What does opening for a headliner in India mean for artists in 2025?

From setting off gigs for Coldplay and Ed Sheeran to performing at SulaFest and Coachella, opening acts are reshaping how indie artists in India break out and get paid

This January, Indian singer Jasleen Royal—known for Bollywood songs like Love You Zindagi (2016) and Ranjha (2021)—opened for Coldplay during their India tour in Mumbai and Ahmedabad. She even joined  them on stage to sing We Pray—a moment that went viral. Royal was  trolled for sounding off-key  by musicians Sona Mohapatra and Vishal Dadlani (he didn’t, however, name her, and deleted his Instagram post later) on social media. 

Ideally, an opening act should echo the vibe of the headliner—think genre compatibility. For instance, one wouldn’t place a rock band before Norah Jones is performing, or a rapper before jazz-pop musician Dot. This mismatch inevitably confuses audiences and kills the build-up.

India’s live music scene has evolved rapidly from the days when American folk singer M. Ward opened for Jones in 2013 in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru—when indie music was relatively unknown globally—to 2025 when artists like rapper Hanumankind are on Coachella’s billing. 

“An opening act is someone who has a some experience but isn’t that big that they need an opening themselves,” says Dot., who opened for Ed Sheeran in Pune, and who’s herself had artistes open for her at her solo/band performances across India, including Frizzell D'souza, Chirag Todi, and Aadya. “The idea is to get someone new for the opening act because I’ll be drawing the crowd. I’ve tried to have younger girls in the music scene opening for me so as to create opportunities for them,” she adds. 

How Opening Acts Help Indie Musicians Build a Loyal Online Following in India 

Even in a world driven by algorithms, people end up discovering new artists offline. “Everyone thinks things happen overnight,” says Lisa Mishra who opened for Sheeran in Delhi. “But it’s more about doing justice to your opening set. You can’t treat art as a gimmick. A product of virality doesn’t pay off in the long term. It’s more about preparation-meets-luck, as you constantly keep improving yourself. ” 

Dot. concurs with Mishra—she’s received DMs from fans who discovered her at Bengaluru’s Bandaland in November 2024, or at Lollapalooza in Mumbai. An artist can’t build a fanbase after playing one opening set—musicians need to maintain a standard of performance and visibility over a period of time. The trick is consistency: good sets, followed by a steady online presence that can garner new listeners. 

Why Opening for Big Artists in India Is More About Exposure Than Pay

The number of such opportunities are only set to increase, with studies such as the India Live Music Market size analysis conducted by by US-based agency Custom Market Insights predicting that the live music market in India is expected to record a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 17.57 per cent from 2025 to 2034, and that the market size is projected to reach a valuation of US$1,390.48 million in 2025. 

Although tickets for the recent Coldplay gigs in India sold for lakhs, the opening acts aren’t getting rich—they don’t receive a share of the ticket sales, that is when they get paid at all. The opening act’s fee depends on the band’s standard pay. It is usually a maximum of ₹30,000, unless it’s a band like Parikrama, that will charge more. “If an ensemble is just starting out, they’ll get ₹10,000-15,000,” says Ritnika Nayan, owner of Music Gets Me High (MGMH), who recently worked on Lollapalooza 2025. 

Most “landed deals” involve the organisers giving the band a certain amount to cover flights and accommodation—sound system and food excluded. “A moderately popular rock band will get a landed deal of ₹40,000 to ₹ 60,000, and a popular one, ₹1 lakh and upward. Music festivals actually pay less than college shows,” explains Nayan, who also worked on Guns N’ Roses’ debut India tour in 2012 (Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Delhi), with opening acts (Thermal and a Quarter, Goddess Gagged, and Brand New Machine respectively). 

How Organisers Choose Opening Acts for Concerts and Music Festivals in India 

Local crowd pull, genre alignment, and novelty matter. The sweet spot? An artist with local pull who hasn’t already played at every venue in town. Organisers decide on which artist  makes sense for which city: for instance, Jonita Gandhi has sung songs in Telugu, making her ideal for a city like Chennai. 

“Even if 40 people come to watch you perform at a small venue and buy a beer each, you’ll bag the opening gig. But numbers can’t be the only deciding factor, because you can’t afford to have a musician sounding bad on stage,” says Nayan. Social media following can be deceptive—autotune is a thing. Nayan makes it a point to watch videos of musicians performing live before booking them for any performances. 

When the main act doesn’t have a huge following, it makes sense to try and book a supporting act that could boost sales, informs Kallol Bordoloi, A&R, Touring & Production Head, at Skillbox India. As the size and scale of the show increases, the number of stakeholders increases as well. “Social media following and online streaming numbers offer an indication about the popularity of an artist when there are no other metrics available. These can be really deceptive, because it’s not necessary that someone popular in the festival circuit will always be able to pull off an independent show,” says Arjun Sagar Gupta, owner of the The Piano Man in Delhi-NCR, which regularly programmes opening acts before big indie acts, like Dohnraj opening for Komorebi recently. 

Gupta steps aside from the usual format where the artist picks who opens for them, or when the producer of the event (BookMyShow or Insider, for example), or the artist management (like Skillbox’s Level House) picks the opening act. This usually includes other musicians the management works with or wants to promote, or a musician with a social media following that will compound the people coming in. Gupta prefers picking openers who build the headliner’s story, not just their social metrics. 

Meanwhile, District by Eternal (formerly Zomato)—which brought Dua Lipa to India in 2024—focus on an artist’s proven live performance, digital metrics, and potential for unique stage preference. Jonita Gandhi, who opened for Dua Lipa, has proven ticket-selling power evidenced by robust attendance at previous tours and shows, besides digital metrics from social media, YouTube, and Spotify, as well as user-generated content to gauge authentic fan engagement. “We also assess the artist's plans for enhancing their performance via choreography, live band elements, visual presentations, and potential guest appearances that add novelty. We strategically leverage any upcoming releases that coincide with the event, creating compelling marketing synergies for both the concert organiser and the artist,” says Rahul Ganjoo, CEO, District by Eternal. 

What Sets Indian Music Festivals Apart from Solo Concerts for Indie Artists

Festival line-ups work differently because there is a mix of emerging musicians, those who are moderately well-known, and headliners who can pull a crowd. Additionally, there’s more than just music–F&B, merchandise, and games–that also help earn money. 

Financially, it’s the major big-ticket festivals and opening acts that help musicians raise their standard asking rate. “Even having a song top Apple or Spotify can help a musician increase their live performance or recording rates. International tours are financial milestones too,” says Nayan.

Rajeev Samant, CEO, Sula Vineyards, believes it’s more about creating an immersive cultural experience. “Our main focus is on artists who can bring energy and a genuine connection with the crowd. The headliner (and other acts) have to fit into the overall story of the festival. The act that performs just before the headliner is crucial for building excitement,” says Samant. 

Whether it’s a festival or an opening set, the performance is typically built around original music—which is the USP of such opportunities. What changes is the line-up, and, in turn, the sound. Since Sheeran was a solo act, Dot. opted for a softer, more intimate three-piece set—guitar, kets, and vicals—instead of her usual eight-piece ensemble featuring drums, percussion, saxophone, base, and backing vocals at Lollapalooza. “Managing a bigger crowd is a whole different skillset. Engaging a crowd is a muscle musicians need to exercise,” says Dot. “It can be demotivating when the audience chants someone else’s name, drowning out your songs,” she adds.

Opening Acts and Festival Slots Help Indie Artists in India Grow Financially 

Opening for a big musician can unlock long-term benefits. Jasleen Royal, despite her controversial performance, can go on to say that she shared the stage with Coldplay for the next 20 years. “It could now be more possible for Royal to feature Chris Martin in an upcoming song,” says Gupta. 

Financially, it’s the major big-ticket festivals and opening acts that help musicians raise their standard asking rate. “Even having a song top Apple or Spotify can help a musician increase their live performance or recording rates. International tours are financial milestones too,” says Nayan. 

Every artist starts somewhere—even Guns N’ Roses and Green Day opened for bigger bands back in the day. Headlining isn’t offered at the outset. “It starts by getting a 2pm festival slot people barely attend, then progress to a 4pm one, then a 6pm one, and on and on till you become the headlining act,” says Nayan, who has managed musicians for 10 years. 

Take Delhi band Bloodywood, for instance. Now on a Europe and UK tour, with  dates in Japan to be announced soon, they spent years playing the first slots.  At Fuji Rock in Japan in 2022, they drew the highest audience ever for an opening act—2,000 people at the start, swelling to 12,000 by the end. Next came Summer Breeze Open Air Festival in Germany, where they played to 30-40,000 people at noon.  A year later, they were performing at Download Festival in Germany to an audience of 50,000. 

Are Indian Music Festivals Finally Making Space for Women Artists?

Over the past  year, the indie music industry has taken tentative steps beyond tokenism when it comes to creating space for female artists. Royal opened for Coldplay, Gandhi for Dua Lipa, and Zaeden for Maroon 5, while Mishra was a guest artist in Zaeden’s opening set. At Sheeran’s India gigs, five of the six opening acts were by women. 

Female singer-songwriters are no longer in short supply—but the same can’t be said for female producers, sound engineers, or instrumentalists. Mohini Dey remains a rare exception, having made her mark internationally, including performances  with Willow Smith. “It’s not like people are out there stopping women from doing something, but it’s the subtler weird things that you can feel even when you don’t notice them outright,” says Dot. “Studios often don’t have dustbins in their bathrooms or sanitary pads because the assumption is that a woman won’t be recording in a studio” she points out. 

Despite the palpable progress, women are still rarely headlining major festivals in India. However, the first edition of the women-only (performers, organisers, attendees) music festival, Sonic Tigress, just happened in Bengaluru. “Female singers have long been relegated to just playback singers. But today, women are creating opportunities by writing and composing songs and ideating and designing sets. We need to do it for the next generation of musicians via ownership of our art,” says Mishra, who has directed two of her three music videos herself. She finds inspiration in artists like Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Doja Cat, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift—proof that it is only a matter of time before Indian women begin to claim equal creative ground. 

And once that happens, the possibilities are endless. In 2012, Sheeran opened for Snow Patrol. By 2018, the roles had reversed. In 1993, Oasis opened for The Verve. This year,  Verve’s vocalist Richard Ashcroft is opening for Oasis. The arc for the music industry is a long one—but does bend. 

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