Does your music festival have super fans? The ones who will come back year after year, upgrade their tickets, and bring as many friends as they can? Chances are, these super fans who drive your music festival’s revenue have distinct demographic similarities.
So, what are the demographics of your music festival’s most valuable fans? Working with independent company MusicWatch, Inc., we surveyed over 1,000 18-49 year-olds in North America who have attended at least one music festival in the past 12 months. This new research uncovered one type of festival fan driving more growth than all the rest. Meet the “hardcore festie.”
The hardcore festie attends an average of 5-6 music festivals per year, and is responsible for more than half of the total annual spend on festival tickets in North America. In other words, getting to know them is vital for driving more ticket sales to your future festivals. They are the ones who will invite their friends, promote your festival on social media, and ultimately help you turn a profit.
Getting to know 1,000 music festival fans
Hardcore festies only comprise about 20% of all festival-goers. However, they’re also spending $91 more on an average festival ticket compared to “casual” festies, and they attend their favorite festivals an average of three times. In fact, hardcore festies outrank casual festies in VIP purchasing, social influence, and virtually every other aspect of spending, attendance, and engagement.
Here’s how hardcore festies compare to moderate and casual festies:
- Hardcore festies: 20% of all festival-goers; attend an average of five to six festivals each year
- Moderate festies: 50% of all festival-goers; attend two to three festivals each year
- Casual festies: 30% of all festival-goers; attend one festival each year
Considering that our data indicates that the average fan attends 2.6 events per year, working to attract hardcore festies will offer a higher return on investment. By focusing your attention on fans who are more likely to come back to your event, you’ll gain fans for life — not just this one festival.
The demographics of valuable music festival fans
So what else do we know about hardcore festies? Based on music festival demographics, their average age is 32, and they are more likely to be male (59%) than female (41%). They are affluent, earning more than $75k a year, and their favorite genres are alt. modern rock, classic rock, and pop.
Now that you have an idea of what the typical hardcore festie is like, here’s why it matters:
They’re more likely to be loyal. Hardcore festies have been to their favorite festival an average of three times. When deciding whether to attend, they’re 1.5x more likely than casual fans to consider the festival producer or promoter.
They’ll rally their friends. Nearly 70% of hardcore festies say their friends rely on them for information about upcoming music festivals. And they’re 42% more likely than casual fans to post on social media at festivals.
As you can see, putting more effort into reaching the most engaged 20% of your fan base can pay off. Not only will they spend more on festival day, but they’ll help spread the word and recruit new festival goers for you.
For more music festival demographics that will help you engage hardcore festies, download our complete guide to attracting the most valuable music festival fans.
