The National Day holiday music festival drives 2 billion consumption, and the music festival behind the popularity of performances in small cities still has to "cross the robbery"
During this year's Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, the cultural and tourism industry recovered strongly, and the national holiday market was stable and orderly. According to the data center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the number of domestic tourism trips during the 8-day Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays was 826 million, an increase of 71.3% year-on-year on a comparable basis and 4.1% compared with 2019 on a comparable basis; The domestic tourism revenue reached 753.43 billion yuan, an increase of 129.5% year-on-year on a comparable basis, and an increase of 1.5% over 2019 on a comparable basis.
During this year's holiday, music festival consumption has become a highlight of cultural tourism consumption. According to data monitoring from the ticket information collection platform of the China Performance Industry Association, from September 29 to October 6 this year, there were 44,200 commercial performances (excluding performances in entertainment venues) nationwide, an increase of 227.68% over the November holiday of the previous year; box office revenue was 2.005 billion yuan, an increase of 322.14%; The number of visitors was 11,803,500, an increase of 261.83%. Among them, there were 121 large-scale concerts and music festivals, with box office revenue of 541 million yuan and 836,600 spectators, accounting for 27% of the total market in this type of performance.
In addition to the sharp increase in the number of participants, new trends and characteristics of music festival consumption have also emerged. For example, music festivals are no longer concentrated in first-tier cities, and second- and third-tier cities have gradually become popular venues; Compared with last year's National Day holiday, although this year's music festival still maintained a trend of high prices, the overall price has fallen; However, with the increase in the number of music festivals, some chaos is still inevitable.
Music festivals drive consumption in small cities
According to incomplete statistics, this year's National Day holiday music festival ushered in a peak in the number, major well-known music festivals, such as Nanyang Midi Music Festival, Jingdezhen Floating Liang Strawberry Music Festival, Taihuwan Music Festival, Foshan Guochao Music Festival, Zhenjiang Bubble Island Music Festival, Chongqing Galaxy Ark Music Festival, etc., appeared one by one, the total number of music festivals reached more than 60.
The more obvious feature is that not only first-tier and new first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are holding music festivals, but also second- and third-tier cities and some small counties. According to statistics from Tencent Music Research Institute, in the first half of 2023, music festivals in second-tier cities and below accounted for 57.9% of the total.
According to the National Day tourism platform data, the number of orders for niche destinations such as Anji, Nanyang, Changzhou, Foshan, Huai'an, Yanji, Jieyang and Antu more than doubled in 2019. From the perspective of the crowd covered, a music festival roughly accommodates 30,000-60,000 people, of which the Nanyang Zhongyuan Midi Music Festival accepts 150,000 people in four days.
In fact, the greater significance of the hot music festival market is to drive the development of the relevant cultural tourism economy and drive other related industries to indirectly achieve profits. For example, a variety of commercial services such as catering and drinking, grass camping, leisure and entertainment, tourism and accommodation have been derived from the vicinity of the music festival. For many music fans who watch the festival, grabbing tickets to the festival is only the first step, and everything after that indirectly promotes the development of the local tourism economy.
According to Chang'an Avenue, during the National Day, many second- and third-tier cities such as Jingdezhen, Foshan, Changzhou and Handan held music festivals and other activities, and the cumulative number of hotel bookings during these city holidays increased nearly 5 times year-on-year.
Taking the Nanyang Midi Music Festival as an example, according to Ctrip's data, the 3-day and 4-night music feast drove the overall order booking volume of Nanyang Eleven to increase by 11 times year-on-year, and there was also a double-digit increase over the same period in 2019. Among them, hotel bookings reached 153 times that of the same period last year.
According to data from the China Performance Industry Association, according to preliminary estimates, the average cross-city viewing rate of large-scale performance activities such as concerts and music festivals during the long holiday period reached more than 60%, and the cross-provincial viewing rate exceeded 45%, driving comprehensive consumption such as transportation, accommodation, sightseeing and surrounding shopping to exceed 2 billion yuan.
Hotel and ticket prices have "pullback"
Looking at today's music festival market, price increases have become an industry consensus. Take the Strawberry Music Festival as an example, in 2009 its ticket price was only 80 yuan; In 2011, the price of on-site single-day tickets was 100 yuan, and the student pre-sale single-day ticket only required 60 yuan; By 2016, the price of on-site single-day tickets had risen to 220 yuan, more than double the price five years ago; In 2018, the on-site single-day ticket for the Wuhan Station of the Strawberry Music Festival "doubled" again to 420 yuan; In 2022, its ticket price has risen to 680 yuan, 6.8 times that of 2011. During May Day this year, the music festival was also on the hot search because of the high ticket price, and some media calculated that the average single-day ticket price of the music festival in May reached 550 yuan, and the two-day ticket price reached 1480 yuan.
This year's National Day ticket prices continue to be high, but compared with last year, the overall price of this year's National Day Music Festival has declined, and the single-day pre-sale ticket price of Chengdu Cactus Music Festival has reached 999 yuan on National Day 2022. The highest ticket price is 1388 yuan, and during this year's National Day, most of the music festival tickets in the market remain around 500 yuan.
According to the data of the ticketing platform, the ticket price of the ordinary area with a luxurious lineup is about 500 yuan, and the VIP area is about 800 yuan. Due to the large number of performances this year and the increase in alternative options, the phenomenon of "one ticket is difficult to find" in the music festival is less.
Titanium Media APP noticed that contrary to the phenomenon of concert scalpers "selling tickets at a markup", this year's National Day, most music festival scalpers are selling at discounts. Taking the Zhenjiang Bubble Island Music Festival as an example, its lineup includes well-known independent musicians and bands such as Tao Zhe, Yang Qianwei, Chen Grain, Pu Shu, Chen Qizhen, Yu Ding Yi (formerly Soda Green), and the official price is 480 yuan for ordinary tickets, but 3 hours after the start of the performance, the price of on-site scalpers drops to between 250 yuan and 350 yuan. In addition, a Xiaohongshu user revealed that there are "staff" brought into the scene for only 150 yuan.
However, there are also individual festivals that have seen their prices soar. Take the Chongqing Galaxy Ark Music Festival as an example, the in-house price of its scalper tickets has nearly tripled, approaching the concert ticket.
It is worth noting that compared with music festival tickets, hotel prices make consumers' wallets tight.
Taking the Bubble Island Music Festival held in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province on October 1-2 as an example, the titanium media APP checked on the Qunar platform on September 28 that many hotel rooms near the Dixin Lake Park where it was held were sold out early, and their prices were several times higher than usual. The price before the full house ranges from 650 yuan to 750 yuan, and the hotel price of Zhenjiang South Station is also between 370 yuan and 450 yuan (more than 20 kilometers from the performance venue), on October 5, although it is still in the holiday, because the music festival has ended, the hotel price range near Zhenjiang Nanjing has been reduced to between 150 yuan and 250 yuan. Although hotel prices soared overall, due to the fact that most of the music festivals held during this year's National Day were concentrated in second-tier cities, compared with the prices of more than 1,000 yuan during the May Day period, the overall correction was still some.
The festival economy has yet to mature
While the festival is reaching out to the public, it is also moving towards commercialization in all aspects.
At present, the main companies holding music festivals are Modern Sky, Taihe Music and Midi Performance Company, but in the past two years, the capital in the entertainment sector has been particularly cold, and several financings of Modern Sky and Taihe Music occurred before 2018.
In media reports, at present, only about 10%-15% of music energy saving makes money, and most of them are brand music festivals such as strawberry and midi, and even can be returned before the ticket is issued, because such music festivals have long-term cooperative sponsorship and brand owners. In addition, other well-known brand music festivals, such as the Taihuwan Music Festival, are backed by local state-owned assets, and behind the Midou Music Festival and the West Lake Music Festival are local radio and television or newspaper group holdings, which have artist resources and capital promotion, and have strong anti-risk ability.
Other music festival brands should combine the title and local merchants to ensure that they do not lose money. According to a previous survey by Beijing Business Daily, a small music festival with less than 10,000 people as an example costs about 2 million yuan a day, while a large music festival with more than 10,000 people costs about 5 million yuan a day. In the cost structure, in addition to venue rent, stage sound and optoelectronics, security, and labor costs, artists' performance expenses and food and accommodation expenses can account for 60% of the cost. Some music festivals can spend 30 million yuan to 50 million yuan in 3 days, and artists account for a large proportion.
In the balance between "making money" and "losing money", it is difficult to achieve the good service that the audience expects. On social media, posts complaining about a certain music festival abound, "All kinds of inferior platter music festivals, feel free to get on the horse." "Without this equipment, I wouldn't have opened such a big venue, and I really couldn't hear it clearly." "Can you not put so many ads? How much do you charge for the pit? Titanium Media APP noticed that at a music festival in April this year, a large number of audiences even collectively shouted "refund" to express dissatisfaction while waiting for the performance.
During this year's National Day, there was also a music festival theft incident at the Nanyang Midi Music Festival, and a large number of music fans' materials were stolen, and the progress of related matters was also on Weibo hot search many times. Despite the efforts of the two levels of government in Nanyang to recover the losses of fans, the reputation of the Midi Festival and Nanyang City has still been affected.
In addition, there are many music festivals that have been temporarily cancelled this year. In some extreme cases, some organizers announce the cancellation of the festival once they find that the box office and investment are not satisfactory.
From the above point of view, it is not difficult for major organizers and local governments to hold music festivals, but how to retain the local music festival culture and develop into its long-term IP is the real challenge.
However, despite all kinds of chaos and adjustments, most industry insiders are still optimistic about the future of the music festival, and some industry insiders told the titanium media APP, "The balance between ideal and reality, art and business is actually not so difficult, in the run-in, it is basically enough for all parties to respect enough." (This article was first published in the titanium media APP, author | Yu Ying)