1. Introduction

With the economic and social development of our country in recent decades, material living standards have greatly improved. In contrast, the demand for spiritual and cultural enrichment has been steadily increasing, leading to a significant surge in the market demand for concerts. Although many large-scale events such as concerts and music festivals were canceled or postponed over the past two years, the pent-up demand for living performances has remained strong. Following long-term home life and social restrictions, people are eager to participate in on-site activities to seek social interaction and emotional release, resulting in a wave of retaliatory consumption psychology.

The concert market has showed strong growth and the performance market and box office revenue increased significantly throughout the year, far exceeding pre-pandemic levels. For instance, on September 21, 2024, as many as 31 concerts were held in a single day, delivering one audiovisual feast after another. However, the market has begun to cool down, with "sold out events becoming increasingly rare. Senior performer Li Jianpeng said frankly: "The audience’s economic capacity is relatively fixed, but the number of performances continues to increase, making it difficult to balance supply and demand." In the second half of this year, concert ticket sales showed a decline compared to the first half and the same period last year. While retaliatory consumption in 2023 briefly boosted the market, saturation, audience fatigue and a shift to more rational consumer behavior have gradually taken hold. Therefore, this paper seeks to address these challenges by analyzing and discussing effective marketing strategies for the concert market.

2. Key Factors Influencing Concert Marketing

The success of concert marketing is influenced by various factors that shape consumer behavior and industry dynamics. First, consumer psychology plays a crucial role; as the concert market stabilizes post-pandemic, audiences are becoming more discerning, prioritizing music quality and performance experience over mere brand popularity. This shift towards rational consumption encourages organizers to focus on delivering more value through unique and memorable experiences rather than relying solely on star power or aggressive promotional tactics.

Second, ticket pricing strategies have become a pivotal factor in consumer decision-making. As competition in the market increases, price sensitivity among audiences grows, making it essential for organizers to balance affordability with perceived value. Additionally, technology is influencing concert marketing through innovations like live streaming, virtual concerts, and enhanced audience engagement via social media platforms, broadening access and creating new revenue streams. Lastly, regional factors, including local economic conditions, venue capacity, and audience demographics, affect marketing approaches, making localized strategies more critical in attracting targeted consumers. Understanding these elements helps organizers adapt and thrive in a competitive, evolving market.

3. Effective Marketing Strategies for Concerts

"Performance marketing" in the concert aims at satisfying people's desire for live music experiences by transforming potential demand into tangible ticket sales. It encompasses a wide range of activities, including marketing research, demand forecasting, pricing strategies, advertising campaigns, personnel promotion, and post-event follow-up. Performance marketing is the main work of performance agents, performance groups and performers. Performance marketing is different from product sales or product promotion, and sales activities in the field of circulation are only one part of the performance marketing activities, and not the most important part [1].

Factors influencing the formulation of relevant guidelines, such as consumer preferences, are also crucial. Stage design plays a key role in a concert, and a well-designed stage, including stage sets, lighting effects, sound effects, etc., can bring a unique viewing experience to the audience. The visual enhancement is also an important factor in attracting the audience. With the rapid development of technology, concerts are no longer limited to traditional stage music performances, but have added more high-tech elements such as AR, VR, holographic projection, etc., to provide fans with a full range of sensory experiences34. The application of these technologies not only makes the sound quality more perfect, but also allows the audience to enjoy the stereo field and stunning visual effects. In addition, innovations in stage design and visual effects also help to alleviate the aesthetic fatigue of the audience. From a consumer perspective, high-quality stage design and visual effects can improve the overall quality of a concert, which in turn attracts more audiences to watch and promote consumption.

3.1. Price Strategy

Price is the main factor that affects the buying demand of the majority of consumers. The adoption of a reasonable price strategy can not only stimulate consumer demand, but also improve the economic benefits of the enterprise itself, and then promote the healthy and sustainable development of the entire music market. And the quality of the work is different, its corresponding price is also different [2]. Demand-oriented pricing, also known as perceived value pricing, is the performance organizer

A method of setting prices according to the audience's perceived value of the performance. Perceived value is consistent with the concept of modern market positioning. The key to perceived value pricing is to accurately calculate the total perceived value of the market provided by the product .In order to grasp the scale, the performance marketing research must be carried out to determine the correct perceived value, and then determine the price [1]. Firstly,Price discrimination is one of way to pricing,that Enterprises should understand the needs of the public, divide the needs of the public into different levels, and determine different prices of products according to the levels of the public [2]. For example for the high-level population with strong purchasing power, you can provide them with relatively high price products and provide more detailed services. This can not only meet the pursuit of high-quality products by high-income groups, but also greatly increase the sales amount of products; On the contrary, students or migrant workers with weak purchasing power can be provided with relatively cheap products. This not only allows consumers to buy products under limited conditions, but also provides them with appropriate services. This way of selling products in batches can meet the needs of different consumers to a greater extent and ensure the effective implementation of reasonable marketing strategies. Secondly,Dynamic pricing: Adjust fares flexibly by monitoring market demand, ticket sales progress, and consumer purchase intentions in real time. For example, early bird tickets, low-priced tickets during the pre-sale period, and "floating fares" that gradually increase as concert dates approach or adopt different ticket price strategies for different concerts or different time periods. For example, weekend or holiday fares are higher than weekday fares to meet the time and spending needs of different consumers.

To sum up, the organizer can cooperated with the local bureau of culture and tourism to launch a combination package of "concert + peripheral products", "concert + travel package" or "concert + accommodation" to provide convenience for foreign audiences and enhance comprehensive income.

3.2. Publicity Strategy

As early as a long time ago, there have been many different kinds of propaganda methods. For example: Early London concerts used a variety of promotional methods in the form of money-saving incentives from promoters, such as subscriptions, free gifts from concerts (usually lyrics to the music), and cross-promotion with music distributors. Consumption is encouraged through the use of a wide variety of media and the use of complex and subtle persuasion techniques. Even at this early time, both characteristics can be seen in advertisements for London concerts during the following period [3]. With the rapid development of network communication technology, there have been earth-shaking changes in information transmission channels, communication methods and audience's habit of accessing media. The current media environment has entered an era of micro-media communication. Micro-media represented by micro-blog and We-chat are the products of the development of new media to a certain stage. They are widely used by users and have far-reaching influence, bringing unprecedented challenges and opportunities to the commercial concert market [4]. For example, [short video platform and live broadcast] use short video platforms (e.g., Douyin, YouTube Shorts) to create concert rehearsal footage, behind-the-scenes stories, or promo videos to enhance the audience's sense of anticipation. Use live streaming features for real-time interaction, such as live invoicing and rehearsal visits, to attract the attention of online audiences and convert them into ticket purchases. Interactive marketing campaigns, such as launching activities such as #concerttopic challenges or UGC content collection/fan sweepstakes, so that fans can participate in the creation of posters, short videos and other promotional content to stimulate users' enthusiasm for co-creation.

3.3. Sales Strategy

Sales is the final link of the entire performance market, after the preparation of works, ticket prices and publicity and other stages, we should do a good job in the final link of sales. One of the most important things in sales is to stick to customer orientation. The customer is king, and that adage in the business world applies to the music performance market as well. As a performer, it is necessary to meet the needs of every audience as far as possible under the premise of ensuring the budget, and the satisfaction of this need has long-term benefits, which can not only ensure that the audience is happy to watch the performance, but also make the audience have a good impression on the performance organization, and then become the "fans" of the performance organization. For example, a customer database can be established to understand the interests and hobbies of each audience. Before each performance, the performance information can be sent to the audience by phone, SMS or email, which can not only achieve accurate publicity, but also give the audience a sense of being valued [5]. For example: in order to better attract the attention , two days before the concert, Mengniu cooperated with Le TV to produce an H5 page, so that netizen can directly hit the Yuquan Christmas performance venue through the H5 page of Mengniu Select Ranch mobile phone. And Le TV is through the three slow live broadcast slots set up in the worker's body, so that consumers can watch the most authentic activities in the stadium before the performance and learn more about the story of the Yuquan concert. All these users can see in the cloud, to help consumers with real-time conditions, more in-depth understanding of product features, while live resource cooperation also let more users know the concept of cloud live. After the preliminary warm-up, Le TV conducted the first round of 5,000 tickets for the concert through official channels, and all were sold out in less than ten minutes [6].This is a good explanation of the importance of sales methods, which can greatly increase the sales of products and consumer satisfaction.

4. Conclusion

The decline in concert ticket sales can be attributed to multiple factors, primarily stemming from improper marketing strategies. The oversaturation of the market, caused by an influx of enterprises entering the concert industry, has intensified competition, leading to a decline in overall profitability. Furthermore, the improper pricing of most products fails to align with the diverse purchasing needs of consumers, thereby limiting demand and excluding potential audience. While pricing remains a key determinant of ticket sales, inadequate publicity and promotional efforts hinder enterprises from arousing consumers' interest in buying. Many enterprises continue to rely on traditional, single-dimensional sales strategies that lack new ideas and innovation, resulting in a disconnect with evolving consumer preferences and market trends. Based on the above analysis, identifying and understanding your target audience is the cornerstone of strategy. Through detailed market research, we can grasp the audience's music preferences, consumption habits and social behaviors, and lay a solid foundation for precision marketing. In terms of ticketing strategy, it is necessary to be flexible and changeable, not only considering the rationality of pricing, but also paying attention to the diversity and convenience of ticketing channels, and at the same time, through promotional means such as limited-time offers and package combinations, to stimulate enthusiasm for ticket purchase. In addition, continuous data monitoring and effect evaluation are important guarantees for optimizing strategies and improving efficiency. By tracking marketing data in real time, adjust the strategic direction in time to ensure the effectiveness and pertinence of marketing campaigns.

While this analysis focuses primarily on sales strategies, concert ticket sales are also influenced by external factors such as business benefits, consumer psychology, infrastructure support. Future studies should integrate these dimensions to provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges facing the concert industry.