Audio launch with a difference

Everyone has been talking about how ‘audio launches’ have become boring these days.

As if to freshen things up a bit, the music album of Ravi K Chandran’s directorial debut film, Yaan , starring Jiiva and Thulasi Nair, and set to tune by Harris Jayaraj, was launched online through a Google Hangout.

Despite the trade expecting the producer to launch the audio with much fanfare, producer Elred Kumar had other ideas.

Egged on by Sony Music, he got the entire team to participate in the Google Hangout and answer questions raised by fans. And looking at the entire 99-minute video uploaded by Sony Music on their YouTube channel, it seems to have gone well. “We chose to invest in the online platform to see how it works. The idea was to reach out to a global audience and speak to fans around the world,” he says.

Speaking of the need to reinvent the wheel, Jiiva says, “The way audio launches are being organised so far — where 10 guests talk about the film — it has become rather monotonous. So we thought it would be good to talk directly with those who really matter — the audience.”

While some would feel uncomfortable engaging with the public directly, Jiiva seems to have liked it precisely for that very reason. “The informal setting helped immensely. We were being ourselves,” he says.

When asked about the relevance of grand audio launches today, Jiiva says, “These days, audio launches are done in a big way to create media hype around a film so that it can be marketed. Since we had already sold the film, we didn’t have to worry about it. That doesn’t mean that traditional ways of marketing are useless. The trailer launch of Yaan , where we will unveil the first-look, will be done in a big way.”