Reports Music

Return to live Post-pandemic music fans

Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano
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20,000 foot view:  Today’s live music audience skews            with rock concerts and theatres / concert halls dominating sales. Fandom is by far the strongest factor in purchasing tickets, eclipsing price, and location. So, despite challenges like inflation and scalping, most concertgoers plan to attend more or the same number of concerts going forward. However, strong differences emerge between five main concert-goer personas, based on frequency of attendance and annual spend. While this report presents a snapshot of today’s live music audience, the future live landscape will likely be more fragmented and less rock-centric, disrupting bigger artists and venues.

Key insights 

  • Live music            attend concerts more frequently as            age:            of            attend concerts regularly            very frequently, compared to            of           
  • Theatre and            hall venue tickets are the            popular on average, with three            of live music fans purchasing            in 2022
  • Rock is            far the most popular live            genre, as            of concertgoers name            among the three genres that            most often see live
  • However, rock’s            may diminish with new generations;            genre is pop, at            while            comes in at just            compared                       for           
  • Despite hip            streaming success, only            of concertgoers            to hip hop concerts most            illustrating the need to move            the mindset that live is            home for all genres
  • Fandom is            far the biggest factor in            concertgoer’s decision to buy a                       of consumers chose “it was            of my favourite artists” as            their top-three ticket drivers
  • Live audiences            across genres, with hip hop            pop fans skewing towards women,            rock being the oldest and            male-dominated
  • The “selective            segment, which represents the future            stadium and arena audiences, under-indexes            rock while over-indexing for pop,            R&B, and hip hop /           
  • Most concertgoers            to attend more            or the                       number of concerts in 2023            2022, reflecting enduring post-pandemic demand
  • The higher-spending            are most likely to attend            concerts in 2023, primarily due            rising ticket prices, and they            more likely to be aggravated            difficulties with the purchasing experience            added fees
  • As music            fragments and new generations age            the future of the live            will be more fragmented and            rock-centric, with larger artists and            most vulnerable to disruption

Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Bandsintown, Guns N’ Roses, Harry Styles, John Mayer, Little Simz, Lorde, Metallica, Pollstar, SZA, Taylor Swift