Australian Live Music Sector Worth $1.3 Billion - MusicNSW

Live Performance Australia have just released their 8th Ticket Attendance and Revenue Survey, proving that the Australian Live Music Sector turned over $1.3 billion in the last year alone, with 17.5 million patrons attending shows across the country.

The survey conducted by the peak body for live entertainment and performing arts, LPA have demonstrates that contemporary music remains the largest sector, with a 41.3% share of revenue ($538.2 million) and 34.2% of ticket sales ($5.9 million). There has been a decline in this area since 2010.

However attendance was up by 0.6%. Average ticket prices rose by 0.6% too from $102.78 to $103.45.

Chief Executive of the LPA spoke to The Music Network about these findings earlier in the week.

”One factor that obviously comes into play as well as price is the ‘event’ phenomenon,” Richardson points out. “Concert tours by high profile artists that don’t tour to Australia regularly have a high ‘event’ value, and consumers will be much more driven by their love of that particular act and not wanting to miss out than by price.

“Similarly, music festivals provide an opportunity for music lovers to have a great day and night out with a group of friends and see a wide range of acts in the one hit, so even though their ticket prices can be high, it matches their value to people. Ticket pricing is a very subjective thing, and appropriate pricing naturally varies from act to act. Our research does suggest that consumers are prepared to pay premium prices for once in a lifetime experiences. There are certain acts that people just don’t want to miss.”

Music festivals showed a decline in gross takings (4.4%) and attendance has also declined by 4.2%. Big Day Out, Future Music and Splendour in the Grass have proven to be the biggest selling festivals the country according to this report.

NSW proved to be the largest generator of gross turnover compared to other Australian states. Following NSW is Victoria, QLD, WA, SA, South Australia, Tasmania and NT. (Go us!)

For more information on LPA survey statistics head here.