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Music Concert Hype in 2023

2023 is like a passionate year for music lovers in the world, including Indonesia. After some time hindered by the pandemic, starting around mid 2022, music concerts were again held on a large scale. The return of music concerts in the entertainment world was warmly welcomed by the public, which then led to many music events being held, ranging from local to international musicians. Therefore, Jakpat tried to capture this trend through a survey conducted on more than 2000 respondents in Java, Bali, and several major cities in Indonesia. The results are then summarized in a report entitled Music Concert Trends 2023.

Watching a Concert Affects Monthly Expenses

Most respondents did claim to have last seen a concert more than 1.5 years ago. However, at the beginning of 2023, there are around 28% of respondents who have attended at least 1 music concert, with an average of having watched 3 events from January to early June 2023. This number has the potential to increase because 39% are interested and have plans to watch a concert in the next 6 months. In fact, 8% claimed to have bought one or more concert tickets.
“People’s interest in attending music concerts seems to have increased in the last 1 year, after previously they had to refrain because music concerts could not be held during the pandemic. Welcoming the interest of the community, throughout 2022-2023 there are many music concert events that have been and will run. It’s just that, at the same time the majority of people think that the price of concert tickets is expensive,” as explained by Aska Primardi, Head of Research Jakpat. For example, the ticket prices for the concert of Coldplay, musicians from England, which will take place in November 2023. The majority of respondents who bought tickets for this concert felt that the ticket price was quite expensive, even 13% felt that the price was very expensive. The purchase of concert tickets in 2023 is indeed considered to affect monthly expenses by 8 out of 10 respondents. Moreover, 73% of respondents admitted that they did not have a special allocation for entertainment needs, including buying concert tickets.

“This could be due to economic conditions that had declined during the pandemic, so they felt the need to sort out which concert tickets to buy. However, the high interest makes these concertgoers often buy tickets at prices that are considered expensive, which has an impact on their monthly budget,” Aska added.

In considering which concert to watch, 66% of respondents take the ticket price into account, similar to 65% deciding which concert to go to based on the musicians. This financial factor is also one of the biggest inhibiting factors why people are reluctant to watch concerts within the next 6 months. “On the one hand, their awareness and interest in the concert is increasing, but not everyone will proceed to the ticket purchase stage because they feel that it has a negative impact on their monthly budget. To further convince potential audiences, unique value points can be considered from the experience that one concert will get, which cannot be obtained from other concerts,” said Aska.

Interest in Watching Concerts at the End of 2023

Regardless of the costs that must be incurred, the public seems to be quite excited in welcoming the upcoming concerts. Almost 20% of respondents said they were willing to go out of town to watch music performances. Some are even willing to go abroad for a concert. This interest in going abroad was not only based on their desire to see their favorite musicians in person, but 30% said buying concert tickets abroad was better than buying from calo or ticket tout.

Some of the popular upcoming concerts in the second half of the year include Coldplay: The Music of the Spheres World Tour and Jakarta Fair which runs from June to July 2023. Jakarta Fair is also quite a prominent festival, with almost 50% of respondents wanting to attend this event and 27% claiming to have visited it more than once.

Besides Jakarta Fair, what are other annual music festivals regularly visited by music fans? And are there differences in concert habits and perceptions among the female, male, Gen Z, and Millennial segments?