The new currency of culture: Why brands are chasing value in India’s booming concert economy

For 19-year-old collegian Dev Panchal, the relocation of India’s biggest electronic music festival from Goa to Mumbai came down to simple arithmetic. “I had visited Sunburn at Goa, but I’m glad that it moved to Mumbai,” he said. “This means I saved up on flight tickets and hotel stay and I could use that money to spend at the concert instead, buying merchandise and food and drinks.”

That practical observation captures a broader recalibration underway in India’s live entertainment economy. Sunburn, India’s largest electronic music intellectual property, officially shifted its flagship edition from Goa to Mumbai in 2025. The decision followed a fan survey that showed a 50% preference for Mumbai, signalling how geography, infrastructure and accessibility are increasingly shaping festival strategy.

For an industry long anchored to destination-led experiences, the move reflects a shift in audience priorities. Live music, particularly for Gen Z and young millennials, is no longer about pilgrimage to a venue; it is about ease of access, urban infrastructure and proximity to disposable income.

The festival’s influence, however, has only grown. Sunburn climbed to No. 8 on DJ Mag’s 2025 Top 100 Festivals list, underlining its global relevance. Since its acquisition by BigTree Entertainment, BookMyShow, in 2019, the IP has evolved from a beachside rave into a globally ranked entertainment property.

The logistics of lifestyle spending

Since its inception in 2007, Sunburn had been closely tied to Goa’s global image, transforming the state’s December calendar into a magnet for domestic and international tourists. Performances by Martin Garrix, Swedish House Mafia, DJ Snake and Tiësto in the past helped position the festival as a cultural export and a tourism driver.

But as India’s live music industry expanded, a growing segment of Sunburn’s urban fanbase began calling for new locations. Mumbai emerged as a natural alternative, offering superior infrastructure, direct air connectivity and a large concentration of young, spending audiences.

This shift mirrors a deeper cultural change. With 65% of India’s population under the age of 35 and rising disposable incomes, concerts have become a primary social currency. A Goldman Sachs report published last week projected that around 100 million Indians will become “affluent” by 2027, earning more than $10,000 annually, significantly expanding the market for premium live experiences.

The result is an industry that has grown nearly tenfold in the past five years. India’s concert ecosystem has moved beyond informal fan gatherings into structured, high-yield businesses. A single large-format event can now generate upwards of INR 20–30 crore across ticketing, sponsorships, merchandise and allied revenue streams, according to industry reports.

Infrastructure as spectacle

As the economics of live events have scaled, so too have audience expectations around production. At Sunburn 2025, which was help between 19-21 December, the visual centrepiece, titled ‘Beyond Infinity’, featured a towering monolith wrapped in 15,000 square feet of LED, redefining the scale of festival production in India. The installation formed the backdrop for Sara Landry’s first-ever performance in the country and David Guetta’s ‘Monolith Experience’.

For attendees, such production value is no longer an add-on; it is a key draw. “It was the highlight of the entire concert and was mind-blowing. My Instagram was lit when I posted videos about it and DJ David Guetta’s entry. All my friends couldn’t help but feel jealous that I could be there in person to watch this amazing performance,” said collegian Rishabh Motwani.

Collegian Rishabh Motwani at Sunburn 2025

Incidentally, such social-media driven FOMO is what drives more footfalls to upcoming large-format festivals, making digital channels a go-to strategy for brands to engage with their audience. And they are not limiting it with freebies but also emphasising on infrastructure.

Take the case of Lollapalooza Mumbai in March 2025. It introduced India’s first all-black-steel VerTech stage this year, engineered with a 50-tonne loading capacity, compared to the standard 15-tonne capacity of most Indian stages. The upgrade enabled the complex technical setups demanded by international acts such as Enrique Iglesias, Ed Sheeran and Post Malone, alongside Indian performers like Arijit Singh and Diljit Dosanjh. And concert-goers took to their social media handles to post about it, driving engagement even from those who were not on the ground.

Artists, in turn, are operating less like performers and more like entertainment entrepreneurs. Premium VIP experiences, exclusive merchandise drops and curated brand collaborations have become integral to tour economics.

Ed Sheeran’s India tour, for instance, featured creative tie-ins with fintech and consumer technology brands. And Diljit Dosanjh’s world tours have evolved into case studies in cultural export and fan monetisation.

Monetisation beyond the ticket

However, the real story of India’s concert economy increasingly sits behind the stage. Sponsorships, streaming rights, travel tie-ins and digital extensions now form a layered value chain. Sponsorships and brand integrations contribute nearly 35% to 40% of total event revenues, turning festivals into multi-sector commercial platforms.

Brands such as AB InBev, Pepsi, Swiggy, Beardo, Spotify, Tinder, Lenovo, and Maruti Suzuki are treating concerts as immersive storytelling environments rather than conventional media buys. At Sunburn 2025, naming rights were front and centre, with four primary stages powered by RuPay, Tuborg, Hyundai and the Main Stage.

Beyond visibility, several brands focused on utility-led engagement. Ketki Shah, who attired in goth style for Sunburn, headed to Game Palacio’s air-conditioned arcade zone to take refuge from Mumbai’s heat and ensure that her ensemble stayed intact. This underscores a growing industry insight: the most effective activations solve a problem within the fan journey.

India’s live events market reflects this commercial maturity. Statista valued the sector at INR 88 billion in 2023 and projects it to reach INR 143 billion by 2026, a CAGR of 17.6%. In 2024 alone, India hosted 26,359 live events, according to BookMyShow, and this year the number stood at 34,086.

An estimated 60,000 people attended Lollapalooza 2025. Image source: Lollapalooza

Festivals such as Lollapalooza India and even Coldplay’s ‘Music Of The Spheres’ Tour have attracted a broad mix of sponsors, including H&M, Corona Sunsets from AB InBev, Maruti Suzuki’s Nexa, Johnnie Walker, Maybelline New York, Lenovo, Liquid IV and Vedica.

AB InBev India framed its approach as experience-led. Vineet Sharma, vice president for marketing and trade marketing at AB InBev India, told Campaign in an earlier interview, “We're not just a partner to this festival; we're crafting an entire ecosystem of experiences that engage consumers on multiple sensory and emotional levels.”

The fan-centric value chain

Despite the influx of commercial partnerships, the durability of these festival IPs rests on the experience economy. Large-format live events offer something increasingly scarce in digital media: sustained, undivided attention. When brands integrate meaningfully into that journey—through pre-sale access, VIP upgrades or on-ground utility—they embed themselves into the audience’s personal narrative.

Lollapalooza India’s third edition in March 2025 illustrated this evolution. BookMyShow Live served as promoter and co-producer alongside global partners Perry Farrell and C3 Presents for the third consecutive year. “Each year, we continue to build on our community-first approach, curating an immersive, interactive, and transcendental world,” said Anil Makhija, COO—live entertainment and venues at BookMyShow told Campaign. “The festival isn’t just about witnessing music; it’s about stepping into a fully realised, multi-sensory world.”

While official footfall numbers were not disclosed, industry sources estimate attendance of around 60,000 people. Makhija noted that Early Bird general access and Lolla Comfort by RuPay tickets sold out within seven hours, underscoring the scale of demand.

The growing emphasis on credibility and emotional connection has also sharpened brand expectations. In an opinion piece for Campaign India, Kedar Ravangave, head of marketing for consumer and commercial bank at Kotak Mahindra Bank, wrote, “For industries like fintech, where products are inherently intangible, the value of live events is even greater… Hosting an immersive event… allows potential clients to engage with the brand narrative and its people, building relationships that digital campaigns simply cannot achieve.”

This logic increasingly extends beyond financial services. The modern concert value chain now includes influencer marketing, digital content extensions, travel partnerships and exclusive merchandise, all designed to stretch engagement before and after the event.

Shift from novelty to engagement

India’s live entertainment sector has moved decisively from cultural novelty to commercial infrastructure. When Rolling Loud co-founders Matt Zingler and Tariq Cherif brought the hip-hop festival to India, the decision was data-led. “India is now the second-largest music-consuming market after the US,” Zingler said in a media report, adding that hip-hop has been growing at “triple-digit rates year after year.” Execution, however, required local cultural translation, delivered through District by Zomato under CEO Rahul Ganjoo.

As the final bass drop fades over Mumbai’s skyline, the real work begins for brands and analysts. In India’s evolving concert economy, audiences are no longer just crowds; they are high-value cohorts willing to allocate a significant share of disposable income in exchange for community and identity.

For brand marketers, the implication is clear. The objective is no longer to place a logo at scale, but to create moments that add tangible value to the fan journey. That is where long-term recall and advocacy are built. In the noise of India’s booming live entertainment market, experiential utility—not visibility—has become the differentiator.