Leadership / 11.15.18

Nielsen Releases In-Depth Statistics on Live Music Behavior: 52 Percent of Americans Attend Shows

Access Staff

Billboard (11/15/18) Rys, Dan

More than half of Americans—52 percent—attend live music events each year, according to Nielsen Music's 2018 Music 360 Report. Nielsen Music's Matthew Yazge said this indicates growth in festival attendance, noting, "I don't think we've hit the peak [of festival attendance] yet, so I would anticipate that to continue growing in the future as well." Sixty-eight percent of live event attendees patronized a concert, 66 percent a free outdoor community event with music, 51 percent small live sessions at a bar or cafe, 44 percent a music festival and 43 percent a club night with a live DJ. Such attendees were more likely to be millennials and Hispanic, and 35 percent more likely to come from households with more than $80,000 in annual income. In addition, they tended to spend an average of $247 a year on tickets to live music events, versus $147 a year for the general population. Moreover, 23 percent of such attendees were found to buy artist merchandise on-site, while 19 percent purchase new music or visit an artist's website. Overall population statistics calculated that 35 percent of people have attended a concert in the past year, up from 33 percent in 2017, while festival attendees saw the greatest year-over-year growth, from 18 percent to 23 percent.

Read the full article on the Billboard website. 

Tags: Music , News , Market Research