Concert Attendance And Ticket Sales Hit Record Highs In Australia

A new report has shown that growth in ticket revenue and attendance for Australia's live performance industry has reached a record high.

The 2024 Live Performance Attendance and Revenue Report was released by Live Performance Australia today and shows a total revenue of $3.4 billion across the country's live performance industry – a 6.9% increase on the previous year. Similarly, ticketed attendance has experienced a 4.6% increase on the 2023 figures, to a total of 31.4 million.

The figures are the highest recorded since the report's commencement in 2004 with the figures showing that the Contemporary Music category experienced the biggest growth, with a 21.8% change in revenue to $1.8 billion, while attendance grew by 17.3% to just shy of 14.1 million. 

The report also points out that the revenue growth "reflects increased ticket prices to offset rising operating costs," with the average ticket price increasing industry-wide by just 3.3%.

Other positive movers included Classical Music (a 14.5% increase in revenue) and Children's/Family (13.8% increase in revenue and 10.9% attendance increase), while the unspecified 'Special Events' category saw marked improvement by 215.5% in its revenue, to a total of $9.9 million.

It wasn't all positive across the board, however, with some categories experiencing a negative result. These include a 63.5% change in revenue for Circus and Physical Theatre alongside a 44.6% change in attendance; and a 22.2% revenue change and 16.8% drop in attendance for Opera. 

Festivals also experienced a negative change as well. While 'Multi-category' festivals saw revenue drop by 9% and attendance drop by 7.5%, Contemporary festivals saw revenue decrease by 6.7% and attendance decrease by only 0.9%. 

The report does point out, however, that the decline for the latter could be explained by festivals such as Splendour In The Grass, Groovin' The Moo, Spilt Milk, and Harvest Rock not taking place in 2024, while adding that "the scale of the decline was also offset by the addition of a new data provider that tickets many music festivals."

"While the overall results paint a positive story, growth was concentrated in a limited number of categories and states," says LPA Chief Executive Eric Lassen. "These mixed outcomes highlight the evolving nature of audience behaviour and preferences, as well as challenging economic conditions overall"

As Lassen indicates, the report also includes the share of revenue and attendance across metropolitan and regional markets in each state and territory, with Tasmania featuring both the highest regional share of revenue (50.5% of the state total) and highest share of regional attendance (50.4% of the state total).

"Australians clearly value live performance but it’s also a highly discretionary spend for most households," Lassen continues. "Against a backdrop of much higher costs of bringing live performance to the stage, audiences are being more selective in how they spend their arts and entertainment dollar.

"Categories including ballet and dance, theatre, music and multi-arts festivals, and opera, which are fundamental to a thriving and diverse Australian cultural landscape, saw drops in revenue and attendance.

"That’s why smart policy interventions such as LPA’s plan for a live performance production incentive are so important to stimulate additional investment and creative activity across the breadth of our commercial and not-for-profit performing arts companies," Lassen concluded.

The full report can be viewed on the Live Performance Australia website.