Impact of Social and Digital Media on Indian Classical Artists, During the Pandemic

Author: ·16 Sep 2025

Topics

Audience Development

Creative Careers

Digital Futures

The ‘Impact of Social and Digital Media on Indian Classical Artists, During the Pandemic’ report gives readers a broad understanding of how Indian classical artists used online channels for professional growth, networking, brand development and audience development, over the past two years.

The study was conducted by ArtSpire, an India-based arts management and consulting company and Earthen Lamp, a UK-based cultural research and training company.

Key Findings

Opportunities and challenges – Independent artists have always been known to handle a myriad of activities. In addition to creating art, teaching and managing other administrative activities, artists today have to spend time and effort towards managing their social media presence as well. Hence the time on this activity is an important consideration that could help them prioritise across multiple aspects of their profession. While there is an explosion of activity on social media that could get overwhelming, setting aside time to spend on social media towards sharing content that is a representation of the artist and their work would be helpful.
Career and professional growth – Social media is a key driver in helping artists towards their career development and professional growth. It helps artists with building their visibility and growing their network within the ecosystem and provides them unbounded access to global audiences. It also serves as a medium to present new work and thereby build new audiences and relationships with stakeholders.
Developing alternative skills – With artists most often constrained for resources, equipping themselves with additional skills could offer additional support. Additional competencies such as technology, business and marketing skills could be helpful for artists.
Platforms and community building – To further their brand and build audiences, artists could consider leveraging the three primary social media platforms namely Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.