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Regulatory challenges, market unpredictability, financial issues and political instability are just some of the potential pitfalls that promoters face in Asia who are tasked with navigating a variety of headwinds in a region of contrasts.
Indeed, 2024 has provided a plethora of momentous political moments in Asia – and beyond – that have given promoters plenty of headaches as they attempt to plan ahead for 2025. This has been the biggest election year in human history, with half of the world’s population – some 3.7 billion people – having gone to the polls in 72 countries.
However, from Australian Parliamentary Elections in May and September to the ongoing turbulence in South Korea, 2025 will bring further changes and challenges. New administrations typically come with new mandates and new cabinets, including arts and culture ministers, potentially disrupting relationships and tax rates.
Growing demand
During TheTicketingBusiness Asia 2024 Summit, an expert panel came together to discuss how best to navigate turbulent times.
In China, the market for live music and entertainment continues to be substantial, but political elements have to be factored into long-term planning.
The bottom-line prognosis in the country appears to be positive, though. The collective concert box office hit revenues of CNY3bn (£326.5m/$411m/€394m) in 2023, and the China Association of Performing Arts predicts that figure will grow substantially.
Furthermore, last year, almost CNY3.2bn in revenue was generated by large music festivals – about 8.5 times the total amount reported in 2019.
An example of this growing demand was Kanye West’s unexpected performance in Haikou in September. The concert from West, now known as Ye, sold out more than 42,000 tickets within 10 minutes, and drove around $50m in consumer spending.
In the opinion of Lesley Zhang, managing director of The Creative China, relationships are pivotal to successful event preparations.
“It’s not about planning many months in advance and doing a lot of preparation, but when you have a good connection with the local promoter or authority, things can run very quickly,” she said.
“They can give you a green light to make things happen and they can even promote the events through the official channels, so that’s why it’s important to build this connection with local promoters.”
Fruitful connections
The Chinese Government plays a huge role in the country’s live music industry, especially for foreign artists, as it requires them to submit set lists and song lyrics before getting approval to tour.
This makes the life of the promoter all the more difficult as some acts can be denied permission, even at a late stage in negotiations. For example, Justin Bieber was barred from China in 2017 due to a perceived reputation of being a “badly behaved entertainer”.
Audrey Cho, director of theatre production at Interpark Triple – a South Korean travel and entertainment platform that offers tickets to concerts, musicals and more – echoed Zhang’s comments about the importance of establishing connections that can mitigate these bumps in the road.
“I would say the best advice to get a venue is to build a very close relationship with the venue operators and the theatre owners,” Cho said.
In 2025, the shifting geopolitical landscape will continue to present challenges for promoters, as well as the live event and ticketing space more broadly. However, establishing fruitful connections would appear to be vital in addressing inevitable challenges in a region that is growing quickly and has significant untapped potential.
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