AAA White Paper The political economy of informal events, 2030 | Page 46

2023
90m 27%
$233
2019
82m 25%
$191
2023
17m 25%
$186
2030
100m 30%
$250
2019
15m 23%
$149
2023
84m 6%
$40
2019
71m 5%
$27
2030
19m 27%
$200
CHINA
UK
2030
150m 10%
$60
USA
Estimated
number of
online
purchasers of
music events,
millions,
percentage
rates of market
penetration,
and average
revenue per
purchaser, $
Chart 11
Source: Statista for the
years 2019 and 2023. The
author’s forecasts for 2030
are indicative only, but do
take account of population
trends
2019
12m 17%
$104
GERMANY
FRANCE
2023
13m 19%
$135
2030
15m 22%
$150
2019
18m 22%
$118
2030
23m 28%
$200
2023
21m 25%
$142
and increased spending around them look like unstoppable
international trends.
The market for UK music events should stay pretty unsaturated.
That’s likely, even though the Brits display a higher level of
participation in music events than do the Chinese – at least for the
foreseeable future. It should be added that, between 2009 and 2017,
among customers of the 55 members of the AIF, average overall
spending at festivals rose from £364 to a hefty £483. Expenditure
on festival tickets alone rose by only £32, to £186 in 2017 (somewhat
higher than Statista’s $149 estimate for UK online sales of general
music events in 2019, Chart 11); but outlays on accommodation more
than doubled to £55, while spending on food and drink expanded by
more than 40 per cent, to £116.
Events have generated an unmistakeable halo effect in terms
of the wider spending they now trigger. More generally, they have
moved up-market. As the AIF notes of its members’ music festivals,
camper-vans have doubled in popularity since 2010. To many
festivalgoers, the humble tent is just that – humble.
The trend for informal events to move up-market may not,
however, triumph completely.
Since the first and second century AD and the Roman poet Juvenal,
satirists have made fun of cheap-and-cheerful imperial attempts to appease
the unruly masses by means of food handouts and entertainment events,
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