Chao News client reporter Qian Yi Yan Qianhui
Recently, a number of music festivals in China have announced postponements or cancellations. The music festivals that were supposed to start this weekend but were postponed include the Xinxiang Sun Planet Music Festival, the Wuxi Taihu Kowloon Music Festival, and the Yichang Rice Field Wheat Valley Music Festival.
Why is the music festival suddenly not fragrant this year? Where is the "wind that wants to see the show" blowing?
A year after the explosion
The music festival is "not fragrant"?
In April and May, spring flowers bloom, and it was originally the season for outdoor music festivals. This year, however, the festival "cancellation wave" came a little violently. As of press time, more than 10 music festivals have been postponed or cancelled, mostly due to "force majeure".
The festivals have been postponed or cancelled one after another, much to the surprise of many.
After all, the festival market was so hot last year.
According to the "Strong Recovery, Local Co-prosperity - Analysis of the Market Trends and Characteristics of Large-scale Commercial Performances in 2023" recently released by the China Performance Industry Association and Lighthouse Professional Edition, the box office of large-scale music festivals with more than 5,000 people in 2023 will be nearly 3.2 billion yuan, and the number of performances will exceed 700. Among them, large-scale music festivals with a box office of more than 5 million accounted for 20%, an increase of 11% compared with 2019, and the overall outburst was a blowout. In addition, the festival has also "sunk" significantly, with 23% of the 78 host cities covering 24 provinces.
"There may be many reasons for choosing to postpone or cancel, such as the temporary change of supporting content and landing policies, which are objective and subjective, such as the box office is not as expected. Some industry insiders said that for whatever reason, it was the music fans who were "most hurt" to directly stop the festival's performances.
The young man who carried the box office
No more "rush when you have a ticket"
In fact, music festivals have been developing in China for more than 20 years. In recent years, domestic music festivals have continued to enrich music styles, performance forms, and experience projects, especially in the performance lineup, which has consciously developed in the direction of popularization, attracting a large number of young audiences.
According to the data provided by Ferris Wheel Ticketing, there were 142 music festival projects launched on the platform in the first four months of this year, and ticket sales decreased slightly compared with the same period last year, and some performances were discounted. "Compared with 2023, this year's festival market is gradually returning to rationality. Ferris Wheel Ticketing CEO Liu Shu said.
The reason for this is, first of all, the high ticket prices, which make young people hesitate to buy tickets.
According to the data of the China Performance Industry Association, the ticket purchase of large-scale music festival audiences in 2023 is mainly concentrated in the 200-500 yuan ticket stall. Among the 30 music festivals that have been officially announced on May Day this year, the average single-day ticket price of most of them exceeds 500 yuan, of which the highest single-day ticket price of Changzhou Taihu Bay Music Festival has reached 888 yuan.
On April 15, the 2024 Wuhan Strawberry Music Festival officially announced the performance lineup of the May Day schedule on Weibo, although there are popular singers and bands such as Chen Qizhen, Chen Li, Second-hand Rose, and Sue Wuren, who are popular among young people, but in the face of the lowest ticket price of 588 yuan in a single day, some netizens said, "It is better to watch Chen Li's solo concert directly."
In addition to the impact of high ticket prices, the festival is opening more and more, and the lineup is becoming more and more repetitive, which gives young people room to "shop around".
During this year's May Day holiday, Wang Sulong will successively participate in the Shangyu Oxygen Jixiang Music Festival, Changzhou Taihu Bay Music Festival, Tai'an New Youth Music Festival, and Qingdao Hi Me Youth Music Festival. One of his fans next to the reporter finally chose Shangyu's session: "Compared with the most cost-effective cost, and I can see the landlord's cat at the same time, I feel more worthwhile." ”
In Liu Shu's view, there are many factors that affect the sales of music festival tickets, mainly including artist lineup, ticket price, on-site environment, time schedule and so on.
Is the next festival worth looking forward to?
While young people no longer "want to go to every venue equally", that doesn't mean the festival fever has receded. There are still about 30 music festivals that will be held in more than 20 cities this year, and some single-day tickets such as Beijing Super Strawberry Music Festival, Shangyu Oxygen Jixiang Music Festival, and Changzhou Taihu Bay Music Festival have been sold out.
In the comment section of the Weibo topic #More than 10 music festivals have been canceled or postponed this year#, music fans expressed their expectations for the festival: "I hope the ticket price can be more reasonable", "It would be nice if the band you like to perform for a longer time", "The organizer should find a venue closer to the city"......
The most mentioned ticket prices and performance lineups are actually what the organizers are trying to balance. "From the perspective of the long-term development of the music festival market, we should pay more attention to whether the live music is good, whether the overall atmosphere is good, and whether the facilities and environment are good, rather than simply looking at the artists and ticket prices. Yu Zhen, the person in charge of the Oxygen Music Festival, said that mature music festival brands still need to think about how to amplify the IP effect, do a good job in vertical segmentation, etc., to bring music fans a better experience.
Many people in the industry are still optimistic about the future of the music festival market. Liu Shu believes that with the upgrading of the consumer market, watching music festivals and other cultural and entertainment performances has become an important part of the spiritual life and entertainment of citizens, especially the young people's enthusiasm for cultural performances and spiritual entertainment. In addition, the integrated development of 'cultural tourism + performance' will also give rise to more new formats, new products and new services. ”
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