Revenue, Attendance Down For Aussie Concerts

The figures, released July 29, estimated that the live sector was worth A$1.2 billion ($1.1 billion), down from A$1.3 billion ($1.19 billion) the previous year). This was due to a 6.2 percent drop in attendance from 17.3 million to 16.2 million as well as a drop in ticket prices.

But Live Performance Australia’s chief executive Evelyn Richardson told Pollstar she was not worried by the figures.

“Consumer confidence was down across the board, certainly, but the live sector has remained relatively steady. We’re not hurting like some other sectors.”

The survey covers contemporary music, musical theatre, opera, dance, classical, circus and physical theatre, comedy and special events.

Despite a slight decline, contemporary music remained the largest sector. It generated 40% of revenue with a turnover of A$482.1 million ($444.90 million) from A$539.27 million ($497.62 million) in 2011, and attendance of 5.48 million, which proved a 7.7 percent decline from the year before.

Musical theatre, which followed, had 16.9 percent of revenue. Single-category music festivals (festivals of mainly one style of music) together grossed A$98.3 million ($90.72 million).

They represented an 8.2 percent share, up by 2 percent from 2011. Total attendance was up 18.7 percent to almost 1.17 million. Average ticket prices fell by 7.4 percent from A$138.97 ($129.20) in 2011 to A$128.71 ($118.81). Multi-category festivals, which included WOMADelaide and Vivid Live, added an extra A$12.9 million ($11.91 million) and combined attendance of 260,623.