The summer vacation is coming to an end, and the concert market, which has been booming for a year and a half, is facing a test. The scene of "hard to get a ticket" still exists, but there are also many concerts canceled or postponed due to "force majeure". Has the concert market

The summer vacation is coming to an end, and the concert market, which has been booming for a year and a half, is facing a test. The scene of "hard to get a ticket" still exists, but there are also many concerts canceled or postponed due to "force majeure". Has the concert market "entered autumn"? What factors determine the success or failure of a concert? New Yellow River reporters conducted extensive interviews with some concert organizers, venues, industry insiders and fans to take you to find out.

Jacky Cheung’s concert was not sold out in seconds

When they heard the news that Jacky Cheung was coming to Jinan for a concert, many people’s first reaction was surprise. After all, the last time the “god of music” came to Jinan for a concert was 12 years ago. , in that era when concerts were not yet everywhere, his arrival aroused great enthusiasm among Quancheng fans. Mr. Yin was lucky enough to grab a ticket that year and was deeply impressed by the scene. "That was the best concert atmosphere I have ever seen. It has not been surpassed so far. I am looking forward to experiencing it live again."

Jacky Cheung Sings Jinan Station Damai shows the number of people who want to watch

However, the "60+ Jacky Cheung Tour Concert" to be held from September 27th to 29th has been officially announced at Jinan Station for some time, but the box office has not been as expected. It is very popular. The Damai platform shows that this concert ranks first in Jinan’s new performance list. There are currently more than 65,000 people who “want to see” it, and there are currently 3 concerts with remaining tickets.

Xiaoshenyang Concert Jinan Station announced the cancellation

In addition, Huang Qishan's "Sunset·Not Late" Jinan Concert originally scheduled to be held on August 17, and Xiaoshenyang's "I am not! I am a singer!" on August 31st! "All concerts in Jinan have been cancelled. The organizer of the Xiaoshenyang Concert issued an announcement stating that the concert was canceled due to force majeure and that the concert could not be performed normally. This made people speculate whether the tickets could no longer be sold?

What about the nationwide concert market?

In the first half of 2024, the number of commercial performances nationwide reached 251,700. Among them, the box office growth of concerts and music festivals was strong. However, at the same time, there were cases across the country that were forced to perform due to low attendance or other force majeure factors. Cases of postponement or cancellation.

Before the cancellation of Huang Qishan's Jinan concert, Xi'an Station and Hangzhou Station also issued postponement announcements. Jacky Cheung and Eason Chan both canceled their concerts this year due to physical reasons. Aaron Kwok's Hefei concert was canceled due to inability to complete the stage construction due to on-site planning adjustments. JJ Lin's Zhengzhou concert was canceled due to venue conflicts with major sports events. Concerts that were previously canceled and were listed as "ticketed" are generally considered to be canceled due to poor box office performance.

Even if it is finally held as scheduled, the "hard to get a ticket" event will only exist for a few top singers. The organizers of the vast majority of "mid-waist singer" concerts will be more or less worried about attendance. After the concert, many organizers reported complaints due to poor live experience.

Concert tickets for some artists with high national popularity have been discounted. According to "Rhinoceros Entertainment" reports, the lowest discount on the ticket price for Jacky Cheung's Zhengzhou concert was 56% off. Tickets for the Mayday Shenzhen concert, which was caught in the lip-synching controversy last year, were directly discounted by half. Eason Chan, Twins, Rainie Yang and other artists with large public interest in the tour Different levels of discounts also appeared in the sessions.

Box office is related to many factors

The same singer holds a great success in a concert in another city, but is not accepted by the local audience in another city. For example, Sammi Cheng, who mostly works in Cantonese, may not have a good box office in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, but when it comes to Hong Kong, the concerts are sold out; Wang Jiaer's concerts are generally popular in first-tier cities, but the appeal of second- and third-tier cities is less. The profitability of concert tickets is related to many factors, including the singer's appeal, publicity efforts, market supply, ticket pricing, artist appearance fees, venue size, operating costs, etc.

Let’s take Jacky Cheung as an example. An industry insider said that Jacky Cheung’s ticket sales in Xi’an and Jinan are not ideal this time, largely because the concerts are too intensive. “As a national-level singer, Jacky Cheung’s concerts have a very large audience. Guang, although the price is high, there is no worry about selling.But in the early days, there were 6, 9, and then 3 shows in one city. After so many shows, the fans were almost gone, and the rest was filled by local audiences, but the number is limited after all. ”

Some grandstand tickets for Jacky Cheung’s concert cost more than 2,000 yuan.

Of course, the more important reason is the ticket price. Tickets for Jacky Cheung’s concert are much more expensive than other singers, and some grandstand tickets also cost more than 2,000 yuan. , which has shut out many fans with average financial conditions. In the past year or so, the performance market has been booming, which has led to a general increase in artist appearance fees and a significant increase in concert costs. It is rare that the lowest ticket price is less than 400 yuan in the market. concert. An industry insider revealed that the appearance fees of some young singers are even comparable to Jay Chou, reaching more than 40 million yuan. For the organizers, you can imagine the pressure on the box office. This is why the box office is far from covering the performance. Due to the cost, the organizer had to cancel the concert to stop the loss in time.

A venue staff told the New Yellow River reporter that before the concert started, the organizer usually paid the venue a deposit ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yuan. The deposit was not settled with the venue until before the concert officially started. "This deposit only accounts for a small part of the normal concert expenses, so if the box office is not good, the organizer would rather lose the deposit than cancel the concert." "

How should the cultural tourism sector and the audience respond?

Since March 2023, after a year and a half of recovery, prosperity and turbulence, the performance market has faced another test. In addition to concert organizers, the market has "cooled down" to local cultural institutions. The tourism sector and audiences have also brought challenges.

Since the recovery of the performance market, cultural tourism + concerts have significantly boosted the local economy, and many successful cases of cultural tourism + concert linkage have emerged. Where should local cultural tourism go next? ? An industry insider introduced the approval process before a concert to the New Yellow River reporter, "Before holding a concert, the organizer will first confirm the venue schedule, and then submit the cultural approval to the local cultural and tourism department after confirming the schedule. Apply for public security approval. After the two approvals are passed, the organizer can announce it. However, as a venue, no matter what the box office expectations for the concert are, it cannot interfere with the concert, unless there are special circumstances such as time conflicts caused by other important activities at the venue. "

The Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism has studied and formulated the "Implementation Plan for Further Boosting the Cultural Tourism Market"

Most concerts are organized by the organizers after preliminary research, and there are also local cultural and tourism departments who take the initiative. Invite artists to perform locally. For example, Taiyuan has made the city a new "concert center" through a series of "fan fan" activities this year. Shandong Province has recently made frequent efforts to promote cultural tourism consumption. Not long ago, the Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism studied and formulated the "Implementation Plan for Further Boosting the Cultural Tourism Market". The plan proposes to innovatively launch the "Travel to Shandong with Performances" activity. In the second half of the year, more than 3,000 commercial performances will be organized throughout the province to encourage Large-scale concerts and music festivals with more than 10,000 people are held in various places. The concert promotion activity of "Enjoy multiple tickets and travel to Qilu" is launched, and comprehensive preferential packages covering food, accommodation, travel, shopping and entertainment are launched for "fans". The key is to implement vacancy-tolerant pre-examination and shorten the approval time. A person in charge of a Beijing performance company told the New Yellow River reporter that he was very excited after seeing this document and had increased confidence in holding performances in Shandong. Since last year, Jinan City Cultural Tourism. The bureau also continues to launch "favorite fans" combinations, working hard on service guarantees, and strives to attract more young audiences.

Locals take the initiative to invite singers to sing, and they must have the ability to identify "box-office strength." Ms. Wang, an industry insider, said, "One type is popular and has high nationality, and has gained influence through the accumulation of works over the years, such as Jay Chou, Eason Chan, JJ Lin, Jolin Tsai, Andy Lau, etc.; the other type is based on fans to gain a foothold, although their songs have ordinary audiences. Not many can sing, but they have a huge fan base with high stickiness and strong purchasing power. These artists basically have no problem selling their concerts."

What needs to be added is that when inviting singers to sing, some singers are suitable for stadiums, and some singers are suitable for "small but beautiful" stadiums. The size of the venue and the frequency of singing also affect the box office to a large extent. Zhang Jie's performance at the Beijing Bird's Nest There were originally 6 concerts in a row, but two more concerts were added due to insufficient supply. The number of people wanting to attend the next three concerts also exceeded 500,000. The singer Ren Xianqi, who has accompanied the youth of a generation, was also held in Dalian recently. Two concerts were held, and the tickets were sold out early. The scene was very popular, and most of the attendees were old fans who had been following for many years. Next, Ren Xianqi will also perform in Shanghai, Yichang, Jinan and other places, once a month. It will consume the audience's enthusiasm too much, and the box office prediction is relatively ideal. "Generally, the first concert has the best box office, and the box office of the first tour is generally better than that of the second tour. Andy Lau and Jacky Cheung's popularity is not much different, but Andy Lau's tour will be later than Jacky Cheung's at the same time. When he started singing, Andy Lau's box office was better. "Ms. Wang said.

For the audience, if the concert for which they purchased tickets is canceled due to force majeure, how should they avoid irreparable economic losses such as transportation and accommodation?

On platforms such as Damai, every Every concert will present data on the "number of people who want to see it." Mr. Qin, a practitioner in the performance industry, said, "Usually, the ratio of the number of people who want to see it and the number of people who actually bought tickets is 10%-30%, usually about 20%, and at most No more than 30%. "But the data is sometimes unreliable. Another practitioner said, "Individual data are just brushed out. The average stadium can accommodate seven to eight thousand people, and more than 70% can make a profit, but if you want to see the number of people 5 If there are more than 10,000 people but it cannot be opened, it is difficult to say that there is no problem. I suggest that you pay more attention to the social accounts of the artists you want to see. If the artist works hard to cooperate with the promotion, it will generally not be cancelled."

Reporter: Ren Xiaofei Editor: Xu Min Proofreader: Dongping