Let a hundred gigs bloom in our cities
Ed Sheeran was stopped by police from an impromptu acoustic one-man performance earlier this month on Bengaluru's Church Street, much confusion ensued. While the police insisted no permission was given, the musician announced he had got the go-ahead. Publicity stunt or cross-connection, it provided a snapshot of the difficulties officialese pose to having musical gigs in our cities. For a country not comfortable with default silence — evident from pervasive honking and smartphones playing loudly on the metro, to blaring loudspeakers that are part of our city soundscape — organising music shows in engaging spaces can be remarkably tedious.
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For concerts, the hoops and hurdles of entertainment tax, police permits, premise licences and no-objection certificates are daunting, unless you're a big event management company. These affect not just ticket pricing but also capacity and venue choice. Taxes in different states/cities differ — Maharashtra charges 25% of gross ticket rate as entertainment tax, Chennai 10%, Delhi 15% of total ticket sale — adding to the confusion.
The scale of challenges becomes multiple times trickier when it comes to international acts. For a country of its size and growing soft power, India is surprisingly given the short shrift by most top-bill acts. The likes of, say, Sheeran and Coldplay are exceptions, with India usually seen as a venue for has-been musicians in their home markets. A combination of red tape, VIP culture — where passes, rather than paid-for tickets, become a perverse status symbol — and the perennial threat of
