No Arena Shows in 2021 & TikTok's Role In Music | Music News

Homebrewed: An Australian Music Podcast

English - August 04, 2021 15:00 - 14 minutes - 20 MB
Music Interviews Music Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed

Previous Episode: Trouble In Paradise Interview III

Next Episode: Lizzie Jack and the Beanstalks Interview

A new report suggests the return of world tours to arenas in Australia may not come until mid-next year, citing the rigidity of global travel and quarantine periods.

The 20th edition of PwC’s (PricewaterhouseCoopers) annual Australian Entertainment and Media Outlook says world tours returning to Australian arenas is unlikely “until international movements are more fluid and conditions regarding 14 day quarantine are modified.” It goes on to predict that these issues may be addressed from mid-to-late 2022. Arena tours set to take place in Australia over the next 12 months include Guns N’ Roses and Lorde.

Additionally, the report acknowledges the lack of cohesion regarding restrictions across states as a challenge for large-scale tours going ahead. Their viability rests on, the report argues, “the ability for acts to quarantine safely for the prescribed period, and their ability to move between states that may have different lockdown requirements and travel restrictions at any given point in time.”

Elsewhere in the report are staggering statistics around the impact of the pandemic on live music more broadly in Australia. Calling the live music market is the “hardest hit” of entertainment and media sectors by the pandemic, it claims the industry experienced a 90% drop in revenue between 2019 and 2020.

Meanwhile, TikTok clearly is a big player in music as up to 75% of their U.S. users say they discover new artists via the platform.

The data comes from a new survey, titled US TikTok Marketing Science, Music Perceptions Research, which was commissioned by TikTok. Two independent analytic firms, MRC Data and Flamingo Group, conducted the studies.

The platform’s undeniable influence on music has been cemented by the survey’s findings. 72% of TikTok users say they associate specific songs with TikTok, while 67% say they’re more likely to later search for tracks they first heard on the app on another music streaming platform.

TikTok has previously helped boost the careers of famous artists such as Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo, Megan Thee Stallion, and Doja Cat. In December, it was reported that over 70 artists who found their break on TikTok in 2020 went on to be signed by a major label.

Brands were also studied. The findings discovered that when brands feature songs that TikTok users like in their videos, 68% remember the brand better, while 58% feel a stronger connection to the brand. 58% say they’re more likely to share the advert, and 62% say they’re curious to learn more about the brand.

The report by the Flamingo Group also found that seven of 10 TikTokers “believe TikTok communities have the power to create change in culture”, while 71% of users believe the biggest trends start on the platform. The rapid rise in TikTok’s influence makes sense when the increasing number of its users are considered. By February of this year it was estimated that the platform had 1.1 billion monthly users, a remarkable rise from 680 million in November 2018. To put that in perspective, Spotify has 345 million monthly active users and estimates that figure will only rise to 407-427 million monthly active users by the end of this year.