raftaar, Sneha Khanwalkar, and Bollywood actors Alia Bhatt and Siddharth Malhotra with a tagline ‘Music is Happiness’ will see a healthy mix of some of the names that are synonymous to Coke Studio like Vishal-Shekhar, Amit Trivedi, Pritam, Clinton Cerejo, , Ram Sampath, Sneha Khanwalkar, Papon and new breed of singers like Sachin-Jingar, Badshah and Raftaar, Rekha Bhardwaj, Jyoti Nooran, Harshdeep Kaur and many more.

With an aim to get deeper understanding, We at Adgully caught up with Aditya Swamy, EVP, MTV India who shared insights about the new and unique elements.

Speaking about the show, Swamy said, “Coke Studio@MTV has been one of our premium properties and after producing 140 songs with over 400 artists, we are back with fresh elements and new set of singers with Season 4. While music will always be at the very heart of this production, we have introduced new elements that build a deeper content experience. As classic meets contemporary, we are excited about starting a new chapter in the music bible of India.”

Starting March 1, 2015, and every first Sunday of the month, at 8 PM, Coke Studio@MTV will release a musical composition, both as a stylized video and audio, along with multiple elements that will capture the journey of making the music Coke Studio@MTV Season 4 including studio sessions, producer profiles and much more. Each of these videos and audio will be simultaneously released on all MTV platforms and deployed across all audio and video platforms like YouTube, Saavn, Gaana, iTunes etc. by Zee music.

Adding further, Swamy said, “After receiving such a heart-warming response from the audiences in the last three years, we thought of tweaking a bit more and taking the property all the more closer to our audiences. There was a constant need of Coke Studio’s music hence we thought of catering to that need in the best possible way.”

Not only that but MTV will also be re-releasing two audience favourites ‘Madari’ and ‘Kattey’ with brand new music videos to kick off Coke Studio@MTV Season 4. In addition, Coke Studio will continue its journey of bringing LIVE experiences through more than 50 concerts and outreach programs, reaching 100 colleges across 10 cities.  

To add more, Swamy told us that today there is a need of videos too with the songs hence this season ‘Songs’ will transform to storytelling through videos and there will 12 power packed combos with 12 stylized music videos. Adding further, Swamy said, “With videos gaining immense popularity digitally, we wanted to bring Coke Studio fans more than just the magical music and hence this year we are introducing videos for every song that will showcase the essence of each musical creation.”

When asked Swamy how has Coke Studio grown over the years, he said, “Coke Studio@MTV has grown tremendously since its inception. Though initially it took some time to develop its audience base but today Coke Studio more than being just a show on MTV has all together created a different genre in our country.”

Well, there lies no doubt about the fact that Coke Studio@MTV has been a show that is not only immensely popular on television but on-ground and digital too. Coke Studio@MTV has so far registered over 150Mn+ reach across all three seasons, 2.9 Million Facebook fans and over 60 million hits on YouTube.

When asked about the marketing strategies planned for the show, Swamy said, “The show will be supported by a 360 degree marketing plan with a massive focus on the digital platform considering the show’s popularity. We have a loyal audience base who have always supported Coke Studio but the aim with every season is to add more viewers to the already existing base.”

During the announcement of the show, Debabrata Mukherjee, VP-Marketing & Commercial, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia, said, “It has been a great journey for us too. Initially when we started we did not expect such a tremendous response. With such a reach and acceptance of Coke Studio, it makes easy for us to evolve with every season because this community tells us what to do. But that also puts a huge responsibility on us because we have to ensure that we meet their expectations.”

Interestingly, as told by Mukherjee the reason for making Coke Studio a ‘yearlong’ property is completely based on consumer insights. He said, “As we at Coke believe in taking consumer insights on any new initiative, we thought of asking consumers only to as whether we should take this property ahead or no…And what they shared with us, is to change the format and make it ‘always on’, ‘yearlong’ and as ‘singles’ rather than an album.”

Keeping the same in mind the teams seem to have made an honest attempt to cater to the need and demand of their consumers and in its fourth year now, Coke Studio@MTV, will be again seen discovering new sounds and will break down the barriers.

For information and records, Coke Studio@MTV is an iconic show with the most stellar performers on board who find it to be a matter of pride to be associated with the show. Artists who have associated with the show in the past return for yet another season because of their belief in this platform and the sheer excellence of it which attracts millions to view it.

More than 2014, 2015 seems to be an exciting year for MTV and the story does not end here as MTV has a lot new stuff coming for its audiences as the year proceeds.