"Regional Music Is The Next Big Thing In Live Entertainment"-Shoven Shah

Shoven Shah, the visionary founder and CEO of TribeVibe Entertainment, has been at the forefront of India’s live entertainment revolution.

From pioneering Asia’s first full-fledged campsite music festival, Enchanted Valley Carnival, in 2013, to leading TribeVibe’s remarkable growth with over 750 college partnerships and 2,000 shows, Shah continues to set new standards in the industry.

Under his leadership, TribeVibe’s success reached new heights with the 2023 VIBIN festival, India’s first Gen-Next festival, drawing over 75,000 attendees. Shah’s passion for innovation and his ability to engage audiences has reshaped the entertainment landscape in India.

In an exclusive interview with Loudest.in, Shoven Shah shares insights into the live music industry and his vision for TribeVibe Entertainment.

Here are edited excerpts:

Q1.TribeVibe has grown exponentially since 2019. What was your initial vision, and how has it evolved with the changing entertainment landscape?

When it comes to TribeVibe, we started the company back in 2019, around June or July, with a clear vision. Our goal was to establish a strong presence in the college student and college festival space, focusing on everything related to youth and Gen Z.

Even before TribeVibe, I was actively involved in college events, but the aim was to scale up operations significantly. Within the first six to eight months—just before the COVID-19 shutdown—we expanded rapidly, growing from approximately 100 shows to over 500 shows. During this period, we reached nearly 1.5 million people on the ground.

At the time, this space was highly unorganized, and we saw an opportunity to bring structure to it. Our goal was to enhance student engagement and provide them with unique experiences that had previously been unavailable.

That was the initial vision behind TribeVibe. Today, we operate on a much larger scale, managing everything related to Indian artists under BookMyShow, including bookings, touring, and live entertainment within India. TribeVibe is now at the forefront of producing these experiences.

Q2.As a BookMyShow enterprise, how does TribeVibe leverage its parent company’s resources to innovate and expand its reach?

If you're asking how TribeVibe benefits from being a BookMyShow company, there are several advantages.

From the time we launched TribeVibe, BookMyShow’s vision has always been to grow within the entertainment space, continuously expanding its offerings.

One of the key benefits we’ve gained from being part of BookMyShow is the understanding and utilization of data. Before joining BookMyShow, I didn’t fully grasp the importance of data. Now, as a BookMyShow company, we have access to valuable insights from every event.

For instance, when students book events through BookMyShow, we gain access to their data science capabilities. Sitting in the office as part of BookMyShow, we now have a deeper understanding of consumer behavior. When we take events live, we analyze buying patterns, pricing strategies, and ticket sales trends, which helps us optimize ticket pricing and maximize revenue. This data-driven approach allows us to assess the feasibility of an event before launching it.

Beyond data, another significant advantage is BookMyShow’s rapid growth since 2019. They have produced major events like Coldplay’s concert and will be organizing Lollapalooza India in March. As BookMyShow continues to scale and execute larger events, TribeVibe benefits from handling the bookings of Indian artists for these IP-driven experiences.

Being a BookMyShow company gives us access to larger events, industry expertise, and dedicated teams that support our expansion. As BookMyShow grows, TribeVibe will continue to grow alongside it, unlocking even more opportunities in the live entertainment space.

Q3.With VIBIN’s massive success, what does it take to create a festival that truly resonates with Gen Z and millennial audiences?

We launched Vibin’s Festival, which was actually our first owned IP and, to date, the only IP we fully own within TribeVibe. This was about 18 to 20 months ago.

Typically, when we work with college festivals, we don’t own the IP—we simply produce the events for existing college IPs. However, we wanted to create something of our own—an IP where we have complete control over the artists, production, and city selection. That was the thought process behind starting Vibin’s Festival.

In the first three months, we successfully hosted five festivals, bringing the festival experience to cities that had never witnessed such large-scale music events. For example, one of the five cities was Kota—a city with a massive student population but little exposure to large music festivals.

Back then, we featured artists like King and Anuv Jain, who had never performed in Kota before. We wanted to make festival experiences more accessible, so we set ticket prices between ?500 to ?1,000, whereas most music festival tickets typically cost ?3,000 to ?4,000. This allowed students who couldn’t previously afford to attend a festival to experience their favorite artists at just one-fourth of the usual price.

The IP was a major success, and we now aim to scale it up in the next financial year. At the moment, expanding Vibin’s Festival is a key focus for us.

Q4.TribeVibe has played a key role in taking live entertainment beyond metro cities. What challenges and opportunities do you see in expanding to Tier 1 and Tier 2 markets?

One of the biggest advantages of TribeVibe is our presence in nearly 80 cities.

Historically, major events were limited to top-tier cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore. However, with the increasing demand for live music and events, other cities have started gaining traction—places like Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Chandigarh are now hosting big-name artists.

As an event company, our college business operates in over 70 to 80 cities, giving us a significant advantage. For many consumers in smaller cities, live performances by their favorite artists were previously inaccessible. They often had to travel to metro cities to attend concerts, which wasn’t always feasible. By expanding into these regions, we bring live music experiences directly to them.

This scale benefits not just consumers but also artists and brands.For artists, live performances were previously limited to about 10 to 15 cities. Now, they are reaching Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, exposing their music to new audiences.

For brands, this expansion is equally impactful. Earlier, a brand sponsorship would typically reach only three to four cities. Now, through us, brands can connect with audiences across 50 to 60 cities, making TribeVibe a one-stop solution for nationwide reach in live entertainment.

We have an upcoming show in Guwahati featuring Anup Jain and Zaeden this month.

We recently completed the Prateek Goa Tour, which also included Guwahati as one of the stops. Historically, the city hasn't seen ticketed shows with audiences exceeding 5,000 to 6,000 people. However, all these shows have been completely sold out.

Interestingly, while some larger cities are struggling to sell out events, Guwahati has demonstrated a strong demand for live shows, proving that there is a growing appetite for entertainment in these regions.

Q5.The live entertainment industry is constantly evolving. What trends do you foresee shaping the future of music and comedy events in India?

The entertainment industry is expanding rapidly, with both music and comedy growing in parallel. A significant amount of new music content is being released, particularly in the regional music space, which is seeing increased consumption. Additionally, there has been a surge in live events across South India, a region that previously had fewer large-scale shows.

Comedy as a genre has also evolved tremendously. Earlier, there were only a handful of comedians—perhaps five or six—actively performing. Now, there are at least 100 comedians touring across India, successfully selling tickets, filling auditoriums, and even selling out stadium shows.

Recently, we organized a stadium show at NSCI Dome with Varun Thakur, which sold out within minutes. This clearly reflects how the audience for live comedy has grown significantly.

Q6.How are brands leveraging live music concerts for campaigns and promotions?

The traditional sponsorship model is no longer as prevalent, except for liquor brands, since their product is one of the few that can be consumed and experienced directly at events.

For most other brands, simply having their logo on promotional creatives or basic social media placements is not enough. They seek deeper engagement with both consumers and artists.

Live music events provide the perfect platform for this, as they attract large audiences—often 20,000+ ticketed attendees—and feature popular artists. By strategically leveraging both the audience and the performing talent, brands can achieve a higher ROI on their investments.

As a result, brand experiences and collaborations with artists and consumers have become a key part of partnerships with event promoters.

Q7.What’s your long-term vision for TribeVibe, and how do you plan to push boundaries in India’s entertainment industry in the coming years?

We don’t plan as far as five years ahead, but I do have a clear vision for at least the next two years. As a company, we have experienced significant growth, tripling our revenues every year.

Our core focus remains on college events, which is our primary business. We will continue expanding rapidly in this space. Currently, we organize 600–700 college shows annually, which is close to the maximum capacity we can handle at this scale.

Looking ahead, we plan to invest more in comedy this year and next, while also shifting our focus towards larger events. So far, TribeVibe has been deeply involved in tours, but we haven’t concentrated much on large-scale festivals. This year, we aim to launch a major festival of our own.

Additionally, we will be placing a stronger emphasis on regional music and artists, as we see tremendous potential in this market.