The Australian music festival market has undergone a major upheaval in the last month.
In a short span of time there’s been the cancellation of Harvest, Pyramid Rock, and Big Day Out‘s second day in Sydney, and troubles for the likes of the inaugural Boomerang, ATP’s Release The Bats, Supafest, as well as the likely cancellation of Summadayze as messy liquidation proceedings get underway for Future Entertainment Pty Ltd and Fat As Butter promoters Mothership Music.
The solution to ailing festivals? Get better lineups and keep the prices reasonable, at least that’s according to the results of a survey published by Moshtix.
The ticketing agent’s bi-annual State Of The Industry report has delivered their latest results, via The Music, demonstrating that over 98% of the 5,000 music fans surveyed count lineups as a key factor in their decision to attend a music festival.
Of that same group, 93.7% had attended a music festival in the last two years, with 45% attending four or more festivals in that time. Figures showed that while great lineups were the most important factor, so were (the lack of) timetable clashes and sound and lighting were close behind.
Falling further behind in importance in affecting the festival experience were an event’s decoration or theme, food and drink prices, and after parties. Demonstrating that for most, it’s all about the music, and the cost of getting it.
“It’s difficult to come up with an all encompassing festival statement,” says Moshtix CEO Harley Evans. “Some festivals are known for their line-ups and headliners and others are hoping to have a mix of artists and may not need a headliner… I think nirvana is for a promoter to announce their festival without a line-up and still get a response;” the kind of luxury that international brands like Glastonbury enjoys, and which the Meredith and Golden Plains festivals have achieved in Australia. “Artists aren’t getting cheaper, but [promoters have] got to keep ticket prices in check. We’ve seen that once prices get to a certain point people start to fall off.”
Speaking of the increasing costs of running (and especially booking bands for) festivals, Evans says: “Artists aren’t getting cheaper, but [promoters have] got to keep ticket prices in check. We’ve seen that once prices get to a certain point people start to fall off.”
The Moshtix State Of The Industry 2013 results show that lineups that don’t appeal and financial reasons were the main reasons that punters didn’t go to a festival, at nearly 40% and 35.4% respectively. Additionally 19.4% of those surveyed said that it was the quality of other festival-goers that affected their decision to attend an event.
Interestingly, the results arrive following the spate of festival troubles, but the survey was undertaken ahead of the festival bubble looking to burst. “When we started the survey we hadn’t been exposed to some of the stuff that has come out recently,” says Evans. “We didn’t have the context then that we have now.”
Things may be looking up for the festival market however – the recent troubles perhaps being a reset rather than a sign of the end – with the survey showing that one in five respondents noting they’d increase their festival attendance in the next 12 months, while 86% indicated they planned to increase their live music attendance, as FasterLouder reports.
A distinct shift from the State Of The Industry 2011 report, showing that punters were becoming more selective about their festival attendance, with two thirds of respondents indicating they’d only spend up to $499 for festival tickets across a year.
Moshtix’s 2013 report also asked its 5,000 respondents about their attendance of local gigs as well as music festivals, with the results showing that it wasn’t artist or costs that were the biggest hurdles to local shows, but the lack of venues; 68.7% believed that there were no local venues in their area.
The responses showed that only 1.9% attended a local gig a few times a week, conversely over 42% said they instead attend a show a few times a year. “The reality is not every town can have a high quality commercially viable venue, so venues are getting people to travel,” said Mr Evans of the results, that demonstrated that like festivals, the lineups are still a key influence, with 98.1% indicating that it was their reason for attending a local gig.
Planning ahead is also important to punters, the majority of people surveyed bought their concert tickets well in advance, with over 35% buying tickets as soon as they go on sale, while a slightly smaller 33% purchased after sale but weeks before the show; just 13% waited to buy tickets on the door.
Going with others was a major factor in attending local shows also, with 75.2% admitting they check with friends to see who’s attending before purchasing a ticket, while over 53% said they went to local shows with two or three people.
As for where people find out about local gigs, Facebook has a scarily dominant share of the market, with 96.2% saying they found gigs through the social media site, while 21% used Twitter, 16.4% on Instagram, leaving just 3% for ‘other’ services.
From this perspective, Mr Evans noted that mobile ticketing services were the key to growth, based on feedback from the Moshtix CEO’s dealing with venues and promoters. “Mobile feels like the right place for that last minute conversation and purchase.”
