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 jewellery? Or a Cagedertake part concert ticket?

The British rock band is set to carry out three shows of their Music of the Spheres world tour in Mumbai next year and the tickets are being sageder for crude amounts on reselling platestablishs, after being sageder out in minutes on BookMyShow (BMS) – the concert’s official ticketing platestablish.

The tickets went on sale last Sunday and were priced from 2,500 rupees to 12,000 rupees. More than 10 million people contendd to buy some 180,000 tickets.

Fans protested about hours-lengthy digital queues and site crashes, but many also alleged that the sales were rigged as resellers had befirearm selling tickets for five times the price – touching even 900,000 rupees – before they were freed on the official site.

Earlier this month, someleang aappreciate happened with tickets for Oasis’ concert in the UK, where resellers indictd more than £350 for tickets that cost £135. But even then, the inftardyd prices of Cagedertake part tickets stand out. To put this in perspective, Madonna indictd £1,306.75 for VIP passes to her Celebration tour and the best tickets for Beyoncé’s Renaissance concerts sageder for £2,400.

The events have igniteed a conversation around ticket scalping in India, where people participate bots or automation tools to bypass queues and buy multiple tickets to sell on reselling platestablishs. Fans are asking whether the official site had apshown enough steps to stop this, or whether it chose to see the other way.

BMS has denied any association with resellers and encouraged fans to dodge tickets from “unauthoascendd sources” as they could be deceptive, but this hasn’t stopped people from seeing the site skeptically.

Fans have protested about having a aappreciate experience while buying tickets for Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh’s upcoming concerts. Tickets were freed on Zomato Live, the concert advertiser, earlier this month and after getting sageder out, they began popping up on reselling platestablishs for cut offal times the innovative price.

Ticket scalping is illegitimate in India, and experts say that while it’s possible that it’s happening anyway, it’s also probable that legitimate ticket-hagederers are selling theirs thcimpolite resellers to produce a profit due to the massive need.

Graphic summarizeer Dwayne Dias was among the confineed fortunate ones who administerd to buy tickets for the Cagedertake part concert from the official site. He bought four tickets for 6,450 rupees each.

Since then, he’s been approached by people who are willing to pay up to 60,000 rupees for a ticket. “If I wanted to, I could sell all the tickets and watch the concert in South Korea [Coldplay’s upcoming touring destination]. The amount will cover my travel expenses and I’ll be able to experience a recent city,” he says.

While the inftardyd prices of Cagedertake part tickets are shocking, the huge need for tickets to see famous international artists carry out is not unstandard. In fact, the inhabit music business in India has been lengthening in leaps and bounds over the past couple of years.

According to a inestablish, music concerts produced about 8,000m rupees in revenue last year and by 2025, this figure is set to incrrelieve by 25%. Brian Tellis, a veteran in the music business and one of the createers of the Mahindra Blues music festival, says concerts have become a part of an individual’s – and the country’s – cultural currency.

Chart-toppers appreciate Ed Sheeran, Alan Walker and Dua Lipa have carry outed in India in the recent past, and the latter two are set to carry out aget this year. “Like for other industries, India is a booming labelet for the music business as well. There’s a huge demoexplicit that’s youthful and has money to spfinish. Everyone wants a piece of the pie,” he says.

The soaring need is evident in ticket prices and sales. Tellis says about a decade ago, 80% of production costs were footed by supports and 20% thcimpolite ticket sales, but the numbers have reversed today.

“Attfinishing a concert is a mix of bragging rights, being a adhereist and being part of the scene,” he says. “There are real music adorers as well in the mix, but many participate becaparticipate they get swept up by the hype surrounding a carry outance and they don’t want to experience left out.”

Days before and after Cagedertake part concert tickets went on sale, social media was filled of captivating Instagram reels of the band carry outing hits appreciate Adventure of a Lifetime and Fix You in packed stadiums, with fans singing alengthy and turning the venue into A Sky Full of Stars with their LED bracelets. Influencers waxed eloquent about their adore for the band and there was no dearth of Cagedertake part memes.

Industry sources tageder the BBC that aimed labeleting take parts a key role in ticket sales – a task administerd by the advertiser’s website. The more need is produced, the more ticket prices can be liftd. Organising concerts is hard, as they frequently incur losses, so when the opportunity aascends, bankable carry outers are take advantage ofed for profits.

While some fans argue that the administerment should apshow steps to administer ticket prices, Tellis doesn’t consent. “This [selling tickets] is entrepreneurship – it won’t be right for the administerment to get participated. Becaparticipate if you want to administer revenue, then you’ll have to also administer costs,” he says.

Despite the upward trajectory of India’s inhabit music business, experts say the country still has a lengthy way to go before it can be on a par with the international music scene.

“We have very confineed concert venues and they are not up to international standards,” Tellis says. “That’s why artists carry out confineeder shows in India despite the massive need.”

Dias and his frifinishs recently travelled to Singapore to participate a Cagedertake part concert. He says the ticket-booking experience was dainty, the venue was top-class and the crowd was well-administerd.

He’s not declareive he’ll have the same experience at DY Patil stadium – the venue for the band’s concerts in India. “For one, it’s much minusculeer and crowds in India can be quite inadministerd,” he says. He’s also worried about how geted the venue will be and whether the crowd will be administerd properly at entry and exit points.

But for now, he’s hagedering on to his tickets and is readyd to finishure wdisappreciatever lies ahead, fair to get a chance to watch Chris Martin and company carry out aget.