Thriving Music Scene in India's Emerging Cities Drives Employment Opportunities
India is exploring a significant shift in its concert economy, with the aim of transforming live events into year-round economic engines. This transformation is seen as a potential catalyst for economic and cultural change in the country.
Sachin Alug, CEO of NLB Services, has stated that live events have transitioned from seasonal spectacles to year-round economic engines. This development is not only fueling tourism and business growth but also delivering a massive scale of employment opportunities.
Each concert delivers 15,000-20,000 roles in areas such as crowd management, hospitality, digital media, and production. Approximately 10-15% of these positions evolve into full-time careers in sound engineering, event tech, and digital strategy.
However, India urgently needs skilled professionals, especially in non-metro hubs, to sustain the momentum of the concert economy. To address this need, strategies for building training pipelines are being developed. These pipelines aim to convert India’s concert energy into long-term economic and cultural transformation, focusing primarily on developing skilled human resources across several domains such as production, logistics, security, hospitality, and digital media.
The job creation and skill development aspect of these strategies highlight the massive scale of employment opportunity tied to this sector, with India's live event and concert economy expected to generate around 12 million temporary jobs by 2030-2032.
Another key aspect is geographic diversification. While major metropolitan areas remain prime concert destinations, there is a strategic pivot towards tier II and tier III cities. This shift diversifies cultural engagement and economic benefits across a wider geographic footprint, creating new local industries and talent hubs.
The arrival of global artists and major festivals also contributes to elevating India's concert ecosystem. These events spur demand for local talent trained to international standards, further motivating the enhancement of training programs to prepare the workforce accordingly.
Lastly, initiatives such as tribute acts underscore efforts to blend India’s cultural appreciation with contemporary concert experiences. Training pipelines incorporate not only technical skills but also cultural sensibility to foster transformative cultural experiences.
In conclusion, India’s strategy involves creating comprehensive training ecosystems that address the live event value chain, equipping people with diverse skills while promoting inclusivity across cities and integrating cultural dimensions. These efforts collectively aim to convert concert-generated energy into sustained long-term economic growth and enriched cultural impact.
BW Marketing has highlighted the importance of this issue, emphasizing the need for collaboration between the concert industry and policymakers to create training pipelines that foster long-term economic and cultural transformation in India. Cities like Jaipur, Shillong, Kochi, and Lucknow now host large-format shows that once gravitated to metros alone, and local economies experience tangible uplift due to concerts.
Businesses in the concert industry are recognizing the financial potential of year-round live events in India, with BW Marketing stressing collaboration with policymakers to develop comprehensive training ecosystems. This collaboration aims to create skilled professionals across various domains such as production, logistics, and digital media, fostering long-term economic growth while enriching cultural impact. As the concert economy diversifies and expands to cities beyond metros, this shift is not only creating new local industries and talent hubs but also generating significant employment opportunities estimated to reach around 12 million by 2030-2032. Moreover, the infusion of entertainment, education, and self-development into the live event industry through initiatives like tribute acts and training programs emphasizes the integrated approach India is taking to leverage its concert economy for sustainable economic growth and cultural transformation.
