Ask someone in the ’scene’ what the ’scene’ requires and the reply will most likely include a laundry list of items like ‘TV dude’, radio airplay and money. Said money usually comes from corporate sponsors who sponsor events like I-Rock 2008.

The DNA’s Sunday After Hrs supplement carried a feature titled ‘Why Indian rock needs a ‘corporate’ twist’. The success of the film Rock On!! has led to several mainstream publications contemplating about the future of Indian rock and Indian rock issues. Any publicity is good publicity so this is a good time for Indian rock. According to the DNA though, corporate sponsorship could be the key to helping the ‘limited appeal’ of ‘most bands’.

The feature (which credits The Rolling Stones for changing Western civilization) quotes Dhruv Jagasia (manager, Indian Ocean), Farhan Akhtar, Subir Malik (Parikrama) and Luke Kenny on the role of corporate sponsorship in Indian rock. Most of these experts answered pretty generically. Subir Malik and Dhruv Jagasia were briefly specific talking about ticket sales and festival tours. However, the question remained largely unanswered.

At last count I-Rock 2008 had over 15 corporate partners. Is the dearth of corporate backing merely presumed? And are events like Pubrockfest (sponsored by Kingfisher and Levi’s) the exception? What say you?