When the offline performance market resumed, several well-known Livehouses in Beijing also resumed performances one after another. Including OMNI SPACE, MAO LIVEHOUSE, IMAGINE IMAGINATION SPACE AND OTHER VENUES, MORE THAN 80 LIVEHOUSE PERFORMANCES WILL MEET FANS FROM March to April. However, an investigation by a reporter from Beijing Business Daily found that the ticket price of the performance ushered in a wave of general increases, from the average of the previous highest grade of 3-4 yuan, soaring to the VIP area ticket price of 200 yuan. From 300's "Summer of the Band" made Livehouse instantly popular, to now the market warming up into the official announcement of the project blowout period, the olive branch of capital is thrown to Livehouse, Taihe Music Group, Legend Capital and other capital parties enter, so that the stage ignited by notes and melodies has moved towards refined operation and national chain.
Multiple factors drove fares up
In early February, there was still more than a month to go before the Beijing station of the Crispberry Band Livehouse, and the ticket purchase link was quickly sold out. Music fans who asked for tickets at twice the price, "scalpers" who heard the news, and "passers-by" who felt incredible about the difficulty of finding a ticket, crowded the comment area of the band's social account and Weibo super talk for a while. "From that day on, I clearly felt that the Livehouse market was bustling again." Chen Lei, a rock music fan, told a reporter from Beijing Business Daily.
According to public information, the domestic Livehouse market started late, and in 2014 it has grown to hundreds, and unknown bands and niche singers have accumulated fans and popularity by being active in the few Livehouses and even ordinary bars in their respective cities.
"Even big coffees like Cui Jian started by performing in Western restaurants, and the number of Livehouse venues has been increasing over the years, so we always believed that there would be a turning point, and in 2019, the turning point came." Singer Ye Ming attributed Livehouse's popularity in the performance market to a variety show "Summer of the Band" in 2019, which let more fans know that "music can also be listened to like this", and also allowed young musicians to find a stage that is "easier to reach".
According to incomplete statistics from a reporter from Beijing Business Daily, looking at the whole country, nearly 800 Livehouses have been held or will be held in the first half of the year. From March to May, nearly 3 bands or singers, including Guard, East and West, Senduo, Sparkle, Monster Project, Li Shangan, etc., will bring more than 5 Livehouse performances in Beijing, all of which have been opened for sale.
In addition, singers such as Zeng Yike and Guo Caijie who have made a name for themselves in the music industry, and idols such as Meng Meiqi and Zhu Zhengting have entered Livehouse.
However, an investigation by a reporter from Beijing Business Daily found that although the Livehouse market has heated up, the ticket price of the show has ushered in a general increase. The average market price that once started at 50 yuan and capped at 200-300 yuan including free drinks has now risen to an average of about 180-600 yuan. In addition, the highest price of ONER Livehouse, a subsidiary of Beijing Kunyin Entertainment Agency Co., Ltd., is 1280 yuan, and only supports Kunyin Mall annual membership users, and the price is almost the front row price of Jay Chou's concert and the highest grade of Eason Chen's concert, which has caused heated discussions among fans.
Liu Meng, the manager of Livehouse who has been in the industry for many years, said that the price increase belongs to the market choice, and is not unilaterally controlled by the Livehouse venue or the ticket operator. At present, most Livehouses take the form of sharing profits with the artist team, in addition to collecting the rent of the performance venue, the ticket revenue is proportionally shared with the artist team, in addition to the alcohol and peripheral income is difficult to compare with it, basically offset by the salary of the venue operation staff. At present, the artist schedule is tight and the signing cost is increasing, but the number of people in a single performance is basically fixed, which can only raise the unit price of the guest and make the audience bear part of the cost.
More than 20 new stores entered the Beijing market
Up to now, Livehouse and other Livehouses such as OMNI SPACE, MAO Livehouse, and Le Space have had a number of wonderful performances to meet the audience in Beijing, according to incomplete statistics from Beijing Business Daily reporters, there are more than 90 Livehouses located in Beijing, of which 21 are newly opened stores in the past 5 months.
Among them, the Beijing station of the Beijing Station of the New Blood Project and the third season of "Summer of the Band" - Fulang Livehouse, opened in March, with a total of two performance venues, large and small, which can accommodate 3,1200 and 500 people respectively.
Jointly built by China Oriental Performing Arts Group and China Huadian Group, Tianning No. 1 Oriental Art Space is adjacent to Financial Street, which consists of a theater with more than 300 seats and two outdoor open spaces, and can host various performances such as Livehouse.
According to previous reports, the first Livehouse of Genki Forest's entertainment brand Genki Forest LIVE will open in Shanghai in the spring, and the Beijing store is also in preparation at the same time.
"For Livehouse, compared to large-scale performances such as concerts and music festivals, the venue size and associated teams are smaller, so the organization is less complex and the pace of recovery is faster." Wang Yi, founder of Understanding Music Entertainment, pointed out that whether it is for performance organizers, venues, bands or singers, being able to get market opportunities with better performance effects and higher quality projects in the recovery period is the most critical in the current increasingly fierce competition.
Wang Yi further explained that while operating offline, both Livehouse and the band also need to strengthen the construction of public domain traffic, and there is still room for improvement in interactivity. Although online experience cannot replace offline, it can be used to establish a brand, promote brand image and tonality, and at the same time, online channels form a certain fan base, and can also attract the attention of advertisers, thereby creating new revenue channels.
The market continues to expand
Throughout the entire LiveHouse market, established venues such as MAO Livehouse, Music House, and OMNI SPACE have accumulated considerable market influence, while rookies such as Shi Santang and A House are also continuing to expand their territory.
According to Tianyan, the company behind MAO Livehouse, Century Dream (Beijing) Culture Media Co., Ltd., has a registered capital of 4264.705882 million yuan, a paid-in capital of 3539.705882 million yuan, and completed the pre-A round with a transaction amount of tens of millions of yuan, and the investors are Taihe Music Group and Legend Capital. After the capital entered the market, Chi Yongqiang, the company's director, said that the financing would be mainly used for the brand's chain expansion across the country. The company behind MT LIVEHOUSE is Zhongchuang Star Entertainment (Xiamen) Brand Management Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 1000 million yuan, and is one of the 35 corporate members of Xinhua Holdings.
"Livehouse has shifted from an era of feelings and ideals to standardization and capitalization." Liu Meng introduced that the market is slowly getting better, the demand of music fans to watch the performance is very strong, the more the performance is done, the old audience can easily distinguish whether the venue equipment is the top match, and the taste is also picky; Singers and bands are getting bigger and bigger, which determines the "content" of new audiences. Can lift the stage, ice screen modeling, cold fire, peers are going to the concert level to package Livehouse, if you don't keep up, you will be eliminated, but the cost of keeping up is not affordable based on feelings alone.
Wang Yi pointed out that capital moves in pursuit of profit, and has entered the game, which conveys from the side that Livehouse has market prospects to be tapped, and the entry of capital can also transfuse Livehouse, bands, singers and other parties, quickly complete resource allocation and brand construction, and enter the stage of refined operation. But capital pays attention to efficiency, the industry is facing a rapid reshuffle, some teams have been swept away by big waves, but it will inevitably give birth to bubbles.
"Taking advantage of the market heat, Livehouse ushered in a new stage of investment opportunities, but the pressure of actual operation and the market competition environment also conveyed the signal of rational layout, and it is necessary to step by step out of greater development space." Performance industry analyst Li Xinyu said.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Lu Yang Han Xinyuan