Entering the second quarter, the concert should be intensively updated. The high demand for performances has repeatedly put concerts into a situation where it is difficult to find a ticket, and the consumption associated with them has heated up rapidly. A night of singing, ignited the enthusiasm of fans, and filled the scalper's purse. However, who is the most profitable behind the spree?

An investigation by the Beijing Business Daily boiling point investigation team found that as early as 2018, a single concert could bring more than <> million revenue to the performers behind it. In addition to the most conventional and obvious income from the box office, performers and artist agencies can join hands to reach all links in the concert industry chain, and can even capture <> million yuan in revenue.

One entry can reach 10 million

With more than 200 concerts being ticketed or announced, various places have entered the carnival season of concerts. According to public information, the 40 concerts that will be held this summer and behind them involve as many as 25 performances and brokerage companies. At the same time, behind the concert of the same artist or band, there will be multiple companies involved in it due to factors such as the venue of the performance.

Taking Mayday's current round of concert tour as an example, Beijing Huale Extraordinary Culture Communication Co., Ltd., as the organizer's response to the previous "ticket sales doubt", is only the organizer of Mayday's 2023 "Want to See You" Beijing concert and the 2023 Noah's Ark 10th Anniversary Evolution Replica Limited Edition Beijing concert, while the organizer of the 2023 "Want to See You" Shenzhen concert is Shenzhen Straw Chinese Culture Communication Co., Ltd. The whole concert tour is organized by Shanghai Chinese Culture Performing Arts Co., Ltd.

According to Tianyan investigation, Shanghai Chinese Culture Performing Arts Co., Ltd. has a registered capital of 16667.15403 million yuan and a paid-up capital of 27.100 million yuan, and has invested in <> enterprises, including Beijing Huale Extraordinary Culture Communication Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Straw Chinese Culture Communication Co., Ltd. In addition, Shanghai Minghui Culture Development Co., Ltd., which is affiliated with "Fun Island App", one of the Mayday concert ticketing platforms, is <>% owned by the company. A reporter from Beijing Business Daily also noted that the concert producer "Bing Creation" is a brand of Mayday's record company Believe Music International Co., Ltd.

Unlike agencies and third-party performance companies, some concerts are hosted by artist-owned companies or studios.

2023 Wang Yuan "Living Room Carnival" Tour - Chongqing Station is hosted by Chongqing Junqiao Cultural Industry Co., Ltd., the company has a registered capital of 1000 million yuan, the industry is classified as radio, television, film and recording production industry, Wang Yuan holds 49% of the shares. Luhan 2023 "πDAY" concert-Beijing station is hosted by Luhan Studio and Shanghai Fenghua Qiushi Culture Media Co., Ltd., the company's prospectus shows that one of the forms of cooperation with Luhan is: hosting large-scale concerts, from which to obtain tickets, sponsorship and other income, in 2018, the company held three tours for Luhan "RE:X", earning 5590.1863 million yuan, with an average income of about <>.<> million yuan per game.

Wang Yi, founder of Understanding Music Entertainment, explained: "Generally speaking, large brokerage companies or artists with strong market influence will directly become the operators of large-scale concerts, and directly participate in the hosting of concerts from the aspects of ticketing and production. The artist's agency itself has the qualifications to plan performances, has experience in organizing performances, and will also be the organizer of the artist's concert. In this way, the promotion of the project can be controlled more holistically, and the controllability of large-scale concerts can be enhanced. In addition, the artist team will also bring performances in certain cities on the tour in the form of underwriting, involving local or industry-experienced performance companies to promote together."

"For agencies that do not have ready-made performance teams, stages, equipment, or lack of performance planning qualifications, they will choose performance companies, equipment companies, etc. to cooperate." Wang Yi said.

Talking about the source of revenue from a concert, performance agent Tan Yue revealed: "The box office is generally only a part of the concert revenue, and some project income also includes the sale of concert advertisements and related products such as artist peripherals. Under normal circumstances, the investment seat is based on the venue as the billing unit, and the exclusive cooperation price of super first-line artists is more than 10 million, and the exclusive title of the tour is higher, and the artist endorsement brand is generally the exclusive title. Brands endorsed by artists and title dealers of concerts will exclude the brands of products sold in the performance venue. ”

According to previous reports, the 2023 Zhang Jiewei · LIVE-"Yao Beidou" tour Guangzhou station and Xue Zhiqian's "Alien Objects" tour three stops, the box office exceeded 4000 million yuan. In 2017, Jay Chou's "The Strongest on Earth" tour reached 48 times, and it had attracted 24.<> billion yuan.

Production cost sharing pushes up tickets

"1 million yuan of performance equipment, more than one million yuan per stage installation fee, Olympic team choreography..." As part of the project, the strong audiovisual expression created by high cost is becoming a new publicity point for concerts to play market advantages.

1280 yuan, 1599 yuan, 1990 yuan, 2000 yuan, 2177 yuan, 2580 yuan... For the concert to be held this summer, the highest ticket price has exceeded the 2000,<> yuan mark.

"I feel that tickets for this year's concert are not only difficult to buy, but also a lot more expensive." Fan Kaka told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that the ticket price of Jay Chou's tour Qingdao station in 2018 was between 380-1880 yuan, and now it has risen to 500-2000 yuan, although the price has increased, Kaka still expressed his willingness to continue to support, "as long as I can grab the ticket, who let me like Jay Chou for so many years, it's all for feelings." Kaka said.

Zhang Yiming, general manager of Beijing Huale Extraordinary Culture Communication Co., Ltd., once said in a public interview that the cost of concerts has increased compared with before the epidemic, and it is natural and reasonable to predict that the overall ticket price of concerts this year may increase slightly by 10%-15%. After all, ticket prices for many movies have doubled in recent years.

"As a large-scale commercial performance, concerts are live theatrical performances for profit, so controlling costs and increasing revenue are eternal themes." Tan Yue introduced that the hosting and production of the concert requires a series of processes to cooperate. The cost of concerts basically includes artist management and work copyright fees, stage production and other content, venue rental and stage management, transportation costs, etc., which must be distributed downward in different proportions and ultimately borne by consumers. In addition, the hidden costs of the existence of unsellable tickets are driving up fares.

"The performance venue schedule is tight, the demand for logistics and manpower has increased significantly, the concert market continues to have strong demand, and the cost increase is undoubtedly under the relationship between supply and demand. At the same time, the costs previously incurred due to the postponement of the concert will also be passed on to consumers and reflected in the ticket price. Wang Yi pointed out.

Some artists will set the highest ticket price to the same standard as first-line singers, and the number of highest-end tickets is generally less than 10%, so that even if the tickets are difficult to sell, it will not have a greater impact on the final income, and it also indirectly increases the commercial value of the artist's IP. If it is sold smoothly, it directly and effectively increases the income of the entire concert.

Not just to give back to fans

The high market demand has made concert tours and performances commonplace. Even when the singer is physically exhausted, in order to meet the needs of fans, the number of performances will be added under controlled circumstances.

However, according to the industry, adding more performances and touring can also dilute costs to some extent and increase revenue, "as long as the singer can stand it, of course, the more the better." Tan Yue said.

Wang Yi further explained that the organizer pays a one-time remuneration and is responsible for its own profits and losses, which now generally appear in small and medium-sized performances. Artists with box office appeal and IP influence basically invest with the organizer in the form of shares, and finally share the box office and commercial income according to the agreed proportion of the concert revenue. The proportion of the share depends on the preparation stage of the concert project, the cost and capital contribution borne by both parties, and the tangible and intangible value of the artist, which is determined by multi-party negotiation.

"After ensuring the excellent configuration of the production, each time the tour goes to a new city and venue, it is necessary to bear the basic costs involved in transportation, installation, and equipment depreciation, while when the choreography, equipment, repertoire, etc. are fixed, the tour mode dilutes the cost for the organizer and the artist team." Wang Yi introduced.

In view of the current development status and future direction of the concert market, the reporter of Beijing Business Daily contacted a number of organizers at the first time, but did not receive a reply as of press time.

Gao Jia, an analyst in the performance industry, pointed out that the tour has created more profit opportunities, and also made a single concert project gradually form a brand effect. However, it does not mean that the more tours, the higher the project revenue, and the number and scale of tour performances are judgments made by the organizer under many factors such as the influence of the artist's market and the estimation of the income and expenditure of the additional performance.

"The explosion of concert projects is mainly due to the concentrated release of backlog projects in the early stage, and when the market demand is strong, the performance market needs to cherish the expectations of fans and optimize the performance experience, rather than blindly consuming the influence accumulated over the years." Gao Jia further pointed out.

Beijing Business Daily Boiling Point Investigation Team