Market Analysis for a Tour Manager

According to Dennis Arfa, president of Artist Group International, the concert business is basically on
fire. Today in the music industry, touring and live performances is one of the most important aspects if
you are a musician. In almost every genre of music, fans are more likely to attend live music events
than ever before, which means that musicians are more likely to have a better turn out at their shows
and on tour.
Trends in the Concert Business
-According to Boxscore reporting in 2013, gross ticket sales were a record breaking $4.8 billion
worldwide.
-That is up 30% since 2012
-Up 9% over 2009, which was previously the biggest Boxscore year.
-Worldwide concert attendance is up 26% since past years.
-However, the number of shows played in 2013 was only up 5.8%, showing that more people
started to have an interest in live music, as well as attending shows.
-According to Billboard, per-show gross is up 20% from last year, and attendance per-show is
up 18.5%.
-Not only is concert attendance up worldwide, it is also up in North America and The United States to
be even more specific.
Total gross in North America is up 26% and the total gross in the United States is up 30%.
Attendance in North America is up 23% and in the United States, attendance is up 27%.
-Now comparing this to the statistics of 2012, we can conclude that 2013 was definitely one of the best
years on record.
-In 2012, gross was only up 1.7% in North America.
-Also in 2012, attendance of concerts was actually down a total of 6%.
-According to Live Nation, ticket sales are up 15% with the prices of tickets remaining relatively flat,
meaning that people are more likely to buy concert tickets since they are at a reasonable price. The only
potential speed bump that could cause these statistics to fall would be greed. If artists and promoters
start to increase ticket pricing and stop packaging, people could possibly stop attending concerts. Also,
over saturating a market and pushing an artist too fast could halt ticket sales.

Trends in Marketing
One of the most important parts to live music and tours for a musician is being able to have a good
marketing team. An artist will want to be able to reach their target market and be able to do so in a

timely manner. If they fail to do this, the odds of having a decent turn out at a show are very low.
-Artists have to find out who is actually attending their concerts and how to market to them.
BandsinTown just launched a new service called Bandsintown Manager. The service tracks when fans
sign up for a band's updates or when they RSVP for a concert in their area. This is great for tour
managers and artist planning a tour. This will be able to show exactly where the fans are and which
areas are most likely to have good attendance at shows.

-Bandsintown Manager will track where the fans are RSVPing to certain shows and also when they
RSVP to shows of similar styles of music.
-Also, it gives artists a chance to see their missed opportunities. If one area has a significant amount of
followers, but there are no tour dates or concerts scheduled for that area, the artist will be aware that
next time they should plan a date there.
-How fans find out and communicate about shows is another very important aspect to marketing.
According to TicketMaster.com 86% of concert goers have a youtube account
84% have a Facebook account
84% Liked an artist on Facebook
44% shared or invited a friend to a concert via Facebook
43% have a Twitter account
42% have an Instagram
-Obviously, social media is a huge part of finding out who is attending concerts and who isnt and it is
important for artists to continue to keep updated on these websites.
2012 Concert Trends
-In 2012 the average fan profile was 50% men and 50% female
-Average age was 42.7 years old.

-Average income was $75,000

-Fans that attended concerts, also attended twice as many festivals as they did the previous year.
-Concert goers are 26% more likely to be Millennials (ages 18-29).
-One in five millennials have attended a music festival in the past year.
-25% of college students attended a music festival in the past 12 months.
Markets for Live Music
According to many sources, the best markets for live music have always been the highly populated
metropolitan areas. However, since most of the concert goers are in the millennial age group, that
means most of those people are in college, or of college age. Therefore, many great places for live
music are in big college cities with a large quantity of millennial congregated in one place.
Ten major college towns (According to www.usnews.com) :
-Amherst, MA
-Ann Arbor, MI
-Athens, GA
-Austin, TX
-Berkeley, CA
-Boston, MA
-Boulder, CO
-Chapel Hill, NC
-Charlottesville, NC
-Madison, WI
Top Ten Metropolitan areas (According to www.census.gov):
-New York, NY
-Los Angeles, CA
-Chicago, IL
-Dallas, TX
-Houston, TX
-Philadelphia, PA
-Washington DC, MD
-Miami, FL
-Atlanta, GA
-Boston, MA

Conclusion
Based on the above information, a tour manager looking to plan a tour for a musician would realize
many things. They would know that live music is a big deal for people right now. More people are

attending shows than ever before. A tour manager should know that a good marketing technique is key
to having people attend the shows. They should know their distinctive target market and which outlet
that market gets their information from. Also, they should know what form of social media, if any, they
are using. Use multiple social media outlets to promote events and market their musician. Also, they
should be aware of the biggest metropolitan areas, the places where people are most likely to attend,
such as large college towns, since the majority of concert goers are millennials.

Works Cited
"Bandsintown Launches Analytics Tools for Artists: Exclusive." Billboard. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb.
2015.
"Concert & Event Promotion in the US: Market Research Report." Concert &
Event Promotion in the US Market Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2015.
Florida, Richard. "America's Leading College Towns." N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2015.
Perry, Marc J. The 10 Fastest Growing Metro Areas from July 1, 2012, to July 1, 2013 (n.d.): n. pag.
Web.
"The Year In Touring 2013: Beyond The Numbers." Billboard. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2015.
"Ticketmaster Concert Fans Are Getting More Social (Infographic & Stats).
"Ticketmaster Blog. N.p., 21 Sept. 2014. Web. 04 Feb. 2015.