Beyond The Ticket: Creating Live Experiences That Better Serve Women (VNC Panel Recap)

There are many factors to consider when talking about the growing demand for live entertainment, including generation, economy and even the emotional climate of a region.

But data from just about any entertainment company point to a common denominator: women. With purchasing power and influence in planning events for friends and family, women are a major force in the business, driving ticket sales across the country, and venues and organizations are upping their game in catering to them.

The topic was recently discussed at the VenuesNow Conference in Seattle during the Beyond the Ticket: Creating Live Experiences That Better Serve Women panel moderated by Pollstar Editor Sarah Pittman.

Thayer Lavielle, managing director of The Collective, which is the women’s division of THE·TEAM, has helped lay out these facts for the entertainment industry with research led by the agency. She said that women not only drive the concert business but are “running the table in the global economy.” THE·TEAM looked at 12 different markets, 18 music genres and 15,000 respondents, men and women, to better understand how to approach marketing live events to both.

“Turns out that 83% of women are architecting a live experience for their groups,” Lavielle said. “It was not surprising to me that 83% of us are out there saying, ‘Hey, you guys want to go to a thing? OK, we’ll organize it. How many tickets? Where are we sitting? Where are we going? Where are we meeting? Let me just add that to the to-do list.’”

She added that 86% of women across the world will spend more money, and 54% of them are spending $100 outside the ticket itself and 11% are spending $500 more outside the ticket itself at avenue.

It’s valuable data that everyone is considering in the venue business, including the architects who design the spaces.

Julie Rinaldi, a principal at Populous, said that their job is to take those conversations and data points and move them into a physical space while removing any friction.

“How do you create venues that are designed in a safe way so that people can get to the venue safely, get through the lineups and get to their seat? The previous panel did talk about premium, but it’s also designing for unique experiences. And that covers women, but it also covers diverse populations,” Rinaldi said.

Creating family-friendly spaces, especially for women, is key these days, whether you’re a fan or the artist, Rinaldi adds, because of changes to the music business. Artists are on the road more these days because most of their income comes from touring and not record sales, so they often bring their families on the road.

“I think it’s just looking at the realities of the current world and designing for the future,” Rinaldi said.

Venues new and old are aware of the economic power women possess, but what will make a building stand out is delivering an experience that develops an emotional connection, said Courtney Carter, chief revenue officer for the Seattle Sounders FC and Seattle Reign FC.

Sixty-four percent of the Sounders’ Gen Z fans are female, which is almost 20% more than other Seattle teams when it comes to young females, according to Carter.

“So what does that tell us? That tells us we need to design retail capsule collections that reach them,” Carter said. “Our Hello Kitty capsule collection crushed for the Sounders and the Reign. How can we get them in, give them experience, give them a merchant retail experience that they’re excited about and then provide spaces for them to bring their friends and family that are fun outside of the game experience?”

That kind of action can influence change and inspire others to follow suit. Christen Greene, founder of South Sound Block Party at Port of Olympia and general manager of Live Nation’s Seattle venue, said that she formed her festival “out of a need that I didn’t quite know needed to happen in that town.”

She intentionally booked female-identified artists and stage crew, and she plans on incorporating the many lessons she’s learned working the festival at Live Nation’s upcoming venue.