Why global stars are now hitting India

“Please come to my town!”

A familiar cry from music lovers around the world who hope their favorite artists will come to their hometown.

However, fans in India have often seen this claim fall on deaf ears.

Artists including Sabrina Carpenter, Gracie Abrams and the Arctic Monkeys appear on Spotify’s weekly album chart in the countrywhere Ed Sheeran’s ÷ (Divide) has spent 217 consecutive weeks.

Many world-famous musicians tend to skip the country.

But now that seems to be changing.

Dua Lipa’s recent performance in Mumbai went viral and Coldplay will soon begin their tour – nine years after their last visit to India.

Their dates include two concerts in Ahmedabad, where more than 100,000 people are expected to attend each night.

“It’s really great to have this experience in our own country, seeing it happen more and more,” music fan and aspiring artist Anushka Maskey told BBC Newsbeat.

Demand for live music appears to be on the rise in India, with ticketing platform BookMyShow reporting 18% growth in 2024.

Ed Sheeran is set to embark on his biggest ever country tour, and acts including Shawn Mendes and Louis Tomlinson will appear at Lollapalooza in March.

Marketing professor Dr Sourindra Banerjee of the University of Leeds Business School says India’s population of 1.4 billion – and their age – is a big draw for artists.

“You have a large part of the world, of the youth, living in India,” Dr Banerjee told Newsbeat.

“So if I were in the music business, that’s where I’d go to take advantage of the demographic.”

According to global market research company Statista, the value of the Indian music industry in 2021 is 19 billion rupees (£178 million).

Until 2026 expected to grow to 37 billion rupees (£346 million).

Dr. Banerjee says the rise of K-pop in India showed western artists the potential of the country to find new fans.

“The major music labels have research teams that would see that someone else (could) capture a large market,” he says.

More broadly, it feels like India’s growing wealth and connections to the wider world making it an important place for artists to anchor and ‘collaborate’.

“Not only to access the Indian market, but also to access the large Indian (population) that lives outside the country.”

For local Indian artistes, there is hope that big names can bring big opportunities for them.

Pop/folk singer Anoushka has been making music since 2020. and believes that Western artists offer a chance for local artists to find greater visibility.

She has experience herself, having opened for Brit Award winner Ben Howard.

“It’s an opportunity I never thought I’d have in the country,” she says.

Independent singer-songwriter Anumita Nadesan says being able to collaborate with bigger artists “puts you on the map”.

“It is also very inspiring because before when a mega artist would come to India, we would have to travel to another country to see their concerts.

“And you can learn a lot as an artist by going to these concerts,” says the Hindi artist.

Bangalore-based pop artist Frizzell D’Souza says watching foreign artists who started from humble beginnings can send a strong message to Indian audiences that local talent can achieve global fame.

She describes Ed Sheeran as her “songwriting hero” and says that his experience playing and playing in regular venues is comparable.

“It’s very comforting to know that someone like him can actually do it,” Frizzell says.

“Even though he’s such a big superstar right now, he really started from the same place as me.”

Frizzell also sees an opportunity for cultural exchange, with Western musical figures exposed to Indian sounds.

She points to rapper Hanumankind, who went global with Big Dawgs and collaborated with A$AP Rocky.

“And this is proof that international artists coming to India is also helping Indian artists (globally) break through,” she says.

But artistes point to some possible downsides to the influx of global stars coming to India.

The biggest risk Frizzell sees is around money — and the audience, which mainly budgets for bigger artists.

“I hope I’m wrong about that, but maybe (they) would prefer bigger international acts and don’t want to take chances with younger or upcoming acts.”

Anumita adds that there is also a chance that artistes can overshadow the attention that smaller artists get.

“But then it challenges the smaller artists to raise the bar as well.”

According to Peony Hirwani, music journalist at Rolling Stone India, the risk of being overshadowed is low as event companies often ensure that local artists are the main acts.

She cites the example of G-Eazy’s 2024 tour, which featured only Indian backing acts – which helped boost their careers.

Instead, she tells Newsbeat, the focus should be on improving infrastructure to attract the biggest names like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé – both of whom have not brought their tours to India.

The fans have they often complain for facilities, concerts often held in sports stadiums used during India’s long cricket season and not always available throughout the year.

“So we need more, bigger venues and a better music system,” says Peony.

The Lollapalooza festival takes place at a racetrack in Mumbai – the only venue with enough space to hold it safely.

“Even some of the (remarkable) stadiums we have right now … there definitely needs to be conversations about what everyone needs to make our infrastructure and venues better,” Peoni says.

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