Vijay Anand (GB)
Vijay is the Commercial Director of Last Night A DJ Saved My Life Foundation. With a background in music marketing and advertising, he is also a professional-level DJ, producer, promoter and sound engineer. In the 1990s, he pioneered dance music marketing, recognising that no brand was tapping into the bubbling culture of underground parties and emerging dance music festivals at the time. His vision inspired the telecommunications giant Ericsson to take “a huge commercial risk” by associating their brand with dance music. This partnership culminated in a five-year collaboration with the massive commercial festival 'homelands,' which was managed at that time by Melvin Benn, now with Festival Republic. Vijay gained valuable experience during his time at MTV, where he launched their mobile music services and worked with various major and independent record labels to monetise their mobile content offerings. In the past decade, Vijay has been involved with marketing agencies and clients specialising in music marketing, even establishing an advertising agency in South Africa. . His love for dance music continued, and In 2018, Vijay co-founded The Orchard Festival. Set in the stunning Somerset countryside, Orchard proudly occupies the end of August bank holiday weekend, where Legendary DJs such as Terry Francis, Eddie Richards, Mr C and Colin Dale are just a few of the greats that bring their world-class sounds to what has truly become ‘the most cherished closing party the UK underground scene has to offer’. Presently, Vijay dedicates his time to the growth of Last Night A DJ Saved My Life and works in the live sound industry as a FOH (Front of House) engineer. He continues to DJ and has plans to launch his independent record label, SSIK Music, in 2024.