LPA Ticket Attendance and Revenue Survey 2016

Photo: Kinky Boots, Michael Cassel Group, Matthew Murphy

Festivals (Contemporary Music)Click for more info

The Festivals (Contemporary Music) category experienced significant declines in ticket sales revenue by 25.2% from $107m in 2015 to $79.9m in 2016 and by 48.2% in attendance from 1.3m in 2015 to 0.67m in 2016. Contemporary Music Festival revenue peaked in 2014 at $129.2m. Between 2014 and 2016 revenue decreased by 38.2%. This category experienced the second highest decline in revenue (after Circus and Physical Theatre) and attendance (after Special Events). Contrary to the declines in revenue and attendance, average ticket prices for this category increased by 6.7% from $117.72 to $125.60 in 2016.

The substantial decrease in Festivals (Contemporary Music) revenue and attendance was primarily driven by the cancellation of major national touring festivals Future Music Festival and Stereosonic in 2016. Major contemporary music festivals that took place in 2016 include Splendour in the Grass, Bluesfest, Groovin’ the Moo, St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival, VIVID Live and Meredith Music Festival. The music festival market in SA and WA were hit particularly hard by the cancellation of two major festivals, experiencing a decrease in revenue by 74.6% and 52% respectively.

It is worth noting that data for this category is likely to underestimate the size of Australia’s music festival market, particularly boutique music festivals, as not all events provide data to the Survey.

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Festivals (Contemporary Music) - Revenue and Attendance (2004–2016)

Revenue ($) Growth (%) Total Attendance* Growth (%) Average Ticket Price ($)** Growth (%)
2004 $9,015,128 190,260 $54.69
2005 $12,128,384 34.5% 269,208 41.5% $63.05 15.3%
2006 $36,576,877 201.6% 761,920 183.0% $50.93 -19.2%
2007 $26,972,082 -26.3% 753,247 -1.1% $39.00 -23.4%
2008 $66,429,106 146.3% 1,221,972 62.2% $60.91 56.2%
2009 $55,275,589 -16.8% 800,145 -34.5% $81.19 33.3%
2010 $100,918,020 82.6% 1,028,170 28.5% $119.39 47.1%
2011 $96,453,486 -4.4% 984,946 -4.2% $138.97 16.4%
2012 $98,365,490 2.0% 1,169,233 18.7% $128.71 -7.4%
2013 $107,367,780 9.2% 1,053,419 -9.9% $130.46 1.4%
2014 $129,210,058 20.3% 1,281,339 21.6% $136.91 4.9%
2015 $106,825,241 -17.3% 1,300,025 1.5% $117.72 -14.0%
2016 $79,865,326 -25.2% 672,771 -48.2% $125.60 6.7%

*Based on both paid and unpaid tickets

** Average Ticket Prices are calculated based only on paid tickets

State/Territory Breakdown Close Table

Close Table

Festivals (Contemporary Music) - by State/Territory (2016)

State/Territory Revenue ($) Market Share Proportion Change from 2015 Attendance Market Share Proportion Change from 2015
NSW $43,563,204 54.5% -21.8% 330,722 49.2% -43.6%
VIC $14,030,671 17.6% 6.2% 89,380 13.3% -54.8%
QLD $9,355,622 11.7% -9.5% 103,208 15.3% -39.7%
WA $7,893,042 9.9% -52.0% 74,195 11.0% -60.3%
SA $2,306,003 2.9% -74.6% 40,451 6.0% -69.5%
ACT $1,978,885 2.5% 4.4% 19,052 2.8% -17.6%
TAS $183,345 0.2% 108.9% 7,111 1.1% 425.6%
NT $554,555 0.7% 1,418.5% 8,652 1.3% 594.4%

Photo: Bluesfest 2016, Joseph Mayers

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