The concert boom and mysterious spending power after the epidemic
In 2022, after the haze of fighting the new crown epidemic gradually dissipated, the entertainment industry is filled with a thriving scene. With the gradual relaxation of the epidemic prevention policy, the singers in the entertainment industry who were forced to "house arrest" at home due to the epidemic have finally waited for the arrival of long-lost performance and touring opportunities.
After the bleak years of the industry almost completely shut down in the previous two years, an unprecedented concert craze swept in. Many of the top singers eagerly announced their tour plans, one show after another.
According to incomplete statistics, in 2022 alone, there will be thousands of star concerts nationwide, which is basically the same as the level before the epidemic, which can be called a "big explosion" in the entertainment market after the epidemic.
It is worth mentioning that the performance boom that swept the music scene is not only eye-popping in number, but also the production investment of the concert is unprecedentedly high. In order to present the most perfect stage image, many first-line singers do not hesitate to invest heavily in designing lighting and scenery, hire top production teams, and the cost of a single performance is more than 10,000 yuan.
Taking the powerful singer Hua Chenyu as an example, the production investment of each concert in his 2023 world tour is as high as 10 million yuan, which can be described as unrelenting.
What's even more surprising to the outside world is that even though the ticket price is expensive, even tens of thousands of yuan a ticket, the singer's supporters and fans are still there
After the epidemic, Hua Chenyu's sucess, which has a heavier music style, also shines at the box office and word of mouth. It can be seen that fans' spending power and support for celebrities have not diminished after the epidemic, and this unique phenomenon is obviously worthy of our in-depth discussion.
Wang Feng's concert highlights the plight of music veterans
If the singer who spends a lot of money to create amazing performances is experiencing the peak of his concert career, then for Wang Feng, a veteran singer with deep experience in the music industry, his touring career is full of difficulties and bottlenecks.
As a pioneer of Chinese rock music, Wang Feng has an extraordinary position in the music industry, and his representative repertoire cannot be counted. For example, "In the Spring", "Nothing", "Beijing, Beijing", etc., these popular golden songs have been sung almost all over the country.
It stands to reason that with Wang Feng's popularity and popularity, holding a solo concert should have been full and profitable.
However, the reality is very different. After the relaxation of the epidemic prevention and control policy, Wang Feng, as a veteran singer, also restarted the tour plan, but the first performance was an embarrassing failure.
According to the reporter's interview, there were very few full seats at the performance site, and most of the seats were empty, and the staff had to send text messages to the guests, asking them to consciously gather in the middle and front seats of the venue, which barely created the fake appearance of "warm scene".
The reason for this dilemma is that, despite its many hits and popularity, the Wang Feng group has not formed a broad enough and solid popularity base. His fans are relatively fixed and limited, and the social attributes of these fans determine that the overall purchasing power is relatively weak.
Today, with the continuous upgrading of entertainment options, a large number of young fans are more inclined to idol artists with richer pop elements, and their enthusiasm for old-school singers like Wang Feng is already limited.
Facing the deserted audience, Wang Feng came to stimulate the box office.
However, the price reduction did not achieve an equivalent increase in sales, and ticket prices were forced to fall to the bottom, and finally had to resort to ticket delivery or direct exchange of platform points for tickets to attract a thin audience.
A tour that was originally intended to repair the damage caused by the epidemic and re-set off the peak of his career eventually evolved into proof that Wang Feng's status in the music industry has been further weakened.
The dilemma of Wang Feng's concert fully exposed the dilemma faced by powerful veterans in the current entertainment industry. In the absence of effective commercial operations, it is difficult for these singers to gather a wide range of fans with strong spending power.
On the other hand, some newcomers who rely on their appearance and marketing to attract attention can easily start the climactic tour phenomenon, how can the veterans not feel a trace of loneliness and helplessness in their hearts.
Liang Jingru's concert was "surrounded" by scalpers
Unlike Wang Feng's performance dilemma, the biggest problem encountered by Taiwanese female singer Liang Jingru on tour came from the crazy "attack" of scalpers.
Liang Jingru has a wide range of fans in the mainland, especially those post-80s and post-90s music fans, many of whom grew up with Liang Jingru's singing. So when Liang Jingru announced her 2023 tour plan, she should have sold out with ease.
However, what everyone didn't expect was that on the day of the sale, Liang Jingru's social account comment area was swiped by a large number of unverified accounts, and they left messages asking for a "refund".
These accounts asking for refunds seem to be Liang Jingru's fans, but in fact, they are all set numbers specializing in concert ticketing scalpers. In order to pursue huge profits, they use professional software to snap up a large number of tickets for popular shows, and resell them at high prices for profit after grabbing a certain amount of tickets.
This tour of Liang Jingru is also a great opportunity for cattle to make a lot of money.
However, what the scalpers didn't expect was that the market response to Liang Jingru's performance this time was very average, and the demand for tickets from sincere fans was obviously weak. As a result, the large number of tickets hoarded by scalpers turned into a hot potato that was difficult to handle.
As a last resort, these scalpers chose to pretend to be "fans" and collectively poured into the comment area to "cry" and demand a refund of the ticket.
The comment area of Liang Jingru's account was occupied in a large area and was chaotic, but this also fully exposed the loss of control of the singer's market expectations for this concert. The consumption sentiment of fans is not high, and the box office expectations are not optimistic, which leads to the embarrassing situation of "admission tickets become invalid tickets".
is somewhat similar to Wang Feng's predicament, but there are differences, and Liang Jingru's box office dismal also makes people have to think deeply. Perhaps, in this era of rampant materialism and rapid upgrading of visual consumption, it is increasingly difficult for those old-school singers who only have beautiful singing voices and are not good at marketing packaging to make a sensation like in the past.
And the scalpers who understand this can only learn from the pain after the loss, shift the target, and look for the next star who is easy to be hyped up.
The secret of traffic idols "riding the wind and waves".
In stark contrast to Wang Feng and Liang Jingru's performance dilemma, it is the concerts held by some traffic idols, no matter how the epidemic prevention environment is tightened, they are still full every day.
The so-called traffic idols are usually idol artists who quickly grab the attention of fans by virtue of their outstanding appearance. The general characteristics of this type of artist are: the singing voice conditions are average, and the singing skills are limited; But with a sweet appearance and a hot body, it is easy to attract a wide audience.
For example, the recent concerts held by the idol group "X Jiu Youth League" in many cities in China are successful cases of traffic idols. Although these group members have only debuted for one or two years, they have a lot of room for improvement in their singing and acting skills, but they have successfully hooked the hearts of thousands of boys and girls fans by relying on their young and handsome appearance.
No matter how severe the epidemic prevention environment is, these fans still prompted them to buy concert tickets to support their idols, and the on-site shouts came one after another, pushing the atmosphere of the venue to the climax.
Therefore, the reason why traffic idols can start perfect performances with ease is because of the support of a huge and loyal fan base. These fans are large in number and have a strong passion for consumption.
As long as the idol sings, it is an ordinary song, and they will scream for it tirelessly. It is with this unreserved spiritual and material support that traffic idols can carry out their performance careers without worries, as if the epidemic has never had any impact.
Tragicomedy in the entertainment industry
From the performance dilemma of Wang Feng and Liang Jingru to the easy success of traffic idols, this sharp contrast makes people sigh at the same time, but also has to produce deep reflection.
The most thought-provoking of this is the serious misalignment of strength and traffic. The object is worthy of fans to invest money and energy in excellent works and acting skills, but the heat and resources of the current market often favor external packaging.
This reminds one of the cliché of "pirates", which can only be said to be particularly common and distressing in today's entertainment industry.
Secondly, the epidemic era has accelerated the "hypocrisy" of fans' entertainment choices. Intellectually, everyone knows that the conditions for the flood of traffic idols are not excellent, but in terms of emotional sustenance, the public seems to be more inclined to simple and straightforward external impressions rather than rigorous and rational internal judgments.
Otherwise, there will be no phenomenon of good singers being snubbed and bad singers being praised. This distortion of consumption once again proves that the connection between idols and fans is often emotionally beyond reason and blindly beyond reason.
Looking at the entire entertainment industry ecology, during this period, the style of music is simple, the production is extensive, and the trend of traffic stars in charge has taken shape. But we must also understand that exaggerating traffic and ignoring strength, hyping the appearance and forgetting the connotation, will eventually lay hidden dangers for the long-term development of the entertainment industry.
The current plight of veterans in the music industry is only the tip of the iceberg, and if the entire environment continues to degenerate, it will cast a shadow on the survival environment and development prospects of China's original music.
Fortunately, there is always a group of people in the industry who are trying to explore the path back to the essence. We must also maintain confidence and believe that the reincarnation of aesthetics and the development of the cause will eventually make the strength and other real value of the power regain due respect.
It's going to take a concerted effort from the industry and fans, but the results are sure to be gratifying.
epilogue
The cold concert of Liang Jingru and Wang Feng is only the tip of the iceberg, and more music veterans are also facing a severe test in the touring market. This reflects from one side that the impact of the epidemic is quietly changing the ecology of the entertainment industry.
The serious imbalance between strength and traffic, and the dislocation of fans' aesthetics, also make us have to think deeply: What kind of long-term impact will the consequences of this series of changes have on the music scene and even the entire entertainment industry? People in the industry must stay sober, keep the original intention of creation in the tide of marketization, adhere to the bottom line of rationality and aesthetics, and wait for the time when the storm will rise again.