LPA Report: Live performance revenue & attendance down in 2015

Live Performance Australia (LPA)’s annual attendance survey has found that revenue from live performance and ticket sales in 2015 were down by 7% from 2014.

Despite garnering $1.41 billion in ticket sales and 18.4 million in attendance – more than the combined attendances at AFL, NRL, soccer, super rugby and cricket – Australia’s live music industry experienced negative growth last year.

LPA’sTicket Attendance and Revenue Survey 2015found that despite being the largest revenue contributors, contemporary music events, festivals and classical music concerts experienced the most significant decline in revenue.

In 2014, the live music industry garnered $1.51 billion in revenue and 18.54 million ticket sales with tours from Katy Perry, Bruce Springsteen, Bruno Mars and Eminem, plus the final Big Day Out festival.

In 2015, Big Day Out was cancelled and successful national tours from Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Fleetwood Mac didn’t match the high revenue and attendance results recorded in 2014. Attendance was down 1% to 18.4 million from 2014.

LPA said the result is consistent with a year of weaker consumer confidence:

“Consumer confidence measures the level of economic optimism that consumers have and as such, is an indicator of their willingness to spend. Productivity in the arts and recreation industry declined in 2014/15, recording negative productivity growth of 4.3% (Productivity Commission 2016, PC Productivity Update).”

The three largest revenue contributors to the live music industry were contemporary music, musical theatre and festivals, which contributed $477M, $334M and $106M, respectively.

The results of this year’s survey found that revenue for multi-category festivals increased due to the growth of festivals in QLD, SA, TAS and VIC.

Elsewhere, Victoria’s revenue and attendance was above its share of the population and had the highest spend per capita in 2014 and 2015.

Queensland, on the other hand, had a significantly lower proportion of industry revenue and attendance compared to its share of population. Its spend per capita was therefore lower ($40.62) compared to the national average ($58.78).

The average ticket price for a live music event decreased in 2015 from $91.57 in 2014 to $87.29.

The report notes that between 2008 and 2015, industry revenue has increased by 33%, despite falling in 2011, 2012 and 2015. Over the same period, total attendance increased by 16%. The higher increase in revenue as opposed to attendance can be explained by the steady increase in average ticket price between 2008 and 2015.

View the full Ticket Attendance and Revenue Survey 2015 here.