live entertainment is no longer a luxury for Indian youth. It is a necessity. Whether the genre is pop, rock, metal, indie or EDM, India is the destination for global artistes. By Shailendra Singh
The tipping point for India came in 2011. After six years of hosting incredible festivals in Goa, Sunburn brought the world’s current hottest DJ for it’s new format: Sunburn Arena. Record numbers of fans turned out to witness the young headliner — Avicii. The show was massive. And it set the stage for all the world’s best DJs to perform in India.
Through it’s incredible growth since inception in 2007, Sunburn had been establishing Goa as a global music tourism destination. Music tourism has proven to be a viable economic and financial model in other locations around the world including Ibiza, Australia, las Vegas and South Africa. Known for the quality and variety of musical events happening in those spots, people from all over the world book visits far in advance, to take advantage of the celebrations.
By season six, Sunburn Goa had established itself in the world, as the go to music festival destination in Asia. This hasn’t been the case with other genres of international music, like rock and pop. Mismanaged events, restrictive customs duties, haphazard government policies and a host of other issues have resulted in many cancelled live events over the years. India had gained a reputation as a high risk location for live events.
But with the launch of Sunburn Arena at the Turf Club, Mumbai, India proved that it could handle the biggest of EDM acts, without any hindrance. Backed by three decades of Percept’s experience with live events, Sunburn now manages and executes over 200 events in a single year. Fan numbers are increasing with each event, Sunburn gigs are stretching to the length and breadth of India and even overseas. International artistes are not only guaranteed that the event will go on but they are guaranteed one of the best performances of their career.
India has the youngest population in the world with six hundred million under the age of 25. And they are starved for entertainment choices. With Sunburn, they get a chance to leave their world behind and live, love and dance. And EDM music is, for the most part, lyric-less. It communicates across borders, cultures and religions through the universal languages of emotion and energy. And this energy is palpable.
In India, the DJ is god. Fans face forward, arms raised to the sky, fully focussed on the DJ. Their energy is raw and real. This is in contrast to events in Europe, where saturation of events and festivals has left the audience fairly jaded and burdened with expectations. In India, the scene is still very young and the fans are willing to consume whatever comes their way. For a DJ, that feels damn good.; and not only for the established DJs, the top ranked and the headliners. As Sunburn spreads it wings and dives deeper into the markets with Sunburn Reloads (focussing on tier II cities) and Sunburn Campus events (free for students), emerging artistes from around the world can attract record numbers in a single gig.
With the prevalence of social media, with everyone focussed on likes and views and shares, there is power in numbers. And India has those numbers. Whether a headlining or emerging artist, a DJ can measure their success in India through an immediate increase in fan base. After their Sunburn tours in India, the current ranked number two DJs in the world, as ranked by DJ Mag, Dimitri Vegas and like Mike, gained that spot through a massive fan increase in India. India has the power to make or break careers. live entertainment is no longer a luxury for Indian youth. It is a necessity. It is a way of life. Whether the genre is pop, rock, metal, Bollywood, indie or EDM, India needs to get ready to embrace music tourism as a part of their economic strategy. Infrastructure has to be built, and rules and regulations have to be created. Media has to take the responsibility to grow the intellectual discussion surrounding all genres, responsibly.
We surely, into the future, don’t want to be known as ‘fad music nation’ but rather as nation of music lovers, who absorb, consume and get entertained by a sustainable music industry. Europe and America have reached a mature patch and need to go into a reinvention phase. But India is just getting going. Imagine the potential, the magic, that awaits for India.
This year will see the emergence of music tourism and sports tourism as two brand new industries in India. Whether it happens by default or design, it will happen.
(The writer is joint MD, Percept limited)