Why do second - and third tier cities come up with big moves to compete for concerts? Audience | Economy | Concerts
What can a concert bring? For the audience, it's music, passion, release ...... For the city, it brings tens of thousands of consumers and a boost to the economy. Beijing Youth Daily reporter statistics found that in the performance market blowout recovery this year, many concerts will be held in second-tier or third-and fourth-tier cities. Behind this is a new phenomenon in urban operation: some second-tier and even third-and fourth-tier "small transparent" cities are eager to show the city's soft power and attract attention by virtue of concerts. in order to get the opportunity to "get out of the circle" on the Internet and the future development of the impossible.
Small Town Welcomes Concert Bonus
Before this year, speaking of Quzhou, Zhejiang, perhaps only some netizens could think of "Quzhou duck head" as a net red snack. In 2022, Quzhou's GDP will be the third from bottom in Zhejiang. As Lishui and Zhoushan, which are ranked behind, are "famous" in tourism and fishery respectively, Quzhou is very "small and transparent" in the eyes of outsiders ". However, all this became history after the release of the major star concert plans this year.
According to public data, in February this year, Xue Zhiqian's concert tour was announced, and one of the stops was set in Quzhou, making the number of searches for "Quzhou Sports Center" on the Internet nearly 23 times higher than usual. Quzhou was even more popular because of several hot searches in this concert, some of which read more than 100 million. Xue Zhiqian's concert brought real traffic to the city. According to local media, in March this year, Xue Zhiqian's concerts were held in Quzhou for two consecutive times. There were 56000 fans, 85% of whom came from other places. The number exceeded the most prosperous day of the Golden Week, bringing 0.124 billion yuan to the local area. Tourism revenue, driving 0.69 billion yuan of consumption.
These are just the beginning of the concert dividend in Quzhou. After the Luming Music Festival in June and the Zhang Xinzhe concert in July, Wang Xinling, Yu Kewei and others will also debut in Quzhou in August.
In fact, as early as after Xue Zhiqian's concert, the locals in Quzhou have already felt the changes brought about by traffic-the local Songyuan vegetable market suddenly became hot. The reason is the sharing of foreign fans participating in the concert on social platforms: "This is a street of carbon and water, a breakfast paradise for Quzhou people."
Not only food, some netizens said that after paying attention to Xue Zhiqian's concert, they learned that the "qu" of the "thoroughfare of the four provinces" was originally here. In addition, the concert host introduced this as the "South Kong Holy Land", which also made him very impressed with the city.
A popular choice for the shunt show
In fact, Quzhou is not the first small town to taste the concert bonus, nor is it the last one. A reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily found that China's domestic "concert economy" continued to be hot in 2023. According to incomplete statistics, as of mid-June, there have been nearly 550 official concerts this year, involving more than 100 artists. Nearly a hundred concerts or music festivals are selected to be held in second-tier or third-and fourth-tier cities, such as Hohhot, Zunyi, Taizhou, Nanning, Nanchang, Baotou, Quanzhou, Lianyungang, Jiangmen, Hengyang, and the above-mentioned Quzhou, etc. Netizens don't even know which province is the "small transparent" city.
The choice of concerts to be held in second-tier or even third-and fourth-tier cities is not that the organizers are not confident. Many concerts are also of a scale of 10,000 people, which is not smaller than the scale of performances in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. For example, from June 29 to July 2 this year, Jay Chou held four concerts in Haikou, attracting a total of 154600 people, with an average of nearly 40000 people per show.
In addition, due to the failure of first-tier cities to provide sufficient venues and scheduling, a large number of performances have shifted to new second-tier or third-and fourth-tier cities. According to the China Performance Association, "Since the second quarter, the scheduling of large venues across the country has entered a tense state, and large venues and venues in second-tier and even third-and fourth-tier cities have become a popular choice for diverting performances."
Compared with the high rent and venue costs in super-first-tier cities, the cost of performance venues in second-tier or third-and fourth-tier cities is relatively low, making it easier for concert organizers to make good profits. "Concert applications are very cumbersome. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other places have many restrictions and full schedule. Second-tier or third-and fourth-tier cities are the objects we are more willing to consider." Zhuzhu, who was deeply involved in the organization of Xue Zhiqian's concert, told Beiqing Daily that most of Xue Zhiqian's concerts this year were held in second-and third-tier cities.
"Win-win" for both the host and the consumer"
In the view of performance execution companies, some second-tier or third-and fourth-tier cities are more likely to sell "fire" by holding concerts and other activities because there are few large-scale performances ". And now young people are more willing to take root in second-tier or third-and fourth-tier cities with less pressure, which makes it difficult to get tickets for concerts in non-first-tier cities.
In addition, even if the number of local fans is limited, there is no pressure on many fans to have a cross-city concert when it is so convenient to travel by air or high-speed rail in China.
According to the observation of the China performance Industry Association in the first quarter of this year, the proportion of consumers who buy tickets to watch performances across cities has increased significantly, with an average cross-city viewing rate of more than 50%. For consumers, holding concerts in second-tier or third-and fourth-tier cities not only does not have traffic problems, but also costs more locally than first-tier cities, and there are new tourist destinations.
"Rounding off means that all train tickets have been reimbursed." Some consumers have calculated an account for a reporter from Beiqing Daily. They are also watching concerts. The same accommodation conditions and days, regardless of major transportation, the cost of accommodation and small transportation in second-tier or third-and fourth-tier cities is higher than that in first-tier cities. At least one high-speed rail ticket can be saved. In some near cities, the savings "even have round-trip tickets".
Not only that, but the savings are even reflected in the ticket prices of different venues for the same show. For example, the one-day ticket price for the Strawberry Music Festival held in Foshan is 380 yuan in presale, while the one-day ticket price for the presale in Beijing is 450 yuan.
The head of a well-known performing arts agency told the Beijing Youth Daily: "Nowadays, second-tier or third-and fourth-tier cities are gradually coming to the fore as our preferred tour locations. In addition to more enthusiastic audiences, these cities have lower costs and greater policy support than super-first-tier cities, which is a win-win situation for both performers and audiences."
analysis
A good concert or music festival can quickly make the city famous
In fact, when a large-scale concert attracts audiences from all over the country and surrounding areas to watch, it can often create direct economic benefits of hundreds of millions or even billions of yuan. This is only the direct benefit driven by the concert, and its indirect benefit is even more difficult to measure. In order to win opportunities, the governments of many second-tier or third-and fourth-tier cities have also shown "sincerity" to attract more concerts to their own cities.
A few days ago, Xue Zhiqian's concert in Hengyang made foreign audiences call Hengyang "a big score". "The cars to and from the concert were government-packed, and the fireworks on the scene were specially set off by the government for 7 minutes and 17 seconds. Hengyang also provided free buses for three consecutive days with more than a dozen routes, and the Hengyang municipal government was really attentive." A Xue Zhiqian fan said when talking about the concert. During the concert, in addition to the orderly development of various service guarantees, Hengyang City also introduced a preferential policy for half-price tours of some scenic spots with concert tickets. A concert not only stimulated the local cultural and tourism consumption, but also established the image of Hengyang's high-quality service-oriented government.
Taking the opportunity of protecting Xue Zhiqian's concert, Quzhou set up a major event promotion office in February this year to coordinate the work of public security, fire protection, meteorology, culture, transportation and other departments. According to local media reports, Xue Zhiqian concert, the local joint approval only took one day.
In addition to serving a concert, some governments have thrown out policy dividends, hoping to reach "long-term cooperation" with large-scale performance organizations ". This year, Xiamen City in Fujian Province issued a policy on venue rent, especially for concert activities, reducing venue rent by up to 30%, attracting more performance companies to choose to tour in Xiamen. Yangzhou City has introduced a package of preferential tax policies, which significantly reduced the corporate income tax and business tax of the concert organizers, thus attracting more performance companies to choose to hold concerts in Yangzhou. In order to attract more concerts, the Nanning municipal government has launched a "one-time approval" policy. Article 13 of the "Regulations on the Administration of Commercial Performances" issued by the government clearly stipulates that "the cultural authority of the county-level people's government shall make a decision within 3 days from the date of accepting the application". Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, through the creation of a performance industry park, has attracted many concert-related companies to settle in and become a new highland for the performance economy.
In the era of traffic, the development of cities is no longer only attracted by policies, but also needs opportunities and popularity. The new pattern of the concert market is providing new opportunities for some "small transparent" cities like Zibo, which are ready for soft power such as service. If a concert or music festival is held well, the city can not only quickly gain popularity among young consumers and the Internet, but also take this opportunity to attract talents, attract investment, and even build a new pillar industry in the city. In the view of analysts, to enjoy this "dividend", cities still have to be based on "strength" and "opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared".
