We recently wrote about Expo causing gig fatigue amongst regular market goers HERE. Kungfuology followed up on it HERE.
In any case, we’ve also been thinking that attendances could be waning due to that rapid increase in prices over the last 6 months. It’s been quite some time since the heady days of having to pay 1,500RMB for the Black Eyed Peas, 3,000RMB for Celine Dion, or even Kanye West for (free??).
Prices have been way down for nearly 18 months now, reflecting the Global Economic Crisis (yes, it was felt here). But the market, particularly for foreign artists, is starting to get more expensive again. Peaches broke the 200RMB barrier (it was full in both Shanghai and Beijing, but the audience was 90% foreign) and last weekend, the French government brought national treasure -M- to China to headline their Fete de la Musique. The price was 200RMB in advance and 260RMB on the door. Both the Shanghai and Beijing venues were full to capacity, but 95%+ of the audiences were French.
STD had their 3rd birthday last weekend too, and although the lineup was a huge one and certainly worth the 120RMB ticket price, there were no standout artists to attract the 70% of gig goers that go for the show, rather than due to an obsession with the music itself. There were online mutterings about the cost driving people away.
And coming up, we have (just announced) Panic at the Disco!, a mid level emo band that have been there or there abouts for the last few years. The price in Shanghai for the mid August show will be a hefty 300/ 360 RMB (45/ 55 US$) which seems like some optimistic pricing to us.
Local indie stars are also charging more. Beijing Pet Conspiracy were charging 80-100RMB for a home town show and Beijng’s top independent bands command 3 figure door prices in Shanghai now.
This brings us to two points
- is it worth it for an international artist to come to China if the crowd they play to are 90% Western?
- what are the levels at which the Chinese become priced out of a show?
In our experience, if a gig is under 40RMB in first tier cities and in normally frequented venues, then Chinese gig goers will generally feel this is an acceptable price to pay, even for a lesser known artist. There are obviously artists at the other end of the scale that people will find the money for, no matter what the cost, but it is the mid-range that has always been the toughest sell and is just as often a bust as a success.
An easy conclusion to draw is that the audiences are still extremely price sensitive in China and that pricing is an art and one that often goes wrong. The Chinese audience really needs to have access to as many shows as possible at a price they can truly afford. Rambling now. World Cup hangover…………