MUMBAI: As audiences when we were offered free tickets for live events and concerts, we would jump up with joy but the loss it incurred to an organizer was sometimes huge. But as years have passed, audiences’ attitude seems to have worked in a positive way for the organizers.

Speaking with Radioandmusic.com, Band manager and Only Much Louder’s (OML) NH7 festival director Dhruv Jagasia said, “ It is a big dent in the pocket but now things are changing and are turning positive. Earlier, we used to suffer huge losses but now it has got better. We used to look at giving away 40 or 45 per cent of our tickets for free which was a big problem. But now, it has come down to 15 – 20 percent which is good.”

Speaking about the free tickets given to sponsors, Jagasia said, “Sponsors are at least paying you, there is something coming in so giving out is not that difficult.”

“Dropping the value of ticket helps to get in more audience but how much will you drop it. But it is about getting in the right audience for the price which is already low,” highlighted Jagasia when asked about the pricing of the tickets.

Only Much Louder had brought Grammy winning singer-songwriter Norah Jones for A Summer’s Day 2013 in March, and had received a huge response from the audiences. Speaking about it, he added, “NH7 this year was really good from the ticketing point of view.”

As reported earlier by Radioandmusic.com, the ticketing industry including movies, sports and concerts amongst others is worth $3-4 billion and is growing at 60-70 per cent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) while, live music accounts for only 10-15 per cent of the ticketing pie. This is the percentage of the positive growth in the overall ticketing industry and it continues to grow.

The changing trend was sharply witnessed during the Guns N’ Roses event when Mooz Entertainment had opened up 80 retail outlets to meet the growing demand for the Guns N' Roses India Tour - the highest ever done for any concert in the country. According to reports, the Gold tickets were fast sellers and bought in groups, indicating that many Guns N’ Roses loyalists are treating this as an evening out for their friends and family. Online sales of tickets were also brisk. According to ticketing portal KyZoonga.com, tens of thousands of fans had visited the website every day since the announcement of the tour dates.

Even at the DJ Tiesto concert, the tickets went live at 12 pm and within 15 minutes of going live; the tickets were completely sold out. This just affirms the belief that Indians have developed the savor for live entertainment.