In a survey of nearly 9,000 respondents conducted by EDM.com, dance music fans appear to be divided on their future concert plans for the rest of 2021.
Despite lingering hardships related to the pandemic it seems hard to believe that 2021 is nearly halfway over. Amid a successful vaccination campaign, large-scale events are starting to return. For dance music specifically, festivals such as Sunset Music Festival and Forbidden Kingdom have led the charge welcoming back festival-goers by the thousands.
While the aftermath of those festivals paints a rosy picture of unshakably high demand for concerts and festivals, there seems to be a substantive part of the population that is a bit hesitant, or in the very least, plans to be more selective about what they will attend in the near term.
An EDM.com poll suggested fans are split on the question of how many shows they plan to attend in 2021.
According to our poll, 54% of respondents indicated they would be open to attending between 1-3 shows while 46% stated they plan to attend 4 shows or more in 2021.
There are a few potential reasons for the hesitation to dive headfirst back into festival season. One of course is that the rush to vaccinate the population is still ongoing, but key milestones lie ahead. The White House has recently set a goal of getting 70% of Americans at least one dose by Independence Day—a goal that is within striking distance.
The other potential driver is the ever-increasing price of tickets. A YPulse survey from 2019 noted that 78% of concert-goers aged 13-37 said they believed concert tickets were generally too expensive. Historically, price increases in the live music sector have actually outperformed inflation, which means consumers will likely have to pay top-dollar despite a year of economic hardship and job loss for many.
These headwinds may put pressure on the ability of the live music industry to return to scale in the near term. For comparison, it was found in 2019 that 9 of 10 adults aged 18 to 34 attended at least one concert the year prior. Needless to say, the demand for shows post-pandemic has large shoes to fill in the year ahead.
