AHS-P4-7. Concerts vs. Festivals in the UK

Sydney Pyatt¹
Emma Bertagnolli¹
Faculty Mentor: Kimberly Nehls, Ph.D.^1
1Lee Business School, Department of Marketing and International Business

ABSTRACT
Music is a phenomenon that brings the world together. Listeners set their differences aside and connect through the world of music. The United Kingdom has played an immense role in the growth and development of music and live performances. The first concert was held in London in 1672, and the first festival was held in 1968. This was the beginning of the launch of live music in the United Kingdom and all around the world. It is hard to decipher if concerts or festivals are more popular by attendance because concerts are held by artists year-round, while festivals are more seasonal. However, the growth of attendance can provide information on which form of live music is growing at the fastest rate in the United Kingdom. The data studied shows that both concert and festival attendance increased greatly from 2012 to 2019. In 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic put a halt on concerts and festivals, resulting in an 85% revenue loss for the live music industry. In June 2021, the first live music event after the pandemic was the Download Festival in England, allowing 10,000 attendees. This was a tenth of what was allowed prior to the pandemic. The live music industry is still recovering from the loss caused by the pandemic, however, now that more live music events are occurring again, people will have a desire to experience what life felt like before the pandemic. It will take time to reestablish the industry, but from the data gathered before the pandemic, concert and festival attendance is going to continue to grow.