After Carvaan’s successful run since its inception in 2017, makers Saregama have recently launched a premium version of the offline vintage music player. We chat with Saregama MD Vikram Mehra to find what’s in store for the premium users.

What changes have you brought into Carvaan Premium?

Carvaan’s repository of 5,000 songs remains the same, but with the option of making your own playlist from it. Carvaan premium comes with an app that connects with a nearby player and plays the songs you have selected. There is an AUX provision that you can use to play music on your laptop on the Carvaan speakers. We also found out that many people who lived in areas that did not have FM also bought our product, such as the security people at the Indo-Pak border. So we added AM, along with FM to Carvaan.

Carvaan’s USP was that it was a complete randomiser. Why add control and change that?

Yes, that’s the one feature that I quite resisted initially, but everyone has been raving about it. We had feedback from metros especially, where people are more tech-savvy, that they would like to also occasionally design their own playlist. I still maintain that the fun of Carvaan is to let the players choose songs for you: like we heard in Forrest Gump, ‘Life is a box full of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get next.’ So yes, we have given a bit of the control back in your hands, but without messing around with the soul of Carvaan. It’s the same old world charm, but with extra frills. And the option for playing songs from your computer is aimed particularly at the youth, the student community.

But why wouldn’t the students play their music on their own speakers, curate a playlist on YouTube, instead of using Carvaan?

Is a 23-year-old buying Carvaan for its music? No, this is for people who have gifted Carvaan to their parents, and don’t mind using it when free. We are trying to position Carvaan as a one-stop shop for all your music needs. Its speakers are far better than your average phone or laptop’s, and powerful enough to play music in the background even when 20 people are having a talk.

You know this is a question that younger people tend to ask. But as you grow older, when all stresses start coming in, you want a lean back experience. Technology today is lean forward, you keep interacting with it. But people my age want something that you can put on, forget about and carry on with your work. That is the value of convenience. When you have to make so many decisions every day, you don’t realise the relief there is in not choosing.

How has Carvaan Tamil been doing?

After Carvaan Hindi, Carvaan Tamil is the highest selling product we have. We have entire sections dedicated purely to Carnatic music. And that’s our biggest draw. We’ve gotten feedback from stores that many people buy our product solely because of the Carnatic section, followed by film music, and then devotional. We have already started selling Carvaan Hindi in the US, and Carvaan Tamil is next in line. We have found that California is a big area for us. In Carvaan Hindi, we have started experimenting with categorising songs according to actors, as opposed to just the singer, lyricist, and composer. In Tamil, we just have a selection of MGR songs, but if it works well in Hindi, we will do the same for Tamil.