Live performance sector hits record $1.47b revenue

Australia’s live performance sector posted a record $1.47 billion in revenue in 2013, according to Live Performance Australia (LPA)’s annual Ticket Attendance & Revenue Survey 2013, released today.

This was a 22% rise from 2012, which posted $1.205 billion.

The survey showed that 17,926,626 tickets were sold for entertainment industry events through 2013 – a 10.2% rise on the 16.27 million tickets sold the year before.

According to LPA, revenue growth was driven by an increase in the total number of paid tickets and the average ticket price.

As with previous years, the Contemporary Music sector was the largest, generating 42.5% in revenue to $628.1 million – a 30.3% rise. Second again was Musical Theatre with a 13.1% of the revenue pie. The two sectors jointly account for 55.6% of gross revenue and 46.6% of total attendance.

The predominance of Contemporary Music was due to big name international tours and stadium runs through 2013. These, headed by Pink who played 46 shows, included Beyonce, Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, One Direction, Taylor Swift, Rhianna, Ricky Martin and Justin Bieber as well as Australian drawcards as Keith Urban, The Seekers, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, a Neil Finn and Paul Kelly team-up, Guy Sebastian and Bernard Fanning.

LPA Chief Executive Evelyn Richardson told TMN, “Consumer confidence has picked up again. That’s certainly reflected in the revenue numbers. We saw some flattening in the market in recent years, which was consistent in the sector’s retail.”

Some of the growth in the 2013 Contemporary Music figures are also due to source data being widened. The five-day Bluesfest (which drew over 100,000 and added $150.6 million to the NSW economy 2012/13) and Boomerang were included for the first time. The survey has already used data from Splendour In The Grass, Future Music, Summerdayze and Big Day Out.

Richardson pointed out, “Promoters would say these are good numbers but it’s still a tough industry. The cost of touring is high, getting shows around Australia because of our geography is still a challenge and there is rationalization of festival space because there are so many festivals and it is a competitive market.”

Per capita, Victoria and West Australia are the biggest revenue makers.

Richardson readily agreed that the figures for the live performance industry, and especially contemporary music, are conservative. The study does not cover regional venues, many festivals and self-ticketing events, or pubs and clubs where of course most contemporary music performances are held. “We can’t put a percentage of what the study covers, but we always qualify it by saying we know there’s more.”

To redress the issue that the live performance small to medium sector and regional venues are underreported, LPA has been working with the Australia Council for the Arts, and the Australian Performing Arts Centre Australia (APACA) in a new supplementary report to be released later in 2014.

Ticket Attendance & Revenue Survey 2013 was released by LPA today to coincide with tonight’s Helpmann Awards, which it produces.