The reopening of venues for major events such as sports and concerts has rekindled consumer interest in concerts, underscoring expectations that 2022 will be a strong year. power of live music.
In the United States alone, consumers 13 and older say they’re willing to return to live concerts this year, according to Music 360’s most recent study conducted in 30 countries by the company. market monitoring Luminate (formerly MRC Data / Nielsen Music).
Of those surveyed in February, 36% of US consumers said they plan to attend a concert next year, compared with 15% who said they attended a concert the year before. , Luminate said.
Another sign that live music is making a strong comeback in 2022 is a spike in searches for “concerts” on the internet. Google. Search volume for that keyword is already close to pre-COVID-19 levels after a slight drop during the Omicron surge earlier this year.
Data has been backed up Living country Entertainment’s latest quarterly report shows concert attendance, ticket sales, quarterly revenue, and other core business metrics to date. exceed Luminate shows pre-pandemic indicators for the same period.
The Live Nation promotion giant previously said that “2022 is on track to become the biggest year in the history of live music.”
That statement comes as the number of shows it promotes increased 20% in Q2 2022 to 12,500 from 10,000 in the same period in 2019 before the pandemic, while concert attendance increased by 20 % to 33.5 million fans during the same period.
Ticket sales increased 38% to more than 100 million tickets, while average spend on the site increased 30% to $38.50 per fan from $29.50 in Q2 2019. The company generated $4.4 billion in revenue across all divisions including concerts, ticket sales, and advertising & sponsorships, up 40% from 2019 levels.
“As we prepare for 2023, every corner of the globe is open for concerts and we are aggressively targeting all markets with the largest artist scale we have ever seen in this time of year,” said Live Nation President and CEO Michael Rapino a month ago.
Pent-up demand has certainly fueled an uptick in live concert attendance this year after fans huddled in their homes for much of the pandemic. Artists, event promoters and other players in the live music industry are set to profit enormously from the recovery in demand.
“Despite all the disappointments in the live music industry over the past few years, Live Nation’s strong quarterly reporting coupled with Luminate’s internal research and Google’s search interest in concerts has improved shows that consumers still believe the program(s) must continue,” said Luminate.
It also raises the question of whether the return of live music will replace the live streaming concerts that have become so popular during the pandemic.
Just this weekend, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and producer Andy Lau attract a whopping 350 million fans online for his virtual concert, beating his previous record of more than 100 million attendees in another online concert last year.
However, research by a group including Middlesex University in London last year suggested that virtual concerts are here to stay.
Research conducted with partners including the Musicians’ Union, the Incorporated Musicians’ Association (ISM), the Music Venue Trust and Serious, shows that 90% of musicians and 92% of fans are optimistic that Live will be a successful tool to reach audiences who are unable to go to physical locations.
“Access Live music events emerged as an important topic in our research, not only the potential of live concerts to reach audiences around the globe but also music fans. Musicians have social anxiety or other health-related problems that prevent them from attending music events in one-on-one, according to Dr. Brian Kavanagh, a lecturer in Digital Innovation at King’s College in London. London.Worldwide music business
