"It's a surreal feeling to reach the 13 year anniversary milestone"- Karan Singh
Sunburn, a Percept Intellectual Property, is India’s iconic music festival - an eclectic mix of music, entertainment, experiences, and celebration. Sunburn is all set for its 13th season that will be held from December 27th to 29th, 2019 at Vagator Goa. Here is an exclusive interview with Karan Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Sunburn Global. He shares some exciting insights of Sunburn’s 13th season coming up this year.
How does it feel on reaching the Milestone of your 13th anniversary?
It’s a surreal feeling to reach the 13 year anniversary milestone. Sunburn was one of the first Intellectual Properties we launched in 2007 and has come a long way since then to become India’s leading on ground Youth Engagement platform today. We stayed connected with our audiences and kept shifting the needle depending on how consumer tastes kept evolving. Over the years we constantly innovated, experimented, re-invented and introduced new formats recognizing the potential of Sunburn across the country. From a fledgling singular festival in December, we multiplied our formats to reach a diverse geographical footprint across cities.
It’s a wonderful feeling of pride and gratification to look back on Sunburn’s dynamic 13 year journey and see the many amazing milestones achieved including the fact that Sunburn stands tall amongst the top 3 attended global music festivals; ranked amongst the top 5 music festivals across all Social Media platforms globally; classified as the No. 1 youth platform in Asia; and India’s leading Live Media Asset.
How excited are you on returning to Goa - the birthplace of Sunburn?
Goa is Sunburn’s home and it’s a fantastic nostalgic feeling to witness Sunburn Festival’s homecoming after a long gap of 3 years. We left Goa with a very heavy heart in 2016 and missed Goa every moment. We tried really hard to recreate the magic of Goa across other locations, however Goa is Goa....unmatched to any other destination. It’s impossible to re-create the Goa magic anywhere else. And Sunburn is as Goan as the Goans! It started in Goa 12 years ago, and grew right there. Now that Sunburn has reached a threshold of mega recognition globally, we owe a major chunk of its success to Goa. We are super thrilled to be back home.
How will this year’s Sunburn be different from other years other than the artists?
The biggest shift is the venue….we are back in Goa, the birthplace of Sunburn. Any festival in sunny Goa is bound to be enjoyable given the abundance of sun, sea, sand and happiness.
We have teamed up with W Goa to introduce a unique luxury experience called ‘THE LOUNGE’ which will offer an indulgent experience for those looking to take the Sunburn VVIP experience to the next level. Discerning globetrotting music aficionados can now enjoy ultra-luxury, comfort, customized service, curated F&B experiences, premium beverages and insider access to all the Sunburn Pre- and After-Parties at Rockpool, W Goa.
Sunburn Goa will also present India’s largest onsite Camp, thus expanding the musical adventure vibe beyond just the festival. On par with any international music festival campsite, the Campsite will feature a mix of adventure activities including bonfires, barbeques, a 24/7 marketplace, a travel desk, a dedicated bar, multiple workshops, exciting leisure and activity zones.
The Festival will also host over 30 F&B stalls to cater to diverse tastes apart from the a-la-carte restaurant. RFID cards will enable a 360-degree cashless experience at the Bars and Festival attendees can also avail pre-booked meals.
Sunburn will offer a mind-boggling mix of recreational activities to keep everyone happy - be it bungee jumping, wooden bouldering, ferris wheel rides, beach volleyball, soapy football, zipline, mechanical bull, rock climbing, special fire spinning acts, yoga and zumba workshops, tattoo stalls, or more – there's something for everyone!
A slew of After Parties post 10 pm at multiple venues around the festival site, with a wide range of artists performing till 3 am will keep fans engrossed. Sunburn After Dark will leave festival goers spoilt for choice with manifold options to choose from.
Sunburn attendees can look forward to great discounted services and customized packages from all our partners and sponsors. Fans can enjoy the ultimate cashless experience with the tech-equipped Sunburn Smart Band, which will allow them to avail entry into the festival zone, purchase F&B and merchandise at the festival without the hassles of carrying credit cards or cash. As an added perk, guests can attain huge discounts on food, drinks and liquor that are ordered between 1 and 3 pm happy hours at the festival
To top it all, to commemorate Sunburn’s successful 12 year innings we have introduced a brand new underground music venture variant called ‘SOLARIS’ which will showcase a range of exquisite underground international and home-grown house and techno acts on two dedicated stages from 27th to 29th December 2019 at Sunburn Festival in Vagator Goa. Techno innovators, Cuban-American DJ/producer, MaceoPlex and 5 time DJ Award winner Chilean-Swiss DJ Luciano will will be making their India debut at the SOLARIS stage and will be joined by Oliver Huntmann, Jeremy Olander, Coyu, Hosh, Andre Winter, Anish Sood, Ana Lilia, Marino Canal, Shaun Reeves, Sequ3l, Priyanjana, Idriss D and Khen.
Will Sunburn be a Festival for EDM Music only or add genres like Bollywood in the future?
Percept Live is an umbrella for Live Media Assets that spans many diverse genres of music and activities. Our flagship Intellectual Property ‘Sunburn’ is focused primarily on the EDM genre.
But given the diverse tastes of our audiences pan India we have designed multiple products exclusively targeted at each audience segment and music genre. We have a Bollywood Dance Music IP called “Bollyboom” which has witnessed phenomenal success through 2018 and 2019 with leading artists like Guru Randhawa, Diljith Dosanj, and other popular Bollywood music talents rock the nation at every show. Bollyboom caters to the larger TG of Bollywood music lovers and takes the Bollywood experience to another level with consumers via amalgamation of Bollywood music, dance, SFX and a host of other experiential offerings which ensures that visitors get an entire 360-degree Bollywood experience and an opportunity to take back home a slice of Bollywood.
We also have Eat Play Love (EPL) - a city food, fashion & music festival which showcases multi genre artists; the FLY Music Festival which has featured the iconic ED Sheeran last year. At Percept Live we shift the needle and curate our offerings basis what’s trending and popular with our audiences over time.
Now you have achieved to be one of the largest music festivals in the world. When do you plan to be one of the biggest Event Companies in the world like Live Nation? Live Nation promotes, operates & manages ticket sales for live entertainment shows which includes owning and operating entertainment venues as also managing the careers of music artists. Venue Management is not a space we intend to get into, and Artist Management is a business we exited out of a few years ago given the complex dynamics of the business in India.