India's concert boom is real. Most of its independent musicians aren't seeing it

On 24 Jul 2026 EY and the Indian Music Industry (IMI) published a report on how India listens to and pays for music. Its headline: paid music subscriptions could reach 28–30 million by 2028, up from an estimated 14 million in December 2025. Four months earlier, the FICCI-EY media report said organised live events grew 44% in 2025.

Those two numbers are being read as proof that Indian music is booming. For the people who make most of it outside film, the evidence points the other way.

What do the reports actually say?

The EY-IMI study surveyed 15,373 smartphone users in March and April 2026. Only 38% said they had ever paid for a music streaming service, bundles included, against 86% who had paid for a video streaming service at some point. EY says 61% would pay for music if free options disappeared and pricing was reasonable. The 28–30 million figure is a projection that depends on current monetisation efforts continuing, not a forecast of what artists will earn.

The live figure needs a closer read too. EY's own summary of the FICCI-EY report calls live events "one of the fastest" growing segments, and the press release credits the 44% to ticketed events alongside weddings, government events and religious gatherings. So that growth isn't all concerts, let alone independent gigs. The same EY summary says music revenue grew 10% in 2025, digital licensing only 2%, and labels' "other income" rose 26% on events, branded content and talent management.

Where is the live money going?

To the top. In March EY estimated that Diljit Dosanjh's 2024 Dil-Luminati tour, 14 shows across 13 cities, generated about INR943 crore in socio-economic impact. Around INR276 crore of that was direct tour revenue, and the tour drew more than 320,000 attendees. The release doesn't say who commissioned the study.

Compare that with the independent circuit. Orange Juice Lab, a research outfit, surveyed 80 non-film musicians in 29 cities between July and September 2025. It reports a median income of about ₹96K a year against median career spending of about ₹1.1L, a median shortfall of roughly ₹15K. A write-up by its partner, the Global Music Institute, adds that almost half of respondents play fewer than five shows a year and 75% have no team at all. Eighty people is a small sample, the page doesn't describe how respondents were found, and the report calls itself a baseline rather than a census. Treat it as a signal, not a measurement.

Fees for the slots that are supposed to build careers are low. Ritnika Nayan, owner of Music Gets Me High, told The Established in 2025 that a band just starting out might get ₹10,000–15,000 to open and that festivals pay less than college shows. The article adds that openers usually top out around ₹30,000. The same piece says openers rarely get a share of ticket sales and are sometimes not paid at all. A 2026 guide by KREDL, a professional network for Indian creatives, repeats those ranges, credits The Established, and notes that major festivals don't take public applications: slots go through agencies, managers and curators.

What are artists saying?

The direct evidence here is thin, and we'd rather say so than pad it. A thread on r/MusicIndia asks why most independent artists in India struggle. We couldn't open the discussion itself, so we cite only the question it poses.

Reported interviews fill in some detail. Amid the October 2024 ticket rush for Coldplay's 2025 India dates, The News Minute spoke to independent bands. Khalid Ahmed of Parvaaz said most indie musicians need something to fall back on. A Kerala band said college cultural festivals are their biggest venues. A Thiruvananthapuram venue owner who takes only a small cut of the door said bands need platform support to survive. That piece is two years old, but nothing in the 2026 reports suggests the picture has changed.

What we think

The industry's numbers measure demand for big nights out, and India clearly has it. They don't measure whether there's a working ladder from a small club to a stadium support slot. On the evidence above, the bottom rungs are a ₹10,000 opening fee, five or fewer shows a year and no team, and the ladder runs through agencies and curators rather than open calls.

Three second-order effects are worth watching:

• Stadium tours can crowd out the middle. When a big tour comes to town, audience spend, sponsor budgets and promoters' attention can all follow it. The GMI write-up names mid-tier venues of roughly 2,000–10,000 capacity as a gap. Without them, a "growing" live market can leave fewer real paths for the artists who'd play them.
• Labels win twice. Their 26% rise in "other income" from events, branded content and talent management means the companies that already own the catalogue are capturing the live upside too. Independents with no team, three in four in the Orange Juice sample, can't easily get into brand work.
• Paid streaming won't fix it alone. Doubling subscriptions helps, but when only 38% of surveyed smartphone users have ever paid for music streaming, the growth starts from a low base, and the reports don't say how much of it would reach artists outside the big catalogues.

What would help is less glamorous than another stadium date. Festivals and promoters should publish what they pay openers, guarantee a minimum fee instead of offering "exposure", and run an open application track next to curator picks. Brands sponsoring arena shows could fund a mid-size venue series in the same cities. We'd like to name festivals that already pay openers fairly, but we couldn't find a published, sourced example. If you run one, send us your rate card and we'll report it.