Live events business set to get buzzier
You assume that Shoven Shah, founder and CEO of TribeVibe Entertainment will assert that GenZ is driving the live experience business in India given that his company has organized college fests and gigs in more than 75 cities. But Shah says India's live events business is not growing because of any one consumer segment. 'People across age groups are thronging live events depending on their tastes. For instance, the Sunburn music festival draws a slightly older audience. Basically, post-covid, people are consuming more content, spending more money buying tickets to enjoy both international and domestic artists. Overall, from an industry point of view all events are doing better,' he says.
Shah's confidence stems from the 120% jump his business has seen after BookMyShow acquired a majority stake in TribeVibe in 2022 and he started curating all large-scale domestic music and comic tours for the platform.
TribeVibe's rise reflects the boom in the organised segment of India's live events industry which saw a 15% jump in 2024 and was valued at ₹20,861 crore, according to a white paper released at the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) in Mumbai last week. Commissioned by the information and broadcasting ministry, the white paper was prepared by EventFAQS Media.
It provides a snapshot of emerging trends marking 2024-25 as the turning point with the successful return to India of global icons like Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and Bryan Adams.
Rahul Ganjoo, CEO of live events firm District by Zomato, says, this rapidly expanding sector is driven by changing consumer preferences, evident in an increasingly inclusive audience that extends beyond traditional urban and age-defined groups. 'There's a growing consumer desire for live artist performances and increasing interest in immersive social experiences,' he adds.
The white paper underlines the rise of event tourism, with nearly half a million attendees travelling specifically for live music shows, pointing to the emergence of music tourism economy. The Coldplay concert in Ahmedabad for instance was attended by more than 2.2 lakh people over two days with 86% attendees travelling from outside Ahmedabad for the show, it says.
Also, premium ticketing for elite experiences saw 100% year-on-year growth, indicating love for exclusivity as evident in the price of Coldplay tickets that ranged from ₹3,500 for general access to more than ₹25,000 for the VIP experience tiers. Hospitality packages for the concert reportedly crossed ₹1 lakh per guest, the white paper says.
'The demand for live events is no longer limited to major metropolitan areas, with artists showing more inclination to tour Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, as demonstrated by the strong public response to tours by Diljit Dosanjh and Bryan Adams,' Ganjoo says. 'Indore, Kochi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, and Surat are now regularly hosting large concerts and IPs,' the white paper notes.
TribeVibe's Shah says audiences in smaller towns are beginning to spend on music and stand-up comedy shows. The music and comedy fest he curated especially for GenZ that toured five smaller cities, saw Kota in Rajasthan selling 9,000 tickets. His next big gig is Zakir Khan's stand-up comedy tour across 30-40 cities
The white paper points to the rise of regional artists as another promising trend. Diljit Dosanjh (Punjabi), Anirudh Ravichander (Tamil), Sid Sriram (Tamil/Telugu/English), and Yuvan Shankar Raja (Tamil) tour across North, West, and South India, performing to packed crowds in cities where their native language is not dominant, it says.
The increasing popularity of live experiences has forced businesses to sit up and take note. BookMyShow invested in TribeVibe, Zomato bought Paytm Insider and rebranded it District and Warner Music India picked a minority stake in ticketing and live events platform SkillBox. In December, the India Today Group launched an entertainment-experiential vertical Stage Aaj Tak to curate and organize music concerts, theatre and stand-up comedy shows. International event companies are also keen to enter India, says Shah.
The white paper says India's live events landscape is transforming into an important pillar of the country's cultural and creative economy. That explains why it found a mention in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech at WAVES: 'India's creative economy can increase its contribution to GDP in the coming years…There are many possibilities before us for the industry related to Live Concerts,' he said in his opening remarks.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
15 hours ago
- Indian Express
IVF expert who helped Shah Rukh Khan-Gauri Khan conceive says it led to a boom in surrogacy: ‘You made AbRam'
Do you know Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan's younger son AbRam Khan and Karan Johar's kids Yash and Roohi were born thanks to the same IVF expert. Dr. Jatin Shah, an obstetrician-gynaecologist based out of Mumbai, was instrumental in guiding Shah Rukh-Gauri and Karan through the IVF and surrogacy process. Shah claimed the birth of AbRam brought a lot of awareness about the process of surrogacy among people. 'For me, all patients are the same. There's nothing different or special there. Whatever we do for all patients, we do for them also,' said Shah, adding that Shah Rukh going through the IVF process brought about a wide debate on surrogacy in society. 'That way, it was good because it brought a lot of awareness about the procedure. There was a big boom in surrogacy after that,' Shah said on the podcast Aleena Dissects. 'Till today, people walk into my clinic only because of that. People from the Middle East, Africa, the US, the UK, name the country. They say we found you because you made AbRam. That's something which will last forever so it's one of my best memories,' he added. He claimed more people from Bollywood began visiting him for surrogacy procedures, thanks to word of mouth. 'My whole practice is based on that. Somebody got pregnant and told someone else. And women love to talk,' reasoned Shah. He claimed there's no issue as such in Mumbai of consulting a male gynaecologist like him. In 2017, Gauri and Shah Rukh's good friend and filmmaker Karan Johar also announced the birth of his kids via surrogacy. He consulted Shah as well, who claimed that while Johar becoming his client didn't change his career as such, but it brought about a lot of discussion around single fatherhood. 'It was a big social shift because single father was a very new concept in India. It's very popular in the West. We were flooded with enquiries by potential single fathers about surrogacy. It's a very debatable idea. There are always pros and cons. What if it's a female child? What if it's a male child? There was a lot of debate going around that. Before we could really get around it, the law came that it's now prohibited. Now, we can't do surrogacy around single fathers,' revealed Shah. Also Read: Gauri Khan rents Rs 1.35 lakh per month flat for Mannat staff, 100 metres away from family's new Pali Hill home Last year, in an interview with Faye D'Souza, Johar admitted that his kids have started asking him questions about the identity of their mother. 'It is a modern family. It is an unusual circumstance, so now I am also dealing with the questions about 'whose stomach was I born in? But mumma is not mumma really, she is my grandmother (Karan's mother Hiroo Johar)'. I am going to school, to the counsellor, to ask how do we navigate the situation? And it is not easy, being a parent is never easy,' said Johar.
Time of India
16 hours ago
- Time of India
Sandra Bullock sent a voice note to Dakota Johnson after Razzie win; called her ‘part of the club': 'There are a lot of good people who..'
has had a whirlwind few months. Along with rumours of her breakup with Coldplay frontman after being together for eight years, Dakota was also awarded a Razzie for Worst Actress for her performance in 'Madame Web'. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The superhero film, which saw Johnson play Cassandra Webb – a paramedic with precognitive powers – was a critical and box office failure. It was criticised for its weak screenplay, underwhelming performances and messy execution. It even bagged the Razzie for Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay. 's kind voice note But in the middle of all this chaos, Johnson received a sweet and unexpected message from none other than Sandra Bullock. While speaking on 's Good Hang podcast, Dakota shared how Sandra reached out to her after the Razzie announcement. 'There's a lot of good people who have won that,' Dakota said, adding that Sandra Bullock left her a voice note saying, 'I heard you are in the Razzie club. We should have brunch, a monthly Razzie brunch.' Sandra Bullock had once famously won both an Oscar and a Razzie in the same year back in 2010, which made her message all the more meaningful and comforting. Dakota's reaction: 'I was freaking out' The supportive voice note left a strong impression on Johnson. She couldn't hide her excitement, calling Sandra Bullock 'so iconic' and confessing that she was 'freaking out' after hearing from her. The message may have been light-hearted, but it carried a deeper meaning. It reminded Dakota that even the most talented actors face setbacks, and that true support in Hollywood can come in the most unexpected ways – like a voice note encouraging a monthly Razzie brunch. 'Madame Web': A misfire for Sony The film 'Madame Web', released as part of Sony's Spider-Verse, turned out to be a big disappointment. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now However, Dakota made it clear that the film's creative direction wasn't in her hands. In a previous interview with the Los Angeles Times, she bluntly said, 'It's not my fault,' distancing herself from the film's flaws. Audiences also had mixed reactions. Our official ETimes rating for the film stood at 2.5 stars out of 5. The review read: 'The whole attempt to infuse some family feel into the story with Cassie's colleague O'Neil (Mike Epps) and his pregnant sister-in-law Mary Parker (Emma Roberts) is so half-hearted. In conclusion, 'Madame Web' falls short of making a significant impact within the superhero genre, serving more as a tepid introduction than a compelling addition to an already saturated universe.' Despite the criticism, Dakota Johnson's honest response, and Sandra Bullock's supportive gesture, made for a heart-warming moment that many fans appreciated. Sandra Bullock and Sister Fight Back Against Fake Accounts, Reveal Shocking Scams Targeting Fans
Hindustan Times
19 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
How Sandra Bullock turned Dakota Johnson's infamous Razzie win for Madame Web into something positive
Rumours have been swirling that Dakota Johnson and Coldplay's Chris Martin have ended their eight-year relationship. Adding to a challenging few months, Dakota also took home a Razzie Award for her role in Madame Web (2024), a film that failed to impress audiences and critics alike. In a recent episode of Amy Poehler's Good Hang podcast, Johnson opened up about a surprising message she received from none other than Sandra Bullock. The Hollywood icon reached out after Dakota's Razzie win for Worst Actress, an infamous award that Bullock herself once won. 'I recently actually exchanged texts — well, I got a voice note — from Sandra Bullock, because I don't know if you know, but I won the Razzie for Worst Actress,' Johnson revealed. 'There's a lot of good people who have won that… but Sandra Bullock sent me a voice note, being like 'I heard you are in the Razzie club and we should have brunch, we should have a monthly brunch.' Because I guess she won that the year that she won the Oscar as well. It was in the same year, I think.' Johnson shared how special the message felt: 'I freaked out getting this message from her because she's so iconic to me, as like a movie star. I was like, 'Oh my God.' I was just crazy.' The Razzie sweep wasn't just a blow to Johnson personally; Madame Web itself was a major disappointment, taking home Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay awards. The film, which stars Johnson as Cassandra Webb — a paramedic who gains precognitive abilities after a near-death experience — fell flat with audiences. Earlier, Dakota stood firm in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, asserting that the film's failure was not her fault.
