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Live Music Audiences Johannesburg (Gauteng) South Africa

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Live Music Audiences Johannesburg (Gauteng) South Africa Live Music Audiences Johannesburg (Gauteng) South Africa 1 Live Music and Audience Development The role and practice of arts marketing has evolved over the last decade from being regarded as subsidiary to a vital function of any arts and cultural organisation. Many organisations have now placed the audience at the heart of their operation, becoming artistically-led, but audience-focused. Artistically-led, audience-focused organisations segment their audiences into target groups by their needs, motivations and attitudes, rather than purely their physical and demographic attributes. Finally, they adapt the audience experience and marketing approach for each target groupi. Within the arts marketing profession and wider arts and culture sector, a new Anglo-American led field has emerged, called audience development. While the definition of audience development may differ among academics, it’s essentially about: understanding your audiences through research; becoming more audience-focused (or customer-centred); and seeking new audiences through short and long-term strategies. This report investigates what importance South Africa places on arts marketing and audiences as well as their current understanding of, and appetite for, audience development. It also acts as a roadmap, signposting you to how the different aspects of the research can be used by arts and cultural organisations to understand and grow their audiences. While audience development is the central focus of this study, it has been located within the live music scene in Johannesburg and wider Gauteng. Emphasis is also placed on young audiences as they represent a large existing, and important potential, audience for the live music and wider arts sector. The study was a joint project with researcher Elizabeth O’Connor, the University of Witwatersrand and Concerts SA. Please see the appendix or the further information about the partners. Thank you to the people who gave their time and honesty in the research of this project. It is hoped this study is just the first step, which will inspire more artists and organisations to get to know their audiences better. 2 Presented by Elizabeth O’Connor on behalf of Concerts SA and the University of Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa May 2015 3 Contents Live Music and Audience Development .................................................................................................. 2 1. Research Background ...................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 The Local Context .................................................................................................................... 7 1.1.1 A Brief Post-Apartheid History of Live Music Venues in Johannesburg .......................... 7 1.1.2 Live Music Industry, Venues and Audiences in Johannesburg – Existing Research ........ 8 1.2 Arts Marketing ........................................................................................................................ 9 1.3 Audience Development ........................................................................................................ 10 1.4 Live Music Consumption and Experience ............................................................................. 15 1.5 Barriers to Attendance .......................................................................................................... 16 2. Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 16 2.1 Research Methods ...................................................................................................................... 17 2.2 Sampling ...................................................................................................................................... 20 2.3 Data Recording and Analysis ....................................................................................................... 21 2.4 Limitations ................................................................................................................................... 21 3. Research Findings ............................................................................................................................. 24 3.1 Live Music Attendance Motivation ............................................................................................. 24 3.2 Connection with the Artist .......................................................................................................... 30 3.3 Authenticity and Hedonic Consumption ..................................................................................... 35 3.4 Authentic Diversity of Audience ................................................................................................. 41 3.5 Uniqueness .................................................................................................................................. 44 3.6 Concerts SA Audiences’ Preferences .......................................................................................... 45 3.5 Barriers to Attendance ................................................................................................................ 50 3.6 Venues......................................................................................................................................... 56 3.6.1 Multi-disciplinarians ............................................................................................................. 56 3.6.2 Rentschler’s Evolutionary Framework of the Arts Marketing Profession ............................ 57 3.6.3 Artistically-led, Audience-focused ....................................................................................... 57 3.6.4 Audience Development Needs Clarification ........................................................................ 58 3.6.5 Informal Research and Segmentation ................................................................................. 59 3.6.6 Attendance Culture .............................................................................................................. 61 3.6.7 Skills Development and Specialism ...................................................................................... 62 3.6.8 Artist Marketing ................................................................................................................... 62 4. Reflections on the Findings and Future Recommendations ............................................................. 65 4.1 Creating a Culture of Research ................................................................................................... 65 4 4.2 Skills Development ...................................................................................................................... 65 4.3 Artistically-led, Audience-focused .............................................................................................. 66 4.4 Audience Development............................................................................................................... 67 4.4.1 Motivation ............................................................................................................................ 67 4.5 Authenticity and Hedonic Consumption ..................................................................................... 68 4.6 Barriers ........................................................................................................................................ 69 4.7 Digital .......................................................................................................................................... 71 5. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 73 6. Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................... 73 Primary Sources ................................................................................................................................ 73 Secondary Sources ............................................................................................................................ 74 7. Appendix ........................................................................................................................................... 80 7.1 Case Study Venues ...................................................................................................................... 80 7.2 Respondent profiles .................................................................................................................... 86 QUANTITATIVE ................................................................................................................................... 91 7.3 Interview Questions .................................................................................................................. 100 7.4 Research Partners ..................................................................................................................... 105 5 1. Research Background Today live music plays a critical role in South Africa’s wider music landscapeii, and has attracted renewed interest from the local and international music industry as they seek out new forms of revenue following the decline in recorded music salesiii. Spending on live music was expected to overtake spending on recorded music in 2014,
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