Festival-goers in North America are attracted to an event by the headline act rather than cost and location details.
That’s one of the major findings in a new survey of attendees conducted by EventBrite, the ticketing and events giant, which questioned more than 1,000 18-49 year olds in North America that attended at least one music festival in the previous 12 months.
Around one-third of festival-goers said the headlining artists was the most important reason for choosing an event. The majority (56%) would rather see their favourite artist headline a festival than play a standalone show and 44% said they attended more festivals this year than last because the artist line-ups were more appealing.
Some 38% of respondents attended more festivals this year than last, far outnumbering the 21% that attended fewer.
On average, they attend two to three per year and spend about $150 per ticket. Seven out of ten report music festivals give them a feeling of community they value and 80% plan to attend festivals for at least a few more years.
“Affinity for the music, community, and social experiences of festivals is incredibly powerful, but with more festivals in the market than ever before, it’s become increasingly hard for those in the industry to differentiate themselves and ultimately turn a profit,” said Russ Crupnick, managing partner of MusicWatch, the independent research firm that conducted the survey.
“Our research identified a key segment of valuable festival attendees who drive the lion’s share of the business. These hardcore fans are consistently outranking casual festival-goers in virtually all aspects of spending, attending, influence, and engagement.”
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