From RJing to VJing to DJing, Nikhil Chinapa now takes on the digital audio world with BookMyShow
Nikhil Chinapa ties ups with BookMyShow for the exclusive showing of his audio channel TGTR.
“The only thing that I am yet to try and succeed quite well in is pole-dancing. As a middle-aged man, that is one thing I would like to do really well,” jokes Nikhil Chinapa. Over a span of few decades, the 44-year-old has donned several hats — he has been a video jockey, a disc jockey, and a festival curator.
Starting as a Radio Jockey in Bengaluru, the architecture graduate from BMS College of Engineering, has always been passionate about music. In that sense, life has come a full circle, with Nikhil partnering with BookMyShow’s JukeBox for an exclusive tie up of his audio radio channel — Together (TGTR).
Jukebox listeners can tune into the show ‘TGTR with Nikhil’ every Saturday on BookMyShow’s Android and iOS app. The duration of the show will vary between one to one and a half hours, during which Nikhil Chinapa will discuss the evolving EDM movement with the listeners, sharing interesting information and trivia, and playing his favourite tracks of the week only for them.
Partnering with different artists
BookMyShow launched its audio entertainment platform, Jukebox, in September this year. Speaking of his association with BookMyShow, Nikhil says, “I have known the BookMyShow team for years now since they have been a pure play ticketing platform. Now with Jukebox, the partnership has just become stronger.”
Since BookMyShow raised the fourth round of funding from Stripes Group last year, the company has forayed into different verticals, with music being the latest, taking it deeper into the entertainment segment. The music content will be curated as per customer needs and requirements across languages.
Over the past few months, BookMyShow has partnered with artists such as Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran, and The Chainsmokers. Now with TGTR, Nikhil is focussed on bringing EDM to a wider audience base.
“When we first started TGTR, the idea was to make EDM all the more accessible to the audience looking for it. The idea is to also reach a wide audience,” says Nikhil.
Why BookMyShow and Nikhil Chinapa
From a playlist of songs that users can download and listen to, and lyrics and a customised playlist, JukeBox provides users a wide variety of musical content. Aditya Kuber, Vice President, Audio Entertainment, BookMyShow, adds that over the past few months since the launch of Jukebox, people are spending six times more time in traffic on the platform. He says,
BookMyShow Jukebox stands out purely because of the effort we put in to curate music and non-music entertainment for our listeners, each of them targeting a distinct set of audience. Nikhil Chinapa has been one of the pioneers of the EDM movement in India, taking this style of music to millions of music lovers across the country. As we grow our content library, bringing in experts like Nikhil Chinapa allows us to entertain the EDM lovers, party goers and particularly the young crowd, aged 16-35, and enrich their music experience. We are excited to present ‘TGTR with Nikhil’ exclusively on Jukebox.
Apart from TGTR, Nikhil had also started Submerge with his wife DJ Pearl and Hermit Sethi in 2003. The company aims to connect Indian dance music fans with DJs from across the globe.
A growing digital world
Nikhil believes that 'digital' is the best way forward. “The idea of everything that I do is to ensure that music is easily accessible by everyone. Also, today the digital world gives access to a wider range of audience than ever before,” explains Nikhil.
An article in Forbes adds that the number of music users in India is likely to touch 273 million by 2020. The market currently has several players such as Saavn, Gaana, and Airtel Wynk. In April this year, Google also launched its music subscription service.
Apple music has been hankering for a slice of this pie for a while, and Amazon Prime Music may be launched in 2018. The market is believed to be high-growth and is marked with intense competition.
A report by Kalagato suggests BookMyShow commands 78 percent of the market share in its segment and said the company had a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 0.52 and average order value of Rs 446.90 between January and March 2017. Paytm, however, had a higher order value of Rs 468.40.
Though piracy is a big concern in India, with allegedly less than 10 percent of the music being legally purchased, there seems to be a growing shift towards cheap music online. It just isn’t BookMyShow that is looking to create original content, but also Saavn with Saavn Original Content and non-music content, for its users. Interestingly, BookMyShow will be competing with Saavn apart from Paytm.
“Attention spans in general are lower than ever before. The idea with music is to get people to connect and build a stronger awareness,” says Nikhil.