I was never into Coldplay. But when their India shows turned into a ticketing fiasco, with demand far exceeding supply, the most creative nugget I found was that some fans had booked rooms in a plush hotel overlooking the stadium where the British band is due to perform in January 2025, a pleasant backdoor way of bucking the system.
It reminded me of cricket fans sitting on trees outside stadiums to get a good vantage point. It also reminded me of the ODI Men’s World Cup final in Ahmedabad where the demand for accommodation was so high that people were reported to have checked into hospitals for an overnight stay and a symbolic full body check-up the next morning, before heading off for the match.
In the case of Coldplay, the crashing of BookMyShow website left genuine fans stranded in virtual queues, and ridiculously overpriced tickets turned up on the black market. This raises some questions: how much can singers and bands charge their audience, and how much are concert-goers willing to pay? Specifically, how far can both sides go?
The trend is to do surge pricing, just like cab hailing apps do during peak traffic hours. For instance, Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing for American singer Bruce Springsteen’s 2023 US tour meant that some tickets were selling for as high as $5,000. The Boss defended the high price, telling Rolling Stone that it prevented undeserving touts from collecting the overflow. “I’m going, ‘Hey, why shouldn’t that money go to the guys that are going to be up there sweating three hours a night for it?’” he told the magazine.
This approach doesn’t work for every artist. The BBC reported that the priciest tickets for Billie Eilish’s 2025 UK tour cost £398, and are still available months after going on sale. And Billie is big!
But what about the smaller bands? The critically lauded British music group English Teacher, who won the UK’s prestigious Mercury Prize earlier this month, were stuck in the financial dumps before the career-changing prize.
In an earlier interview to the The Guardian, English Teacher revealed they had yet to turn a profit from touring, despite being signed by a major label, Island, and appearing on shows like ‘Later… With Jools Holland’. Their lead singer, Lily Fontaine, said, “The reality is that it’s normal for all of these achievements to coexist alongside with being on Universal Credit, living at home or sofa surfing…The only thing we ever make any kind of profit on is festivals, because the fees can be higher, but any money left over just goes towards the next outgoings.”
So much for the glamour of the overpriced music scene.
India and Western music
An outsider watching the Coldplay madness play out in India can be forgiven for thinking that this is a massive untapped market, hungry for music. Coldplay is an exception. The truth is that India has never been a lucrative playground for cutting edge international music.
Think about the 1990s when Britpop was in the air, and bands like Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Portishead, Supergrass, Gene, and Shed Seven were everyone’s favourite. The albums used to be on cassettes on legit labels.
The same goes for alternative American bands of that era – Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer, The Offspring, Hole, Blind Melon, Soul Asylum, and Gin Blossoms.
These bands’ music was broadcast on local MTV and that was about it. Did they get played on Indian FM? No. Did they ever come to India to perform? No. Did Elton John and Billy Joel perform here either? No. What could be the reason?
For one, the class of Indians that listens to Western music has always been orthodox and distinctly throwback in their tastes. A little out of date, though not for the lack of choice. They’ve never had the nous. They still don’t.
Back then, when Nirvana and Blur were all the rage in America and Britain, the most popular songs that Indian kids were listening to were Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ and ‘Comfortably Numb’, ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen and ‘Hotel California’ by Eagles. While the world had moved on to grunge, we were still stuck with classic rock. Veteran bands like Deep Purple and Jethro Tull played in Delhi, while metal acts like Sepultura made a beeline straight for Shillong, Meghalaya.
The contemporary young bands of the time didn’t bother about India, but headed straight to tried and trusted destinations like Latin America, Japan, North America, Europe, Australia, even South East Asia. India never had the critical mass. It never had a substantial fan base. Bryan Adams was our biggest international star that we adored, and he obliged with several visits. He’s coming again this year for a tour.
Bollywood director Subhash Ghai brought singer Samantha Fox to Bombay in 1990, but the biggest star of the moment, Madonna, couldn’t be bothered. When Guns N’ Roses finally came in 2012, it was a watered down version of the original rock band, with frontman Axl Rose being the only remaining original member. There was one exception: Michael Jackson did come, making a stopover at politician Bal Thackeray’s place, who was then the self-styled king of Bombay. Thackeray famously quipped, “He even used my toilet.”
Another problem with India is that when a big star does arrive for a concert, there is a long line of bureaucrats, politicians, police officers, and VIPs clamouring for free passes. It’s a bummer for the organisers.
Also read: Indian music isn’t a one-trick pony. Shankar Mahadevan, Zakir Hussain Grammy proves it
Musical impoverishment
A country of India’s size and diversity is consumed by its own music – the soundtracks from films in different languages being the dominant culture. Nothing wrong with that. Even now, the numbers, at least in North India, come in from desi hip hop acts like Seedhe Maut and Punjabi pop singers like AP Dhillon and Diljit Dosanjh. Coldplay aside, we are just not interested in the world.
Many of the 1990s bands mentioned earlier have reunited for nostalgia tours, with some new songs thrown in. Now, since India’s economy has changed over the past couple of decades, and we have better infrastructure and purchasing power, are any of these bands coming to make up for lost time and cater to their middle-aged fans? No. It still doesn’t add up. A country of a billion doesn’t have the numbers. American punk rock band Green Day is coming this year – the only one from that era. In 1995, they performed in Jakarta, but not Bombay. They will repeat Indonesia in 2025.
These days, with all the major streaming platforms available, Indians are exposed to new music in real time. The pioneers of today, like English Teacher, Idles, and Fontaines DC, which are widely considered the best guitar bands of this era, and rap acts like the burgeoning Belfast trio, Kneecap, hardly have a fan base in India. The popular bands, which are huge around the globe at the moment, don’t turn up in India because Indians don’t listen to them.
What do we get excited about? Coldplay, by now a pretty retro act itself, like a well-worn jumper. The Indian listener seems to be saying, “Country roads take me home, not to new pastures.” In a nutshell, we are not on the international music map, by any stretch, and the reason is we are not curious or open to new music, apart from generic global trends like K-pop. It simply doesn’t resonate.
And yet, an Indian band, Peter Cat Recording Co., has cracked North America and Europe. The Delhi NCR-based five-piece is currently on a 78-city world tour, playing to packed mixed White and Black audiences. India gets only six gigs, right at the end of the tour. PCRC sings in English and stays away from fusion, the only way an Indian band could export their music in the past. In terms of achievement, what they have done with their albums and tours is comparable with the crossover heft and seminal influence of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things.
While Indians go ape over a tame British band, an Indian band has taken the West by storm, and is genuinely breaking new ground. In that lies the story of the Indian audience’s self-inflicted musical impoverishment.
Palash Mehrotra (@palashmehrotra) is the author of ‘The Butterfly Generation: A Personal Journey into the Passions and Follies of India’s Technicolour Youth’, and former Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone, India. Views are personal.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)
Excellent write, Palesh!
I agree with your thinking about the “musically poor” towards Western music.
I shared this article with others who are into music, and generally, they agreed, too.
I liked your fluidity and honesty. MSM wouldn’t publish this, but you had your say and it stands.
Bravo, well done!!!
Absolute drivel written by a presumptious Stephens Oxford grad that doesn’t deserve a proper rebuttal because of how extraordinarily wrong it is. The degrees are all well and good but someone needs to teach humility in those universities, because everytime I read some hogwash like this, my mind jumps to them.
Sekhar, are you serious you allowed this article? No paper worth its salt would approve this. I hope this is not your definition of good journalism that costs money.. I was just beginning to like your paper.
Recall this article.
is anyone grilling the western world for having no idea about Asia’s first Nobel Prize – Rabindranath Thakur? Or are we still just stuck on hating ourselves for not being “cool” Enough.
Are we calling their literature impoverished for never even considering urdu poetry? Are we ridiculing the West for not having Gharanas and Ragas in music? It’s one thing to point out that India is not a great market for International artists (I’ll still argue because if Poets of the Fall can keep coming back and play in Banglore, Meghalaya, etc and still make profits…) But to question India’s ancient legacy in music is absolutely bizarre. Not knowing WESTERN pop-culture doesn’t make you impoverished in any way.
And if international bands is the way to go- why are you stuck on British and American bands? What about Emel Mathlouthi who sang at the novel peace Prize ceremony? Or Indila, the French Musician who loves India? What about Vieux Farka Touré, who has performed in India? Why not make a case for diversifying our International tastes instead of calling India’s music “impoverished”?
This must be the most stupid and senseless artical ever produced in Print. It seems there is no dearth for Wannabe Anglo saxons in this country
Spotted: A slave to colonial brainwashing with limited perspective to understand the nuances of art appreciation and embracing narrow mindedness. It is so pathetic because in the west there is a upward trend of embracing your cultural identity to empower yourself, encourage ethnic talent, and support local musicians… and this colonial stooge believes that only western music is “having taste” and tries to shame 1.5 billion people for embracing their personal taste and encouraging throwing money into corporate driven overpriced stinking rich international artists.
What are your priorities, really? It almost feels like a clickbait article to drive traffic to the page. Insane and sad as shit if this is really what the author thinks.
The Print , is this the quality of your journalist who are talking shit about a matter which they have zero knowledge about! 🤣🤣🤣
i think this guy is fit to live in a zoo
This article’s author is a pathetic relic of colonialism, groveling for Western validation. His laughable ignorance and narrow-mindedness are staggering. He pretends to be intellectually superior while demonstrating utter cluelessness about India’s magnificent musical legacy. The audacity of calling himself ‘musically poor’ is matched only by his staggering arrogance.
I have the cultural sophistication to appreciate both Indian and international music. Yet, I find that foreign songs pale in comparison to the emotional resonance of Indian melodies. It’s clear that our cultural heritage is far more meaningful than his shallow, imported tastes.
Who is this moron? What a poor take on music in general. He sounds like he has zero idea on Indian music, specially Indian classical.
I have never liked the notion that if something is globally popular, it has to be popular in India as well, or else we aren’t good enough. Indeed, Indians are now exposed to new music. But, the last time I checked, even Americans had trouble being exposed to new music if it is not on the radio. K-Pop operates like a cutthroat corporate style sports league. So I’m not going to count it. However, there are times when a dearth of listeners makes it difficult for good music to gain traction in the US. Would that render the American public musically impoverish?
Come on man how can you judge consumer’s personality on their taste. Beatles, queen has produced timeless melodies and Indians always have been fan of classical music something that predates thier era.
I swear us Indians are obsessed with hating ourselves. Why is listening to Western music a barometer on musical taste. We have our own industry, we listen to that more
The author’s tirade overlooked the lack of top-notch infrastructure needed for live performance and simpler paperwork to ensure a seamless event setup.
I am pretty cool with folks listening to whatever makes them feel happy. I don’t assess the taste of others. Hence, I don’t feel frustrated or jealous.
What a poor self hating article. This article took me back to the 90s when Indians used to think they were cool for listening to English music. That’s not the case anymore. Your opinion is outdated not our music tastes
Indian populace is conditioned to melody based ancient Indian traditions.
Harmonics based western music has limited audience.
Indians are musically DIFFERENT, not inferior.
Seems like a rant from a fan who couldn’t get a ticket for himself!!
The frenzy around Coldplay this year is universal mainly because this being their last album and you can see how their tickets got sold out within hours not only in India but around multiple locations in the world.
The whole thing is not about music. It’s about black marketing through media hype.
I think we need to chat on this front, I beg to differ on a lot of what you have stated in your article, first of all India has been on top of all artists performing world wide, and btw Elton John did perform in India in Bangalore , I streamed the concert live on Radio, Mirchi. When FM was there on AIR i streamed Roger Waters live, n then when the first FM stations started Radio City Bangalore, Radio Mirchi Mumbai, WIN Fm Mjmbai etc.vwe all used to play everything, from pop, rock to alternative, grunge etc be it Blur, Portis Head, Soul Asylum, Nirvana, INXS , Floyd, Madonna , U2 etc. it was all there. Infact Scorpions, Deep Purple, Def Lepard, Metallica ,Iron Maiden, Joe Satriani, Mark Knofler, Sting, Bryan Adams , Enrique, Shakira, Shaggy, Alanis Morisette, Bozone, Atomic Kitten, Big Moyntain, Mr.big, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, U2, Slash, Axel Rose as GNR all have played and performed in India the list goes on, and the proof is in the pudding since i got to interview them all. Considering rock concerts and independent artists right from Pentagram, Rock machine, Zero, Thermal N A Quarter, Raghu Dixit, etc. We have been thronging concerts from the 80s and have bin listening to the complete gamut of music , when Roger Waters performed in Bangalore that was an Epic concert everyone from all over India was there, that was a true fan affair, and DNA events and Wizcraft back in the day brought down some of the biggest names. When Sting n Bryan Adams performed for the first time it was another set of epic tours. I just feel you could have done a little more homework and justice to this article. Thanks , Musically Yours
The author is at the bottom of its musical intelligence. He definitely has no idea of musical taste and persistence of it. India is extremely rich in musical tradition, so much so that it has no space for any music from outside India. Indian classical and popular music has fulfilled India’s musical appetite. We can easily afford to choose and pick up whatever we like from western music and reject rest of it. This is a sign of musical richness and not impoverishment.
What a joke this article is!
Our own artists are not able to earn their livelihoods. One can ask any Hindustani or Carnatic classical musician how the market is. And how hard it is for them to lead a financially secure life.
And this guy’s concern is why Indians are not splurging on famous Western bands. Well sir, even if we were not “musically poor”, we would prefer to splurge on Indian musicians.
Dude have life, let people enjoy & don’t fcking judge others.
Improve your own music taste self proclaimed intellectual lol.
Everyone has their own taste …and however modern we become, we are still rooted to quality grunge free, non-psychedelic type of music…and I find that has more quality, soothing effect…and I don’t think that is less commonsense…