All nations under a groove: Diaspora touring

As migration has made the world a more diverse landscape over the past half-century, delivering live entertainment in the native language of those migrants is becoming big business in urban metropolises. Eamonn Forde reports on the emerging market for specialist diaspora events.

Every week, somewhere around the world, crowds of migrants attend local venues to be entertained by fellow countrymen and women, while the citizens of the towns and cities that host these shows are blissfully unaware of the spectacle that doesn’t just entertain but strengthens bonds among communities living in foreign climes.

Migration is a defining feature of the modern world due to a complex combination of economic, political, cultural, and familial factors. The International Organization for Migration’s World Migration Report 2024 stated that in 2020 there were 281m people living in countries other than their countries of birth. This is an increase from 153m in 1990 and more than triple the number in 1970.

Those who relocate to other countries often cleave to certain things that provide a powerful and direct connection to “home” – and chief among them are food and music. These are a way for people to keep their culture alive and also introduce it into the places they have migrated to.

A few countries have historically dominated the export of popular music globally (the US, the UK, Sweden), but as immigration grows, so too does what we can term “diaspora touring.” This is where, when immigrant communities become established and reach a certain size, it becomes possible for acts from their home countries to play to them where they now live.

A Taste of India
Rock On Music has been, in its own words, “bringing the heartbeat of Indian music to the UK” since 1986, promoting artists in cities with long-standing Asian communities, such as London, Birmingham, and Manchester (as well as Rotterdam in the Netherlands).

“Artists will play in the UK on the way to the States or on the way back from the States. It is a way of breaking up the journey and earning a bit more money”

At a London press conference ahead of shows at the De Montfort Hall (Leicester) and Indigo at The O2 (London) in April, Indian superstar Armaan Malik spoke of how it had been eight years since his last shows in the UK, but in that time, his profile had been massively increased through a collaboration with Ed Sheeran on his track 2Step in 2022.

He described Rock On as “the real backbone behind the shows” and added that, because he sings in multiple languages, he can appeal to a wide range of Indian and Indian diaspora listeners. (Alongside English, he sings in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Urdu and Malayalam – a level of polyglotism that is rare but that gives him a deeper connection with many of Indian heritage.)

It was with Bollywood singers that OVO Arena Wembley, a pioneering venue in the UK for diaspora shows, started to become aware of the scale of the demand for artists from markets that, historically, have not been regarded as major music exporters. This is now a key part of its booking policy and its business model, with nine Indian artists and nine South Korean artists having played headline shows there in 2024 (compared to 18 from the UK and 21 from the US).

“[Bollywood] here makes sense with a local community,” says John Drury, vice president and general manager at OVO Arena Wembley, of the cultural make up of the local area while also pointing to the venue’s vast potential catchment area covering London and the south. “What we still see is that those artists will play in the UK on the way to the States or on the way back from the States. It is a way of breaking up the journey and earning a bit more money on the way while they play some shows across the Atlantic. That was the start of it – and then it has grown.”

James Harrison, vice president of programming for UK and EU at ASM Global, adds that shows by such acts are travelling far beyond London (with its characteristic cosmopolitanism and regular turnover of international students). “Leicester, Birmingham, or Coventry would typically be the second play,” he says of acts coming into Wembley, “and then maybe they’d do Leeds or Manchester.”

Beyond Bollywood
Alongside London, Paris and Berlin are seen as the key diaspora cities for European shows by such acts. Speaking to IQ for its Global Arenas Guide 2025, Britta Kriesten of the Rudolf Weber-Arena says that Oberhausen, being one of the most multicultural areas in Germany, is also an increasingly important destination here. “We see an increase in arena-size concerts of artists from Arabic countries and Eastern Europe for our region,” she says.

“Rather than just focusing on bringing the same artists back, our strategy is to grow the roster of talent appealing to these audiences”

The Royal Albert Hall in London has also positioned itself as a key venue for diaspora shows, giving the venue a strongly international cultural remit. Dave Gamble, head of programming at the venue, points to Chinese singer Hins Cheung (who played three sold-out nights in 2023), Iranian singer Homayoun Shajarian (two sold-out nights in 2024), plus Ukrainian rock band Okean Elzy and Greek singer Konstantinos Argiros as examples of the venue’s recent diverse booking policy.

“In a multicultural city like London, it just increases the potential audience numbers we can welcome each year,” he says.

The immigration boom in the United Arab Emirates is also now seeing a sharp uptick in shows aimed at the different diasporas now living there.

James Craven, president of Live Nation Middle East, cites shows this year by Taiwanese star Jay Chou and Filipino rock band Rivermaya as being indicative of where the market is going there.

“[These acts’] shows were the first concerts organised by Live Nation Middle East specifically targeting these communities and are part of a growing trend of global artists, especially from Asia, connecting with their audiences here,” he says. “Rather than just focusing on bringing the same artists back, our strategy is to grow the roster of talent appealing to these audiences. There is clearly a demand for Mandopop, Cantopop and Original Pilipino Music – opening the door for more artists within these genres to perform in the Middle East.”

Tours by acts with strong diasporic audiences in Europe are increasingly seeing opportunities being unlocked in North America.

Live Nation Belgium is working to expand the reach of Murda, a Turkish-Dutch artist who raps in Turkish

Live Nation Belgium is working to expand the reach of Murda, a Turkish-Dutch artist who raps in Turkish. As well as playing shows in a number of Turkish cities, he has toured in Antwerp, Paris, Hamburg, Cologne, Berlin, Zurich, Stuttgart, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and London – but also, and more interestingly, Toronto, Los Angeles, New York, and Boston.

Robin Tulkens, head of talent buyers at Live Nation in Belgium, says this all sprang from a growing relationship with Omer Karabulut at Amsterdam-based Capitol Bookings. “Arno de Waard, one of our talent buyers, and I have been promoting shows with domestic artists for many years,” says Tulkens. “Three years ago, Omer reached out to us asking if we could help him with building a European tour and use the Live Nation network for that.”

Most of the rooms Murda played on his first run had a capacity of 1,000–1,500, dropping down to 450 in Copenhagen (which has a smaller Turkish community), but leaping to 2,300 in London.

It is a sign of how important these touring segments have become that both Live Nation and AEG are getting involved here and hoping to capitalise on the current market and, in doing so, accelerate its growth. Praise, however, for the pioneering work here has to go to a wide range of specialist promoters and ticketing companies who began by serving their own diasporic communities.

Know the Experts
Raven Twigg is senior programming manager for the arenas division at ASM Global. She says specialist promoters, like TCO Group, have been central to getting the market to where it is today.

While a company like FishCanFly does not have a UK office, Twigg says they were key in driving the NO Music Festival at Wembley in December. “They were a brand-new promoter, and we were quite cautious about it,” she admits. “But it ended up selling really well, and it was a great show.”

It is important, Twigg says, to nurture new promoters and to lean on their expertise in matching international acts to diaspora audiences. Magic Sound Entertainment is a key name bringing acts from China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan into Western markets. “They are based [in the UK], but they spend a lot of time over in China, and they just know what works,” she says. “We’ve built a really good relationship with them. Last year, they were just behind Live Nation in the amount of money they made for the arena.”

“Our relationships with specialist promoters and their knowledge, understanding, and passion for their culture are essential”

Drury says it is critical that venues develop deep relationships with specialist promoters. “They can inform us about what’s the best angle and where they think you can draw from the community in the best way,” he says. “We defer to them.”

Jen Mitchell, managing director of NEC Group Arenas (covering Birmingham’s Utilita Arena and bp pulse LIVE), says linking up with key local promoters has been central to growing this part of their business.

“We have proactively developed close working relationships with specialist promoters such as TCO, Grace Entertainment, The Musik World, TLC Events, Rock On Music, and Skystar Media as part of a very deliberate strategy to grow the presence of South Asian music events in our programme,” she says. “Our relationships with specialist promoters and their knowledge, understanding, and passion for their culture are essential to delivering these events successfully while growing audiences year on year.”

Within this, however, is a need to do due diligence on new companies in the space; but there is also a need to help develop and guide the new wave of promoters coming through, not just relying on the established names. New promoters rising up can make the bookings more interesting and find the headliners of tomorrow.

“We get references, and we make sure that the people putting on the shows have got that experience of working to a certain level,” says Harrison. “But also, at the same time, we are open to working with new ideas and helping promoters. The team here does an amazing job with assisting promoters to do their first arena shows.”

Melting Pot
Wembley is keen to develop a reputation as the UK venue most open to acts from different countries who can play to growing diasporic audiences. In helping new specialist promoters, they see a domino effect whereby other promoters are coming to the venue with their own ideas for shows.

“Wembley has built up this profile that we are easy to work with and that we’re willing to try these types of shows”

“In attracting new promoters and new markets, Wembley has built up this profile that we are easy to work with and that we’re willing to try these types of shows,” says Twigg. “We had one Iranian show last year [Googoosh], and now we’ve got three Iranian shows booked this year [including Moein and Ebi Hamedi]. People see it and think, ‘I want to do this for my community. I’m going to reach out to Wembley Arena.’”

At the Albert Hall, a hybrid way of operating is now firmly established – supporting new and specialist names as well as working with the biggest names in global promotion.

“We’ve welcomed a mix of promoters, from independent names linked closely to their communities, such as Tar Events [for Homayoun] and Beyond Basket [for Okean Elzy], to co-promotions between diaspora-linked promoters, such as Uptown Events, working alongside established UK promoters, such as Senbla, all the way up to Live Nation, who promoted the three nights of Hins Cheung successfully,” explains Gamble. “We appreciate that playing at the Royal Albert Hall will carry deep meaning for a large number of artists and audiences.”

Live Nation is also deploying a composite strategy for the acts it is bringing into the Middle East. Its shows in early 2025 for Jay Chou and Rivermaya were done “through close collaboration with a range of local and international partners,” says Craven. This means a potent mix of market muscle and audience/community expertise, suggesting new working templates for the future.

While many of the diaspora shows are targeted at communities and audiences that have been steadily building up, often across multiple generations, in particular areas, some are happening due to unexpectedly swift migration patterns.

Speaking to IQ for our Global Promoters Report last year, Sara Gigante, general manager at Charm Music Belgrade, explained how a significant new audience category has rapidly become evident in Serbia and Türkiye. Many (often educated and affluent) Russians are leaving their home country in protest at the actions of Vladimir Putin, most significantly the war in Ukraine.

“Belgrade, together with Istanbul, [is where they move],” she explained. “Russians don’t move to the countryside – they move to Belgrade. This has created a new trend, which is promoting Russian bands in Serbia – for Russians – with considerably high ticket prices.”

“Marketing and promoting these shows requires a more tailored approach than the campaigns for major US or British acts”

Audience in Sight
For some audiences, data is now everything. For others, experts within the diasporic communities will best know the types of shows that could work.

“With K-pop, we have a lot of data as that’s a very online audience,” says Harrison. “With South Asian artists, that’s still a very traditional approach of hard tickets in shops in the community. You need to be plugged into that community to shift tickets.”

Craven says the marketing strategy in the Middle East has to be characteristically different from marketing Western acts. “Marketing and promoting these shows requires a more tailored approach than the campaigns for major US or British acts,” he explains. “We work closely with community-focused media to directly engage with the audiences we’re trying to reach. For Rivermaya, we partnered with Filipino outlets with strong ties to the local Filipino community to make sure the message reached the right audience. For Jay Chou, our partner launched a dedicated campaign in China that targeted Mandopop fans and promoted Dubai as a must-visit destination, boosting both ticket sales and tourism.”

Gamble says the refined strategy at the Albert Hall is a potent blend of old and new marketing techniques. “For example, we have an upcoming performance of the Telugu-language film RRR [for the In Concert series] on 11 May, which has meant we’ve had to explore new channels to reach audiences beyond the tried-and-tested methods,” he says. “This might mean working alongside partners in local communities to spread the word or even exploring the use of TV adverts on smaller diaspora-focused channels, as well as more physical promotion techniques, which are less used for the majority of shows these days.”

For the Murda shows, Tulkens took a blended approach. “We’ve worked together closely with Murda’s team to identify the best target audience for online advertising,” he says. “We’ve also worked together with local Turkish street promoters in some markets, which really helped us in targeting the right audience.”

Speaking to IQ for its Global Arenas Guide 2025, Steve Hevern, general manager of the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia, explained how investment in organisational systems and teams is critical when approaching this burgeoning market.

“[We] launched a strategic programme to enhance audience engagement through a mix of customised communications and segmented marketing, driving deeper connections with culturally specific communities,” he said. “[This includes] messaging in the primary languages of key audience groups, such as Mandarin, Hindi, Korean, and Punjabi.”

“Streaming and social media enable artists to build enormous followings quickly”

Geolocated social media and streaming data is now offering insight tools that were inconceivable in the last century. Along with traditional marketing strategies, this gives promoters and venues greater precision in their bookings.

Have Love, Will Follow
“We work closely with streaming platforms to track listening trends, social media to analyse engagement and audience demographics, and local tourism boards to understand which markets are driving visitors to the UAE,” says Craven. “We also collaborate with local media and radio to monitor demand and identify which artists are generating interest. Together, this helps us identify which international acts resonate most with audiences in the region.”

Mitchell is effusive about the multitude of benefits these new digital platforms are bringing to live music.

“Streaming and social media enable artists to build enormous followings quickly,” she says. “This means that artists who have perhaps never performed in the UK may have strong potential audiences, and their management can track hot-spots of these audiences through streaming platforms to identify what regions would likely deliver the best ticket sales.”

Digital data can dramatically de-risk things here, turning hesitancy around some bookings into certainty.

“The ability to quickly check to see the number of followers and plays an artist has in the UK market and worldwide is of amazing help in terms of decision making,” says Gamble. “Recently, we were able to decide on an international comedy/Internet sensation who had yet to play in the UK. Working with the promoter, we could see that, despite the main markets for the artist being in the Far East, the artist still had a strong enough following in the UK – their third-biggest market according to followers and plays – to take a chance on the date. This was proven as we very quickly sold out a single night and rolled to a second date. In previous years, this would likely have been the sort of inquiry we wouldn’t be able to take a risk on.”

“We’ve done more K-pop shows than any other arena in the UK, without a doubt”

Some acts can start out appealing exclusively to the diaspora in a certain city but then go beyond that to appeal to multiple different audience segments. K-pop, Latin, and Afrobeats are all clear examples of genres that have achieved this in the past decade or so.

“We’ve done more K-pop shows than any other arena in the UK, without a doubt,” says Drury of Wembley’s central role in building the live K-pop market in the country. “Our first one was BigBang in 2012. Then the audience was entirely diaspora-based because nobody else really knew what the band were about […] Now, it’s such a crossover.”

Not all diaspora shows will cross over like K-pop has – and nor should they. They do not have to be solely measured on their mass market appeal because many are serving a particular cultural function for the diaspora in specific cities. They are celebrations of the music and culture of the diaspora and should not automatically be expected to compromise, artistically or linguistically, to travel outside of the diaspora.

“With the Iranian shows [we have booked at Wembley], there’s definitely not a crossover with anyone outside of that community,” says Twigg. “It is for the community. […] That is a market that’s growing. It has got the attention of that community. They’re just coming out to the shows and enjoying it.”

Gamble believes the live business is only scratching the surface of what is possible here as new opportunities for previously underserved (or ignored) diasporas are opening up.

“We are seeing an increased number of enquiries from Middle Eastern and Persian artists, as well as artists from across the African continent, with audiences who are very keen to come along and support [them],” he says, adding that upcoming bookings include Georgian artist Valery Meladze, acts from the Philippines and Tanzania, as well as a multi-artist gospel music bill with artists from South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, and Jamaica.

There are a multitude of reasons for investing in more diaspora shows and expanding the addressable audiences. But this should not be something where commercial reasons are given priority over cultural reasons. Any moves here have to be fully informed and culturally aware, which is why carefully collaborating with, or formally partnering with, diaspora-based experts is essential. It is they who best understand their own communities, as well as how to find and nurture loyal audiences. This is how a richer and more expansive diaspora touring sector can truly flourish.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.