Survey Reveals More Music Fans Want Mobile Tickets
- Nearly 20% of respondents prefer mobile/in-app tickets to other types
- A quarter of adults listen to acts on physical formats before seeing them live
- Respondents typically spend more on music events than any other type
22 December, London: An Eventbrite survey of the UK public’s favourite local events suggests that mobile/in-app tickets are considerably more popular than they are prevalent. Just 4.82% of respondents received mobile/in-app tickets for the last music event that they went to, while 19.47% of respondents said they would rather have them, rising to 20.05% amongst 30-44yr olds and 21.51% amongst 18-29yr olds.The survey also explored how people listen to musical acts before going to see them live.Among the main UK on-demand music formats, physical (CD/cassette/vinyl) was most common, listed by 25.89% of respondents, and was the most popular listening method for 30-59 yr olds. The second most popular format was YouTube, with 19.29% people streaming acts’ videos on the service before attending a gig; this was the preferred listening method for 18-29 yr olds. Spotify narrowly pipped iTunes to third place, with 12.69% of respondents listening to an act on Spotify before attending a gig, versus 11.98% using iTunes.Music came out top of the pile for favourite local events, with 24.27% of respondents listing music events, of any size, as their favourite event type within an hour’s travel. Additionally, respondents were more willing to spend money on music than any other event type (those surveyed included sports, theatre/dance, food, art, and networking/classes/talks). 82.59% said they would spend something on music events, with the most popular price bracket £21-35, as chosen by 24.22% of respondents. Of the event categories listed, music was the only one where £0 was not the most popular response for how much they would typically pay.Finally, it seems that gigs can still act as a discovery platform for new acts, as 18.17% of respondents said that they hadn’t listened to the act before seeing them live, at the last gig they went to.Interpreting the results, Eventbrite’s Katie McPhee said: “Perhaps unsurprisingly, music was the respondents’ most popular choice of local event. The data suggests that there is a demand for mobile ticketing that is not being met. We were also interested to see that, while there is a pronounced trend towards music discovery via streaming media among a younger demographic, physical formats still outperform YouTube, Spotify and iTunes as the main way people listen to acts before seeing them live.”The survey, commissioned by Eventbrite, the UK’s largest self-service ticketing platform, explored people’s favourite local events, spend on different types of events, music discovery, and ticketing. It was completed by a randomly selected group of 1030 18-59 year olds from around the UK.See below for full stats summary.
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Notes to Editors:
- Eventbrite is the ticketing partner of choice for Ministry of Sound, BoomTown Fair, WOMAD, Outlook festival and Dimensions festival, among others
- Eventbrite can be used to organise any type of music event, from an intimate show to a sell-out festival. Its simple and customisable set-up puts total control over the event in the hands of the organiser, allowing them to be selling tickets in as little as 10 minutes
- This includes deciding the refund policy, which can even include booking fees and payment processing fees if customers use Eventbrite payment processing
- Eventbrite has been present in the UK since 2011
- Over 165,000 music shows and festivals have been organised on Eventbrite worldwide
About EventbriteEventbrite is the world’s largest self-service ticketing platform, hosting a vibrant collection of live experiences to fuel people’s passions and enrich their lives. For organisers, Eventbrite provides a seamless solution to create compelling event pages, sell tickets, promote and manage events, and analyse results from the web or any mobile device. For attendees, Eventbrite offers access to a wide variety of live experiences, from small photography and yoga classes to large concerts and festivals with tens of thousands of people.Founded in 2006 and headquartered in San Francisco, the company has processed more than 200 million tickets in 180 countries and has eight offices around the world, including its European headquarters in London. Investors include Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global and T. Rowe Price.Learn more at www.eventbrite.co.uk
Stats summary
Ticket types
| OVERALL | Age | ||||
| 18 - 29 | 30 - 44 | 45 - 59 | |||
| I received | Paper ticket | 47.93% | 49.32% | 44.27% | 60.23% |
| Print at home e-ticket | 25.08% | 25.75% | 25.92% | 18.18%* | |
| No preference | 22.17% | 19.24% | 25.69% | 17.05%* | |
| Mobile / In-app ticket | 4.82% | 5.69% | 4.13%* | 4.55%* | |
| I would have preferred | No preference | 41.70% | 40.50% | 42.22% | 48.19% |
| Paper ticket | 27.61% | 28.77% | 26.89% | 28.92%* | |
| Mobile / In-app ticket | 19.47% | 21.51% | 20.05% | 9.64%* | |
| Print at home e-ticket | 10.31% | 9.22% | 10.85% | 13.25%* |
* Unstable base sizes (n<30)
- 47.99% of people received paper tickets for the last music event that they went to
- This fits fairly well with people’s expectations: 27.83% of respondents would have preferred a paper ticket, and 42.15% had no preference
- Mobile / In-app tickets are being under served at the moment - with only 4.82% of people receiving them, but 19.47% preferring them.
Listening format
- Gigs are still a music discovery method: 18.17% of respondents didn’t listen to the acts before the last music event they went to
- Looking at the main UK on demand music formats, the most common way people had listened to the acts on the line-up before attending a gig was on physical format (25.89%), followed by YouTube (19.29%)
- Spotify narrowly pipped iTunes to third place, with 12.69% of respondents listening to an act on Spotify before attending a gig, versus 11.98% using iTunes.
- Both formats grew in popularity among 18-29 yr olds, with 17.00% listening via Spotify before attending a gig, compared with 14.50% via iTunes.
Table of results: ‘Have you listened to this/these acts' music before? If so, how?’
| Answer Options | Overall | Age | ||
| 18 - 29 | 30 - 44 | 45 - 59 | ||
| CD / Cassette / Vinyl | 25.89% | 15.00% | 30.99% | 44.55% |
| YouTube | 19.29% | 28.75% | 13.22% | 10.89%* |
| I had not listened to their music before | 18.17% | 14.25% | 21.28% | 18.81%* |
| Spotify | 12.69% | 17.00% | 10.95% | 3.96%* |
| iTunes | 11.98% | 14.50% | 10.54% | 8.91%* |
| Other (please specify) | 10.36% | 7.75% | 11.98% | 12.87%* |
| Soundcloud | 1.62%* | 2.75%* | 1.03%* | 0.00%* |
* Unstable base size (n<30)
People’s Favourite Local Events
- Music events are people’s favourite type of event to go to locally.
- When asked to name their favourite local event of any size, the most mentioned event type was music, as written by 24.26% of respondents. This encompasses all sorts of music events, including answers such as ‘concerts’, ‘gigs’ and ‘music’. When we add in festivals (we presume they generally mean music festivals, but they could also refer to beer/comedy or other festivals), this figure rises to 33.07%.
- Sports were second most popular, with 18.71% of respondents mentioning them as their favourite local events
- Trailing in third place was Theatre, mentioned by 10.66% of respondents when asked to name their favourite event to go to locally.
- (Q2 Tables, see below)
Table of most mentioned event types: ‘Thinking about all sorts of events, what's your favourite event that happens within your local area, of any type and size? (<1 hour from where you live)’
| Top freely written answers | Percentage of responses |
| Music (‘Music’ + ‘concerts’ + ‘gigs’) | 24.26% |
| Sport (‘Sport’ + ‘Football’ + ‘Rugby’ + ‘tennis’) | 18.71% |
| Theatre | 10.66% |
| Festival | 8.81% |
| Food | 6.31% |
| Events | 4.57% |
| Market | 3.59% |
| Comedy | 2.61% |
| Fairs | 2.39% |
| Local | 2.18% |
| Art + crafts | 2.83% |
| Fireworks + bonfire night | 1.96% |
| Carnival | 0.87% |
| Talks | 0.76% |
How Much People Are Prepared To Pay For Different Types Of Events
- Overall, more people are prepared to pay for music events than any other sort of event
- 82.59% would spend something on music events (the most popular price bracket was £21-35, chosen by 24.22% of respondents).
- 69.63% would spend something on theatre/dance events (they would typically pay £21-35, chosen by 25.39% of respondents)
- 66.80% would spend something on food events (they would typically pay £0-10, chosen by 23.34% of respondents)
- 55.82% would spend something on sports events (most likely £21-35, chosen by 18.87% of respondents)
- 50.24% would spend something on networking/classes/talks events (most likely £0-10, chosen by 30.95% of respondents)
- 48.93% would spend something on art events (most likely £0-10, chosen by 30.86% of respondents)
- Of the event categories listed, music was the only one where £0 was not the most popular response for how much they would typically pay.
Graph of results: ‘How much would you typically pay for the following types of events?’
Table of results: ‘How much would you typically pay for the following types of events?’ - most popular answer for each event type highlighted in bold
| £0 | £0-10 | £11-20 | £21-35 | £36-50 | £51-75 | £75+ | |
| Music | 17.41% | 10.31% | 20.33% | 24.22% | 18.19% | 4.86% | 4.67% |
| Theatre / Dance | 30.37% | 7.81% | 17.48% | 25.39% | 13.09% | 4.30% | 1.56% |
| Food | 33.20% | 23.34% | 20.90% | 12.79% | 4.79% | 2.54% | 2.44% |
| Sports | 44.18% | 9.48% | 11.53% | 18.87% | 10.26% | 3.52% | 2.15% |
| Networking / Classes / Talks | 49.76% | 30.95% | 9.60% | 3.23% | 2.35% | 1.08% | 3.04% |
| Art | 51.07% | 30.86% | 13.18% | 3.42% | 0.88% | 0.20% | 0.39% |
Looking at subset of people that are prepared to pay for events, the price respondents would typically pay for Music, Theatre/Dance, and Sports fell in a normal distribution bell curve, peaking at the £21-35 mark. For Food, Networking/Classes/Talks and Art, the number of responses tailed off dramatically (possibly even exponentially for Networking/Classes/Talks and Art!) as the price rose from zero.
How Much People Would Typically Spend On Music Events
- Of the event categories listed, music was the only one where £0 was not the most popular response for how much they would typically pay.
- Overall, respondents were most likely to say that they would spend £21-35 on music events.
- Spend on music decreases with age
- Those aged 18-29 would be most likely to pay £21-35 (chosen by 27.73% of respondents)
- Respondents from 30-44 would be most likely to pay £21-35 (chosen by 22.44% of respondents)
- 45-59 yr olds would be most likely to pay £0 (22.64%*), or £11-20 (21.70%*)
* unstable base sizes (N<30)Graph of results: ‘How much would you typically pay for Music events?’ 
How Often People Attend Different Types of Events
Respondents were most likely to say that they attend music events 1-2 times per year. Less than 5% of respondents said that they attended gigs more than 11 times a year - i.e. the vast majority go to music events less than once a month.Table of results: ‘How many of the following types of events do you attend per year?’
| None | 1-2 | 3-6 | 7-10 | 11+ | |
| Music | 25.39% | 47.28% | 17.90% | 4.57% | 4.96% |
| Food | 36.82% | 30.76% | 15.92% | 6.64% | 9.86% |
| Theatre/Dance | 37.73% | 41.54% | 15.15% | 3.23%* | 2.35%** |
| Networking/Talks/Classes | 46.67% | 25.05% | 15.56% | 4.99% | 7.73% |
| Sports | 49.95% | 27.57% | 11.44% | 3.23%* | 7.82% |
| Art | 55.54% | 28.85% | 11.19% | 2.36%** | 2.06%** |
**unstable base sizes (n<30)*unstable base sizes (n<35)
How Many Major Music Events People Attend Per Year
- Younger respondents go to more large scale music events per year: 51.9% of 18-29 yr olds go to 1-2 major music events per year
- But only 5.92% of 18-29 yr olds would typically pay £75+ for a music event ticket
Graph of results: ‘How many major music events do you attend per year?’