India’s costly affair with concert tickets

If you were in India and had 900,000 rupees ($10,800; £8,000), what would you buy? A car? A trip around the world? Diamond jewelry? Or a Coldplay concert ticket?

The British rock band will play three shows of their Music of the Spheres world tour in Mumbai next year and the tickets are being sold on resale platforms for obscene amounts after selling out in minutes on BookMyShow (BMS) – the official concert ticketing portal Platform.

The tickets went on sale last Sunday and were priced between Rs 2,500 and Rs 12,000. More than 10 million people vied to buy around 180,000 tickets.

Fans complained about hours-long digital queues and crashes on the website, but many also claimed that sales were rigged as resellers started selling tickets at five times the price – almost 900,000 rupees – before they were posted on the official website became.

Something similar happened with tickets earlier this month for the Oasis concert in the UKwhere resellers charged more than £350 for tickets that cost £135. But even then, the inflated prices for Coldplay tickets are noticeable. To put this in perspective, Madonna was charging £1,306.75 for VIP passes for her Celebration tour and the best tickets to Beyoncé’s Renaissance concerts were selling for £2,400.

The events have sparked discussion in India about ticket scalping, where people use bots or automation tools to bypass queues and buy multiple tickets to sell on resale platforms. Fans are wondering whether the official website took adequate steps to prevent this from happening or chose to look the other way.

BMS has denied any connection to resellers and urged fans to avoid tickets from “unauthorized sources” as they could be counterfeit, but that hasn’t stopped people from looking at the website suspiciously.

Fans have complained that they had a similar experience when purchasing tickets Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh upcoming concerts. Tickets were released on concert promoter Zomato Live earlier this month and after selling out, they started popping up on resale platforms for multiples of the original price.

Ticket scalping is illegal in India, and experts say that while it is possible that it could still happen, it is also likely that legitimate ticket holders are selling their tickets through resellers to make a profit due to the huge demand.

Graphic designer Dwayne Dias was among the lucky few who managed to buy tickets for the Coldplay concert on the official website. He bought four tickets for Rs 6,450 each.

Since then, he has been approached by people willing to pay up to 60,000 rupees for a ticket. “If I wanted, I could sell all the tickets and watch the concert in South Korea (Coldplay’s upcoming tour destination). The amount would cover my travel costs and I could experience a new city,” he says.

While the inflated prices for Coldplay tickets are shocking, the high demand for tickets to performances by popular international artists is not uncommon. In fact, the live music business in India has grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years.

According to a reportMusic concerts generated revenue of around Rs 8,000 crore last year and this figure is expected to increase by 25% by 2025. Brian Tellis, a music business veteran and one of the founders of the Mahindra Blues music festival, says concerts have become part of an individual’s – and the country’s – cultural currency.

Chart-toppers such as Ed Sheeran, Alan Walker and Dua Lipa have performed in India in the recent past and the latter two will be performing again this year. “As with other industries, India is also a booming market for the music industry. There is a huge demographic that is young and has money to spend. “Everyone wants a piece of the pie,” he says.

The increasing demand is reflected in ticket prices and sales. According to Tellis, about a decade ago 80% of production costs were covered by sponsors and 20% by ticket sales, but today the numbers are reversed.

“Going to a concert is a mix of showing off, adapting and being part of the scene,” he says. “There are also real music lovers there, but many come because they get caught up in the hype of a gig and don’t want to feel left out.”

Days before and after Coldplay concert tickets went on sale, social media was filled with captivating Instagram Reels of the band performing hits like… Adventure of a lifetime And Fix yourself in packed stadiums where fans sing along and transform the venue into a true paradise A Sky full of stars with their LED bracelets. Influencers eloquently expressed their love for the band and there was no shortage of Coldplay memes.

Industry sources told the BBC that targeted marketing plays a key role in ticket sales – a task handled by the event organizer’s website. The more demand arises, the more ticket prices can be increased. Organizing concerts is difficult because they often involve losses. When the opportunity presents itself, bankable artists are exploited to make a profit.

While some fans argue that the government should take measures to control ticket prices, Tellis disagrees. “This (ticket sales) is entrepreneurship – it wouldn’t be right for the government to get involved. Because if you want to control revenue, you also have to control costs,” he says.

Despite the upward trend of India’s live music business, experts say the country still has a long way to go before it can compete with the international music scene.

“We have very few concert halls and they do not meet international standards,” says Tellis. “That’s why artists are giving fewer performances in India despite the high demand.”

Dias and his friends recently traveled to Singapore to attend a Coldplay concert. He says ticket booking went smoothly, the venue was first class and the audience was well managed.

He is not sure if he will have the same experience at the DY Patil Stadium – the venue for the band’s concerts in India. “For one thing, it’s much smaller and the crowds in India can be quite undisciplined,” he says. He also worries about how safe the venue will be and whether crowd control will be properly controlled at entry and exit points.

But for now, he’s holding on to his tickets and is willing to endure whatever lies ahead just for the chance to see Chris Martin and Co. perform again.