Taxes applicable on payment to international artist

i think your case falls in Rule 3 (Genral Rule) of Place of Provision os Service Rules, 2012 where location of Service receiver is the place of provision of service.

in your  case Artist (Service provider) providing service to you (Service receiver) & your location is in india (in taxable territory)  so service tax is applicable and in trems of revers charge you are laible to pay service tax (see Notification No. 30/2012-ST Dated 20-06-2012)

i would like to see opinion of other members also.

yes shiv prakash is correct and there liability to deduct tds @ 20.36%

It depends on how big is the payment, because TDS or Tax Deducted at Source is valid on Recurring Deposits and is deducted at 10% on the interest earned which exceeds Rs. 40,000. I almost got into financial problems a while ago, because I didn't know about this rule. We organized a concert in London, and we used mobile stage hire  services. After, when we wanted to make the payment, we didn't know that TDS has to be deducted, so when it all came out, my accountant and I had a lot of work to revise. This is done to protect the interest of lower-income investors, so still better than nothing.