Event Coverage
Crystal Ball gazing: The biggies give their view
MUMBAI: With the digital ecosystem evolving since the last few years, the next three to five years are seen as the years of ‘quantum leap’. These were the views of a panel at the Crystal Ball session on the second day of Mix Radio Music Connects (MRMC).
The panel comprised of Gaana.com VP and business head Pawan Agarwal, HMV Saregama India head music business Adarsh Gupta, Bharti Airtel chief product officer Anand Chandrasekaran, Sony MAX and Sony MIX senior executive VP and business head Neeraj Vyas and Samsung South West Asia director and head, media and cloud services Tarun Malik.
With a rise in music streaming services, visual content streaming services and music channels and companies competing for content will give more traction to these services felt the experts.
Commenting on the digital eco system, Gupta said, “It is going to take a quantum leap in the next three years; there has been immense mobile penetration and data digitisation in recent times and many digital services have been launched.”
“Since most music channels are free to air and the revenue comes only through ads, music channels have 20-25 minutes of advertisement/ trailers per hour. We need to focus on bringing music back to the audience but the music channels are here to stay,” according to Vyas.
“Music channels have a base of around 400 million people and that is the number covered by TAM. We need a lot of changes like digitization, it is the future.” he emphasized.
Agarwal added, “There are two big things that are happening right now – availability of content and a lot more awareness of the industry going faster. The number of downloads are increasing and digital is the future.”
Talking about the music industry, Chandrasekaran added, “This is the best time for the music industry.”
Malik further explained, “Personalisation is the key and differentiation should go beyond just music. The services must be more centric and personalised in terms of what the users want to consume.”
“What we need to focus on in the coming future is ‘convergence of devices’. The volume of consumption is increasing and they need to be accessible easily across all users’ devices,” he added.
Chandrasekharan expressed his opinions on what is the need of the hour saying, “Only 1/5 of the overall smartphone using population has the data capability to use apps. We all need to cater to what users want. User problems need to be solved and there must be transparency. For example, when a user is using a music streaming app, they do not know how much data is going to be consumed. That is why we have introduced Freedom subscription in Wynk, which includes bundled data.”
The biggest challenge that the music industry faces is piracy, especially in India, where users download illegal music for convenience. Agarwal said, “The entire industry is trying very hard to curb piracy by introducing many services. Apps should introduce subscriptions which allow the users to download music when they have Wi-Fi and later listen, without data usage.”
The panellists agreed that the mid-term goal is to get at least a hundred million people to stream music, which will help reduce the piracy. With healthy smartphone consumption in the country, they believe, that hundred million is a reasonable number to expect in the next two years.
Event Coverage
Anime India announces Amazon MX Player as co-presenting partner for Anime India Kolkata 2026
MUMBAI: Riding high on the success of its blockbuster Mumbai debut, Anime India is accelerating its nationwide expansion with the announcement of Amazon MX Player as the co-presenting partner for Anime India Kolkata. The partnership marks a significant step forward in the festival’s mission to deliver large-scale, accessible, and fan-first anime experiences across the country.
Scheduled for 14 and 15 February 2026 at the iconic Biswa Bangla Mela Prangan, Anime India Kolkata will launch the first regional chapter of what is set to be a year-long, multi-city tour. As the curtain-raiser for the 2026 circuit, the Kolkata edition aims to fuse the energy of global Japanese pop culture with India’s fast-growing community of anime, manga, and pop-culture fans.
A household name in digital entertainment, Amazon MX Player brings unmatched reach and cultural relevance to the Anime India platform. With its expanding focus on anime and youth-driven content, Amazon MX Player’s involvement as co-presenting partner reinforces Anime India’s vision of making anime culture more inclusive breaking barriers of language, geography, and accessibility to connect with fans nationwide.
Anime India Kolkata 2026 will showcase cosplay competitions, interactive zones led by the Indian Gunpla Community, India-39 Vocaloid Community, The Japan Curry, and Adda-o-Otaku by The Otaku Guild. Fans can join tournaments across fighting games, Pokémon VGC, and more. Acclaimed Japanese director Susumu Mitsunaka (Haikyu!!) will attend as guest of honour, appearing in panels and live sessions. Positioned as an immersive celebration of fan culture and industry collaboration, the Kolkata edition marks the beginning of Anime India’s nationwide expansion.
Sharing their perspective on the partnership, Amazon MX Player director Aruna Daryanani expressed, “Anime in India has evolved from a niche interest into a mainstream cultural movement, driven by an increasingly engaged and passionate fanbase. At Amazon MX Player, our focus is on expanding access by bringing anime to audiences across the country for free and in multiple local languages. Our association with Anime India reflects our commitment to supporting the growth of anime in India and deepening connections with fans, while continuing to build Amazon MX Player as a trusted destination for free, high-quality entertainment.”
“Anime India Kolkata is a celebration of how anime has grown beyond entertainment into a powerful cultural and creative force. By bringing fans, creators, and industry leaders onto one shared platform, the festival is helping define the future of pop culture in India,” said Anime India co-founder and director Neha Mehta.
The debut edition of Anime India 2025 in Mumbai attracted over 29,000 fans, quickly cementing its status as a landmark celebration of anime and Japanese pop culture. Riding on this overwhelming response, the Kolkata chapter is projected to draw more than 40,000 visitors across two days, positioning it as one of the biggest anime conventions ever held in eastern India.
Anime India is focused on bringing together fans from across the country to create a truly pan-India celebration of anime, manga, cosplay, gaming, and Japanese culture. With plans to expand into four key metropolitan hubs in 2026—east (Kolkata), north (Delhi), west (Mumbai), and south (Hyderabad)—the festival seeks to deliver globally benchmarked experiences while supporting and uplifting creators, artists, and fan communities throughout India.
