The Assam government on Wednesday approved a concert tourism policy to position itself as a premier music and entertainment hub and also as a “healthy" competitor to neighbouring Meghalaya, known as the rock capital of the Northeast.

Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the approval of the policy after a cabinet meeting held in Dergaon. Sarma said it will be launched with a “very big concert” in Guwahati on December 8, featuring American rap sensation Post Malone.

After the successful tour of British rock band Coldplay in Mumbai and Ahmedabad in January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged the states and private sectors to tap the vast potential of the concert economy and invest in concerts to generate revenues and employment.

The Ahmedabad concert had generated about ₹600 crore, something which Sarma highlighted along with the big-ticket concerts being held in Meghalaya in his media conference after the cabinet meeting.

Sarma posted on X: “Developing a Concert Economy in Assam. Cabinet has approved the “Policy for Concert Tourism in Assam” which aims to position Assam as a premier music and entertainment tourism hub to host large-scale concerts and music festivals.”

“Under this policy, state-of-the-art concert venues equipped with world class light and sound technology will be developed and Assam tourism will support concerts with required VGF (viability gap funding),” Sarma said.

The government has shortlisted three venues for the concert economy — Guwahati, Jorhat and Dibrugarh.

Stating that Assam wants to enter into a “healthy competition” with Meghalaya, which had last year hosted popular singers such as Bryan Adams and Ed Sheeran, Sarma said the government will extend help to the organisers or companies hosting the concerts in these three cities and is confident that they will give a big boost to the local economy.

Music fans from Assam often make the crowd in Meghalaya or Nagaland whenever there is an international band playing in these states. Holding such concerts, the government believes, will greatly help the local economy because there will be no dearth of fans if there is proper infrastructure.

Concerts are being held in Guwahati but these are individual efforts and not on scale as in Meghalaya or Nagaland, music sector sources said.

The government is betting big on the Post Malone gig for the launch of the concert policy. The US rapper-singer, Austin Richard Post, popularly known as Post Malone, is a an eighteen-time Grammy-nominated artiste.

Meghalaya plan

Meghalaya is also upping its game to become a major concert destination.

To capitalise on the momentum built by the successful hosting of the Bryan Adams, Ed Sheeran, Nick Carter and Mr Big’s Farewell tour, the state government was expanding Shillong airport’s runway to accommodate bigger aircrafts and also developing homestays, hotels and concert venues besides nurturing homegrown talent through the government’s Meghalaya Grassroots Music Project (MGMP).