A fortnight ago, Sunburn brought their Sunburn B2B concept to the cities of Mumbai and Bangalore. Besides the fantastic artist line-up, much credit has to be given to the Sunburn team for putting together such an amazing myriad of experiences together for its fans and the dance-fanatic youth of India.

We had the privilege and pleasure to sit down with Festival Inceptor and Joint MD of Percept Media & Communication Shailendra Singh, to talk about the plans for the future, launch of new properties such as ‘Afterburn’ and the spread of dance music culture in India.

Read up now on what Mr. Singh had to tell us!

TBB: Congratulations on the success with Sunburn B2B! How was the experience of putting it all together?

Mr. Shailendra Singh: You know, this festival hasn’t been easy to put together. We had some trouble with getting permissions on time, and we finally got the go ahead with a meager 48 hour window to set up everything. So, much credit has to be given to the technical and event management staff for putting together everything in such little time. My team members never call me before hand, but this time they did, to tell me, ‘Sir, we just hope you don’t feel disappointed by anything, given we had such little time to finish everything’. I must say, I am very pleased with all their efforts.

TBB: With Season 7 having covered so much already, how do you foresee Sunburn Season 8?

Mr. Shailendra Singh: It has been an incredible season, hasn’t it?! We’ve had some of the biggest artists coming down, catering to musical tastes over so many genres of electronic music. I guess Season 8 can only promise to be even bigger and even better than whatever you’ve seen so far. That’s our aim: to expand like never before.

TBB: Over the course of the festival, we’ve seen the bold ‘Afterburn’ brand. We’d love to know more about that.

Mr. Shailendra Singh: It has been something that we have wanted to start since a very long time. Over the years we’re had so many artists and DJ’s who have come down to India, who many define as popular or mainstream pioneers of the music. But honestly, I’ve never liked to categorize it with scale. All music should come from the heart. So now that we’ve been delivering to a certain audience, we now wish to cater to the ‘purists’ and the listeners of the ‘Underground’ genres of the music and diversify our portfolio. And that’s what Afterburn is going to do. We’ve got a host of acts in the pipeline and you’re sure to hear more about it in the coming months!

TBB: Does Afterburn intend to have its own separate stage or is it something we’re gonna see together with other stages at Sunburn festivals?

Mr. Shailendra Singh: Right now, we planned it in such a way that this festival experience becomes more complete with the range of music for the audiences but rest assured Afterburn intends to have a whole festival dedicated to it soon!

TBB: With ‘Afterburn’, would you say it presents a fantastic opportunity for Indian artists who’ve been part of the Underground music scene and haven’t yet found an audience for themselves?

Mr. Shailendra Singh: I think Indian artists in general have bigger concerns at the moment. It’s always a pleasure to have local talent playing at our festivals, but it’s not always feasible because there’s a certain market that you have to present to. You need to promote yourself individually as well. And Indian artists fail to do this regularly. So we need more and more Indian artists to make themselves responsive to social media and written media and promote themselves regularly. We’re going to try and include and promote Indian artists for sure but they need to present themselves to the current market as well.

TBB: What would you advise to these artists who are unable to promote themselves?

Mr. Shailendra Singh: Frankly, I would love to start a venture or a workshop or a series of seminars where we all can understand the immense role that social media plays in our industry. I’d be willing to support this completely if you guys decide to do it as well!

TBB: Tell us more about the other brands in the pipeline and Sunburn’s other ventures across India.

Mr. Shailendra Singh: Well, as promised Team Sunburn created magic through our brand Sunburn ‘Campus’ and ‘Reloads’. You won’t believe it, but we have touched the lives of nearly 4,50,000 young and restless dance music fans through campus and reload. We have touched close to 16 markets such as Allahabad, Guwahati, Calicut, Vishakhapatnam, Kanpur, Baroda etc etc. Truly Sunburn has the power to make a social difference through dance music.

TBB: Any updates on Sunburn Goa that we should be prepared for?

Mr. Shailendra Singh: YES!! All I can guarantee is that it’s going to be more music, more fans and lots more love.

TBB: Thank you Sir and we wish you all the best for the near and distant future.

Mr. Shailendra Singh: Thanks guys!

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