Pride By The Numbers: Nielsen Music Data Reveals LGBTQ+ Over-Indexing Live Music Habits: Exclusive

(Lindsey Best/Courtesy Christopher Street West Association) –
Kim Petras performing at the 2018 Los Angeles Pride Music Festival

As LGBTQ+ consumers turn out in record droves for events like L.A. Pride, some exclusive data shared by Nielsen Music reveals just how voracious their musical appetites are.

In a study for 2017’s U.S. Music 360 report, exclusively shared with Pollstar, Nielsen Music found that LGBT consumers are 11% more likely to attend live music events than non-LGBT consumers, 33% more likely to say “Music helps me identify who I am” and 40% more likely to say “It is important for me to attend a live performance of my favorite musicians/bands.”

LGBT live music attendees typically go to more than 16 events a year (compared to 10 for the average U.S. live music attendee.) They’re willing to spend, too: 52% of LGBT consumers are more likely to have spent money to attend a music festival in the past year, as part of a buying power that in 2015 was measured by market-research firm Witeck Communications at more than $917 billion in disposable income for LGBTQ+ Americans alone.

“LGBT consumers are huge music fans. They’re definitely an audience that the music industry should be paying attention to,” says Matthew Yazge, VP-brand partnerships and LGBT subject-matter expert at Nielsen Music. “They really tend to be superfans, really plugged in and overindex in almost every genre. Given how much of the music experience has moved into live, it’s not surprising that they’re leading the charge there as well.”

Andrew Hampp is a music marketing consultant and founder of 1803 LLC, based in Berkeley, California.