Christopher BarrettMore than 50% of music fans would attend a live show right now, while 73% have purchased gig and festival tickets since March, according to a survey of 25,000 fans carried out in April by UK live music industry umbrella organisation LIVE.
While more than half of respondents said they would jump at the chance of attending a live show straight away, if they could, a further 25% said they are ready to attend once they feel the right mitigations are in place. However, 41% of respondents said they would be put off attending an event if they had to wear a face mask.
Among the other key findings were that 75% of those who responded would be happy with the idea of Covid certification to attend an event. By July 63% of respondents will have attended a show. Of the 27% of music fans yet to purchase a ticket, one third of them said they just hadn’t seen something they wanted to go to yet.
Another encouraging finding was that 85% of fans are planning on attending either the same or a higher numbers of live music events, when they reopen, than before the pandemic. Some 64% of respondents stated that attending live music events boosts their mental health.
The survey also revealed that music lovers turned to online events in huge numbers during the pandemic, with over 70% having seen live music events online over the past year. The survey also found that 1 in 4 respondents will still want to engage with music events online after live music returns later this year.
Recently appointed, LIVE chief economist Chris Carey said it is especially encouraging to see how quickly fans want to get back to live shows.
LIVE CEO Greg Parmley said, “After a devastating year for the live music industry it is fantastic to see the strength of feeling from fans across the UK who are desperate to get back to live music events. The industry has worked tirelessly to ensure that we can return as quickly and safely as possible.
“It is notable that fans are willing to live with short-term mitigation measures in order to get back to live music as quickly as possible, with three quarters saying that they would be happy with a Covid-certification system as part of those measures.”