Sunburn featured in ‘World’s Leading National Concert Promoters’ special edition by Audience Magazine, United Kingdom
Audience Magazine, a leading Music Magazine based in United Kingdom, published an exclusive edition dedicated to featuring the World’s Leading National Concert Promoters for International Artists in 2018. Interviewing and covering more than 300 leading promoters across 72 countries worldwide was a massive task that ended up listing some of the biggest and best music event management companies in the world. All the concert promoters and owners featured in the edition deserved respect and accolades for what they had managed to achieve in their respective countries, especially those based in challenging markets. They were heralded by Stephen Parker, Publisher & Editor of Audience Media Ltd., UK, as the backbone of the burgeoning global live music industry and the greatest risk takers in the Media & Entertainment domain.
Sunburn and Percept Live was featured as a leading player of India in this domain. Karan Singh, CEO, Sunburn Global, was featured in the edition as an iconic leader who has spearheaded more than 80 shows across multiple formats in the 2017–2018 season spanning Sunburn Festival, Sunburn Arena, Sunburn Reload and Sunburn Campus Tours across India and overseas to an overall attendance of more than 850,000 people. The year 2017–18 saw the world’s top 10 electronic dance music DJs perform in India thanks to Sunburn. These included Martin Garrix, Tiesto, Avicii, Hardwell, Deadmau5, Armin van Buuren, David Guetta, Afrojack, Above & Beyond, The Chainsmokers, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Marshmello, and Nicky Romero.
Said Karan Singh, “I am positive about the live music opportunities in India, but it is still not a mature ticketing market and we need to rely heavily on sponsorship to keep our revenues viable.” He further elaborated, “Most cities don’t have proper event-centric venues and infrastructure, so festival organisers like us have to literally build the event from the ground up each time round.”
The magazine paid tribute to the global promoters listed and acknowledged the complexities of managing global artists by saying, “It takes a special kind of person to book an international artiste from a stranger, often thousands of miles away, and send large sums of money in advance on trust, not to mention the local challenges of hiring a venue, sourcing the production, promoting the events, selling the tickets and looking after the act while it’s there. The promoter is also the person trusted to present and enhance the artiste’s image and career in his or her territory, look after the fans who attend the show and, in many cases, prepare the ground for a return. A good promoter is worth far more than many people realise. Without them and their hundreds of local peers handling domestic artistes in their respective markets, there wouldn’t be the hugely successful global live music industry we enjoy today.
