Pepsi MTV Indies turns one

The channel is launching a first-of-its-kind property SPIRO to celebrate everything indie.

Pepsi MTV Indies is all set to celebrate its first birthday as the world's largest platform for everything indie. And joining Pepsi MTV Indies to throw a first-of-its-kind indie experience - 'SPIRO: an MTV Indies Takeover' - is Live Viacom18.

The indie takeover is set to kick-start with its first edition in Mumbai on April 1, 2015 and will continue till April 4, 2015.

In less than two years, LIVE Viacom18 has created close to 13 large-format properties in the music and entertainment space, engaging close to millions of fans across its 207 on-ground events. The division that believes in amplifying brand experiences by leveraging the several strengths of the network has engaged more than 20 million individuals on the digital platform and a further 75 million on television.

For the first four days of April 2015, SPIRO will take over the city of Mumbai with multiple events across music, comedy and film. Beginning at extreme ends of the city, SPIRO will weave its way towards the centre, showcasing the best of contemporary indie culture along the way. It will culminate in a day-long cultural takeover of Mehboob Studios, Bandra, featuring film screenings, stand-up acts and a jaw-dropping line-up of musicians - including the headlining act by Grammy-nominated electronica producer Pretty Lights.

Aditya Swamy, EVP and business head, MTV and Indies, says, "The first year has been so heartening that we are ready to take our next big leap with the announcement of our landmark live experience. Our goal is to connect all our platforms seamlessly and this is an opportunity for us to do just that. The world of sub-cultures is exploding, and we are excited to be right at the heart of it, firing up this revolution. Set Up. Discover."

Pepsi MTV Indies has always nurtured disruptive, unique, independent talent and seeks to bring alive experiences, with the aim of bridging the gap between artistes and the audience. With its association with Integrated Network Solutions (INS) for the creation of SPIRO, Pepsi MTV Indies aims at seeding and building indie culture that the youth can truly claim as their own.

Commenting on the launch of this new property, Jaideep Singh, senior vice president and business head, INS, says, "Live Viacom18 has, over the last two years, built iconic music properties in genres of EDM, Rock, Bollywood, comedy, alternate Music, and always aimed to hit the right note amongst the youth. With the launch of SPIRO, we have moved into the indie music space, which is coming of age with huge interest amongst youth, and it aims to connect our audience from across diverse music and cultural genres. Announcement of Pretty Lights is an indicator of the kind of line-up that we will have on SPIRO which will amaze our young music fans. This is our first big step in the Indie music space, and we are sure that consumers would love the line-up and the experience on ground around the music. "

Pepsi MTV Indies, that launched a year ago, today, reaches about 25 million homes and 10 million weekly viewers across the country through its TV channel, and has also launched a specially designed app and website (www.pepsimtvindies.com) that facilitates music discovery. The property is associated with a radio channel - Radio One 94.3 FM - for an exclusively weekly indie music show, with Blue Frog for a monthly Indie showcase - RIBBIT, as well as several other live concert and festival partnerships to take the indie spirit far and wide. The world's biggest indie platform is all set to take over Mumbai as #IndiesTurnsOne this year.

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