New Live Nation Study Quantifies Benefits Of Branding At Concerts

Rich Fury / Getty Images for Coachella – St. Vincent
playing Coachella 2018

Live music is a good bet for your advertising dollars, argues a new consumer report released by Live Nation. In a note to marketers inside the report, Live Nation asks “how can brands be authentic and build relationships, effectively and at scale?” The fact that Live Nation is the world’s largest concert promoter weighs heavily in the pitch. 

 

The report’s ultimate goal is to underscore for brands the effect live music has on people. Most any music fan would agree there are few experiences like going to a concert, being in a venue with other fans, and witnessing a performance—whether it’s a jazz combo, a rock band or a DJ. Whatever positive reaction fans have can be measured. The camaraderie of live music can be measured. How people discover music and share their live music experiences can be measured, too.  

The study was conducted by Dr. Lisa Chanda, Ph.D. and TBD Labs. Chandra is quoted as saying the study provides “compelling evidence” that fans’ statements about live music’s impact matches the way their bodies actually react. The researchers measured biometric signals of 40 attendees of a St. Vincent concert and found changes consistent with increases excitement, emotional intensity, and a sense of bonding with other concertgoers. 

A global, quantitative survey got responses of 22,500 people in 11 “key music markets,” including the Untied States, the United Kingdom, France, China, Japan, and Brazil. Further quantitative surveys were given to 759 fans before and after concerts in the United States. Also in the United States, the researchers conducted qualitative ethnographers of 75 concertgoers and “intercepts” of 200 fans at concerts in variously sized venues. 

The reason for this report should be clear: Live Nation benefits from any evidence it can provide brands that their money is being well spent. Sponsorship and advertising accounted for 5 percent of Live Nation’s revenue but 59 percent of operating income—great margins in the low-margin concert promotion business—in the first half of 2018; brand spending has routinely accounted for a significant and important part of the company’s financial performance. Live Nation refers to its business as a “flywheel” with different revenue streams spinning of from the central promotion business. Ticketing is another spoke on the corporate wheel. 

And sponsors are often especially visible at music festivals. 

“Sponsorships are very important to the success of virtually any festival,” Bob Roux, Live Nation’s president, U.S. concerts, told Pollstar in March. Live Nation’s sponsorship and advertising efforts have been led by Russell Wallach since 2006. That year sponsorships accounted for just 3 percent of Live Nation’s revenue. “Russell’s team does a great job and, in many cases, he has corporate partners that are interested in many festivals across the U.S., just like they are interested in multiple amphitheaters across the U.S.”

Brands spend money in live music because of the strong relationship people feel with their favorite artists, with discovering music, and with the live music experience. Brands like to insert themselves in live experiences—branches of the U.S. military are visible at professional bull riding events, for example—and hope to become associated with the glow of the event. The live music attendee is an attractive consumer: greater-than-average affluence, more likely to spend money, are more connected (in terms of Twitter followers, as measured in this report), and, so they claim, are influential among their peers. These statistics paints and picture of a popular, relatively successful, free-spending person who might feel an affinity with a brand that share their enthusiasm for live music. 

Responses varied by international regions. When rating the statement, from agree to somewhat agree, “I am starving for experiences that put me back in touch with real people and raw emotions,” the highest average number—given only as 86 percent to 100 percent—came from China. Brazil and Mexico fell in the second group, 71 percent to 85 percent. The United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and France fell within the 56 percent to 70 percent range. Only 41 percent to 55 percent of fans in Sweden and Norway agreed with the statement. 

Some of the survey questions don’t apply specifically to music. Seventy-one percent of respondents agreed with the statement, “The moments that give me the most life are live experiences,” meaning 29 decent of respondents leave the door open to the possibility they get more life out of either recorded, simulated or virtual experiences. And two-thirds of respondents said the more they are emotionally engaged—in exactly what was not specific— they more likely they are to connect with brands and make purchases. 

But live music’s role in consumers’ lives has been well documented. In February, the United Kingdom released the results of large-scale 2017 live music “census” that examined the scale and health of live music. Although more of a business analysis, the U.K. report said live music “enhances social bonding, is mood enhancing, provides health and well-being benefits, is inspiring, and forms part of people’s identity.” 

 A bit more insight came from a 2015 report by ticketing company Eventbrite found per-head spending on live music in the United States grew from $29 in 2008 to $48 in 2014—the Live Nation report also mentioned growth in live music revenues. Eventbrite’s consumer survey found streaming was driving concert attendance by helping consumers become exposed to new music. 

It’s hard to imagine any brand would doubt that music has a powerful impact on fans. Any brand that might be a good fit for music would recognize that music-fan connection. What this report does is put hard numbers to what comes intuitively. It’s one thing to tell a brand it will benefit from being associated with one of a fan’s best moments in a given year. It’s another thing to have data to back up the assertion,