MUMBAI: Nokia Music Connects 3 has left no stone unturned to provide the Indian music Industry and its allied sectors a common platform to discuss major issues and challenges faced in the music business.

The annual conference will take place on 16 - 17 November 2011 at a spanking brand new venue, The ITC Grand Central, Parel, Mumbai.

Nokia Music Connects is a joint venture conceptualized by Hong Kong based Branded (which runs Music and Digital Matters) and leading Indian media portal Indiantelevision.com‘s Radioandmusic.com.

With more than 75 proficient Indian and International music panelists and speakers, the two-day long music conference "Nokia Music Connects - the Indian music forum 2011 in association with Artistaloud.com" will throw light on major changes that have evolved in the Indian music industry.

Speakers at the panel will share their expertise on the music in Bollywood films to Indian pop, religious, regional pop, classical music, the digital value chain, live music scene and the future of independent artistes. The event will also witness unique live performance by Grammy award winner Imogem Heap.

Speaking on the occasion, Nokia India MD Viral Oza said, "After the success of Nokia Music Connects two years in a row since we started in 2009, we hope to take Nokia Music Connects 2011 to newer heights. A forum such as this one offers an ideal platform where diverse industry voices coalesce to build and strengthen the music & entertainment ecosystem; all the more so, since the Indian music industry and the entertainment industry at large is poised for momentous change now."

Other important panel discussions will include debate on the legal and copyright side of the music business. Key industry executives will discuss on the new music tools like the Internet mobile radio and streaming services, followed by discussions on music TV reality shows , the live scene and the core of music-the artiste management.

The various panelist include regulatory heads, music label honchos, advertising gurus, corporate heads as well as top notch creative professionals from the music industry, from both India and abroad. Those participating in the conference will be key players from all these sectors, making the event as much of an exciting networking platform as a forum where vital issues facing the industry will be discussed and a path to the future will be forged.

The venture is supported by the umbrella organisation of the music industry, the Indian Music Industry (IMI) in partnership with MMX, PPL and IPRS in association with Hungama.com and Artistaloud.com, Industry partner Saavn.com, Session partners Sony Mix and British Council, Lanyard partner BMI, Endorsed & Supported by SIMCA, Official Festival partner Only Much Louder, Opening Party partner Shiro, supporting partners Indiantelevision.com, Branded, Canadian Music week, Music2Deal, MediaNama, Casbaa, and Media partners - Afaqs, IMT, IHT, Campaign India and PR partner CMCG, Co-Produced by Music Matters and Radioandmusic.com

Speakers and Panelist at NMC 2011 (Alphabetical order):-

Achille Forler (Managing Director, Deep Emotions)

Adarsh Gupta (Head - Music Business, Saregama India Ltd.)

Aditya Swamy (Senior Vice-President, MTV)

Hardeep Singh Anand (Lawyer)

Anil Wanvari (Founder CEO, Indiantelevision.com Group)

Anthony Zameczkowski (Head of YouTube Partnerships, Google Hong Kong Ltd.)

Apurv Nagpal (Managing Director & CEO, Saregama)

Arvind Krishnan (Director - Marketing, Bacardi)

Atul Churamani (Content Head, OnMobile)

Ben Thomas (Managing Director, Kurian & Co.)

Bharath Subramaniam (Director, Xone)

Brandon Bakshi (Executive Director - Europe & Asia, BMI)

Devraj Sanyal (Managing Director, Universal Music Group)

Farhad Wadia (CEO, E18)

Imogen Heap (Grammy Award Winning Artist)

Jasmeet Gandhi (Head - Devices OPM & Services Marketing, Nokia India)

John McLellan (Partner, Haldanes)

Jon Slade (Founder, Elastic Artists Agency)

Jordan Berliant (Linkin Park‘s Manager)

Jyrki Rosenberg (Vice President, Entertainment & MeeGo, Nokia)

Kapil Raizada (Director - Applications & Voice Products, OnMobile)

Mandar Thakur (COO, Times Music)

Mark Wood (Imogen Heap‘s Manager)

Martin Elbourne (Glastonbury Festival)

Mukesh Bhatt (Chairman & Managing Director, Vishesh Films)

Myles Keller (Membership Development Director, PRS for Music)

Natasha Haddad (Programmer, The Great Escape/ Mean Fiddler)

Neeraj Roy (Managing Director & CEO, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.)

Neeraj Vyas (Executive Vice President & Business Head, SONY MAX & SONY MIX)

Owen Roncon (Partner, Oranjuice Entertainment)

Pakul Chaturvedi (Chief - Asia Pacific, Promo Sapiens)

Param Singh (Co-Founder, Saavn.com)

Peter Jenner (Discoverer of Pink Floyd, subsequent Manager of many, Advisor to WIPO)

Pradeep Anand (Managing Director, MeraGana.com)

Prashant Bahadur (Vice President & General Manager, The Orchard)

Prashant Dogra (Vice President - VAS, Bharti Airtel Ltd.)

Prasoon Joshi (Lyricist, Screenwriter, Copywriter)*

Rajesh Dhupad (Jt. Secretary Simca)

Raju Singh (Music Composer)

Ralph Simon (CEO, Mobilium International)

Rob Lewis (Executive Chairman, Omnifone)

Robert Horsfall (Head, Sound Advice Legal, LLP)

Ruth Daniel (Founder, Un-Convention)

Ruuben van den Heuvel (Independent Consultant - Digital, Media, Music,

Sabbas Joseph (Founder Director, Wizcraft)

Sameer Nigam (CEO, Mime360)*

Shehzad Azad (Head - Business Development & Alliances Spice Digital)

Siddhartha Roy (COO - Consumer Business & Allied Services, Hungama Digital Media

Sita Raina (CEO, The Peninsula Studios)

Soumini Sridhara Paul (Associate Vice President, Artist Aloud)

Stephen Budd (Managing Director, Stephen Budd Music Ltd. & Founder/ Council Member, Music Manager‘s Forum)

Sulaiman Merchant (Music Composer)

T. Suresh (Managing Director, EMI Music India)

Ted Cohen (Managing Partner, TAG Strategic)

Tom Baker ( Founder, Eat Your Own Ears)

Vijay Lazarus (President, IMI / PPL)

Vipul Pradhan (CEO - Licensing Division, PPL)

Viral Oza (Director - Marketing, Nokia India)

Vivek Paul (Director - Digital, Sony Music)

MUMBAI: Zoom has partnered with Safi to launch Safi Presents Zoom Anchor Hunt 2011.

The nationwide hunt is for a girl who has the look and oomph coupled with great personality, confidence and attitude poised to be the newest face on Zoom, the channel said. For the pan-India contest, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Pune would play host to the regional auditions.

Zoom CEO Avinash Kaul said, "Zoom is the true face of Bollywood bringing the latest news, gossip, entertainment shows, features and interviews to viewers across the world. The Safi Presents Zoom Anchor Hunt 2011 will help us find hidden talent from across India, confident and glamorous, who will help bring Bollywood closer to the viewers."

The winner of the anchor hunt will win an exclusive one-year contract with the channel, apart from becoming the Face of the Safi campaign for the next season.

"Zoom anchor hunt property fits very well with the brand promise. After all an anchor on TV has to look confident, speak confidence. And be confident," said Hamdard Safi GM marketing Tarundeep Singh Rana.

The channel has also roped in Radio City as the official radio partner for the show. In addition to being the exclusive radio partners, the FM brand will also extend domain expertise to the show.

"Radio City?s popular RJ Salil will dispense voice modulation lessons to the finalists of the show. It is such initiatives that reinforce our belief in forging deep-rooted and meaningful partnerships that result in greater synergies for both partners," said Radio City CEO Apurva Purohit.

The contest is open to girls who are 18-25 years of age. There are three phases to the event and contestants have to register online.