Livehouse caught in traffic anxiety: "Everyone is going to the festival"

21st Century Business Herald reporter He Hongyuan reported from Chongqing

The craze for the offline gig market doesn't seem to have swept into livehouses.

According to data from the China Performance Industry Association, from January to August 2023, the box office revenue of the national performance market will be 27.07 billion yuan, far exceeding the annual performance box office of 20.04 billion yuan in 2019. In the first half of the year, the box office revenue of commercial performances nationwide was 16.793 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 673.49%; the number of games was 193,300, a year-on-year increase of 400.86%; The number of visitors was 62,236,600, a year-on-year increase of more than 10 times.

Music festivals are an important driving force for the recovery of the performance market. From September 29 to October 6, 2023, there were 44,200 commercial performances (excluding performances in entertainment venues) nationwide, an increase of 227.68% over the National Day holiday of the previous year, box office revenue of 2.005 billion yuan, an increase of 322.14%, and 11.8035 million audiences, an increase of 261.83%. Among them, there were 121 large-scale concerts and music festivals, with a box office income of 541 million yuan and 836,600 spectators, accounting for 27% of the total market box office.

However, this situation has had an impact on Livehouse.

"Whichever city has more music festivals, the box office of the city's livehouse will inevitably be poor. Especially this year, the number of livehouse performances and the box office have dropped significantly, and people are going to music festivals. At the 2nd China LIVEHOUSE Industry Summit 2023 held in Chongqing, many Livehouse managers sighed.

The Japanese band "Campanella on Wednesdays" performed at the Beijing Livehouse in Jiangjin. Reporter He Hongyuan/photo

Diversified?

Liang Chu is deeply touched by the anxiety of Livehouse.

He is the owner of LIVEHOUSE and SPACE POOL. "We are now facing the stock of Lemin, and the box office in Zhuhai is not as good as it was three years ago. He said.

Geng Xin, the manager of Dalian Hertz Space and the guitarist of the band Rumours, pointed out that the core problem is the insufficient supply of high-quality content. "A project like a music festival with a lot of exposure and high revenue will definitely attract a lot of resources to the past. He said.

This situation may be peculiar. Geng Xin said that when he went to Taiwan, China, "big names" such as Wubai and Zhang Zhenyue would still perform in Livehouse. But this is difficult to imagine in the Chinese mainland market.

There is a vast market relationship behind it. A number of leading agents lamented to the 21st Century Business Herald reporter that the huge market has given well-known artists a lot of choices. "Monetization efficiency must be considered. This is also responsible for the company behind it. "They have a similar consensus.

And under the frenzy of the music festival, the waist band that originally belonged to the Livehouse was also snatched away.

And so, the change began.

Liang Chu revealed that his venue has been doing cross talk and talk shows. "There are not so many self-restrictions, and after there are more performances, the venue schedule is filled and a diversified situation is formed. He explained.

But with the popularity of talk shows, this category has its own venue.

"Later, we did a cross talk special, and the subsidy income was very good. I also took on a lot of KPOP (Korean pop music) girl group performances, which is very non-rock, but can survive. In addition, the head Livehouse manager in North China told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter.

The above transformation has to make people rethink, what is a livehouse?

"If we just open a small bar in the city and sell a little bit of alcohol, it's really hard for us to keep this thing going on for a long time. Zhu Ning, founder of VOX, said.

Back to music

Objectively, livehouses are crucial to the music industry ecosystem.

For example, the tavern at the end of Yulin Road that Zhao Lei sang about in "Chengdu" is a well-known local livehouse. The tavern accompanied Zhao Lei through a relatively difficult time before becoming famous.

Li Lin, CEO of Xiudong, believes that Livehouse is the starting point for the sustainable development of the content ecosystem. "The ground floor should be the Livehouse, the upper floor is the music festival, the next floor is the gymnasium, and the next floor is the stadium. He analyzed. Du Wenqing, the manager of the Rejuvenation Dan band, also said that he often goes to the Livehouse to find new people.

"At present, the quality of domestic music is not high, but the market demand is huge. So we watch a lot of large-scale concerts, and they explode inexplicably, which is a problem of the industry in the final analysis. Li Lin said. He felt that Livehouse could solve the problem of lack of content from the bottom.

But the reality is that the "exploded" performance further squeezes the living space of the livehouse.

A solution needs to be found in this situation. Shen Yi, the manager of Zhengzhou 7LIVEHOUSE, pointed out that the operation needs to be further professionalized. "It can't just be limited to Lemin. Livehouse is a venue in itself, and it is necessary to do a good job of service and connect all the content. It is necessary not only to provide venues and content, but also to do incubation, as well as performances, planners, and designers. It's not a venue thing, it's a company thing. There are some that we don't do well. He said.

In addition, the head Livehouse manager in the central region admitted to the 21st Century Business Herald reporter that there is room for professional operation, which is even the core competitiveness. "Modern Sky has a lot of resources, but there are also failed livehouse projects. The market has deteriorated, and differentiation has to be more pronounced, which cannot be standardized. He said.

In addition, since most of the people who run the livehouse are rock musicians, this makes them resistant to "publicity". Such a mindset also affects survival.

"We have a very closed circle, only for those who like music. Now Xiaohongshu, Douyin, etc., are the ways that the new generation of young people choose to obtain information, we want to promote independent music and culture, are you trying to promote it in the same way, so that more people will accept you?" Shen Yi did not shy away from saying.

Zhu Ning emphasized that livehouses should return to music. "I hope everyone can discover local musicians in their own city, and you can't rely on content to find you, Chinese content is scarce, especially now that demand exceeds supply. We have to put ourselves in the mindset of the music industry to do this. He said.

"When you have money, you go to support the young band you like, and you reconcile yourself. Liang Chu is also balancing.

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