Why global stars are hitting India now.

“Please come to my town!”

A familiar cry from music lovers around the world hoping their favorite artists will come to their hometowns.

Fans in India, however, have found that the pleas often fall on deaf ears.

Artists including Sabrina Carpenter, Gracie Abrams and the Arctic Monkeys will appear The country’s weekly Spotify album chartEd Sheeran’s ÷ (Split) has spent 217 consecutive weeks.

Many world famous musicians tend to skip the country.

But that seems to be changing now.

Dua Lipa’s recent show in Mumbai has gone viral and Coldplay will be kicking off their tour soon – nine years after they last visited India.

Their dates include two shows in Ahmedabad that are expected to be attended by over 100,000 people each night.

“To have this experience in our own country, it’s great to see it’s growing,” music fan and fan favorite Anushka Maskey told BBC NewsBeat.

Demand for live music seems to be on the rise in India, with ticketing platform BookMyShow predicting 18 percent growth by 2024.

Ed Sheeran is about to embark on his biggest tour of the country, and artists including Shawn Mendes and Louis Tomlinson will appear at the Lollapalooza festival in March.

Dr Soorindra Banerjee, professor of marketing at Leeds University Business School, says India’s population of 1.4 billion – and their age – is a great place for artists.

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

“So if I’m in the music business, which is where I’m aiming, to get the demographic benefits.”

According to the international market research company Statista, The value of Indian music industry In the year It was 19 billion rupees (£178 million) in 2021.

It is estimated to grow to 37 billion rupees (£346 million) by 2026.

Dr. Banerjee says The rise of K-pop in India It showed Western artists the country’s ability to find new fans.

“Major music labels have research teams that can see if someone else[can take over a larger market],” he says.

Broadly, it feels Indian. Growing wealth and relationships with the wider world It makes it an important place for artists to stand and “collaborate”.

“It’s not just about tapping into the Indian market, but also tapping into the larger Indian (population) living abroad.”

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

Pop/folk singer Anushka has been making music since 2020 and feels that western artistes are giving domestic jobs a chance to gain more visibility.

Having opened for Brit Award winner Ben Howard, she’s experienced herself.

“This is an opportunity I never thought I would have in the country,” she said.

Independent singer and songwriter Anumita Nadesan says the opportunity to collaborate with big artists “puts him on the map”.

“It is also very inspiring because before a mega artiste comes to India, we had to go to another country to see their concert.

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

Pop artist Frizzle D’Souza from Bangalore says that seeing acts from abroad, from humble beginnings, sends a strong message to Indian audiences that local talent can achieve international fame.

She describes Ed Sheeran as a “songwriting hero” and says his history of performing and performing in public spaces is relatable.

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

Even though he’s a much bigger star now, he started where I did.

Frizzell also sees the possibility of cultural exchange through the exposure of Western musical images to Indian sounds.

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

“And the fact that international acts are coming to India is proof that it is helping Indian artistes to cross over[internationally],” she said.

But the artists pointed out some obstacles in the flow of global stars coming to India.

The biggest risk Frizzell sees is around money – and audiences budgeting primarily for big artists.

“I hope I’m wrong about this, but maybe[they]prefer big international acts and don’t want to take a risk on young or up-and-coming acts.”

Animita added that there is an opportunity for artists to cover up the less attention they receive.

“But then it will try to raise the bar for the younger artists.”

According to Rolling Stone India’s music journalist Pioni Hirwani, the risk of cover-up is low as event companies often ensure that they are the main support acts of local artists.

She cites G-Eazy’s 2024 tour as an example, which had only Indian supporting artists – helping to boost their careers.

Instead, she told NewsBeat, the focus should be on improving infrastructure to attract big names like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé — neither of whom have brought their tours to India.

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

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

The Lollapalooza festival is held at Mumbai’s horse racing track – the only venue with enough space to safely host it.

“Even with the (popular) stadiums we have now … there definitely needs to be conversations about what everyone needs to do to make our infrastructure and venues better,” says Pioni.

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