Livehouse's money is starting to make a lot of money

Production | Tiger Smell Commercial Consumer Group

Author | Zhou Yueming

Editor | Miao Zhengqing

Title | Visual China

Tiger sniff note: Is Livehouse a good business? This is the third article in the "Night Economy" series. Over the past two months, Tiger Smell has communicated with multiple Livehouse executives and band managers, and presented their thoughts and insights on Livehouse in this article. On October 26th, Tiger Smell will hold the "Consumer Participation Conference - Digging Gold Night Economy Special Event" in Beijing, which will bring together more than 40 frontline professionals related to the night economy. If you also have unique thoughts on night economy, welcome to participate in the event. Please refer to the poster in the article for the participation method.

"The music is when the story ends, do you hear it", accompanied by the guitar that is about to rub out the Mars, five boys with red eye shadow and green suits are "nervously" singing the lyrics. A few hours later, they took away the fifth prize in the third season of "The Summer of the Band", and became the youngest band in the top five.

On the evening of October 20th, this variety show, which has attracted the attention of independent music enthusiasts, aired its final. The rock veteran second-hand rose unexpectedly won the championship, while the post punk niche band Berlin Nurses, known as the "suit thugs," surprised many and took fifth place.

When the staff announced on the second scene that they had finished six to eight but didn't have us, the executive agent started crying beside them. "Berlin nurse's economic cat Chuan smiled, and in the early morning of the 21st, she posted a nine palace grid made up of countless Le Xia photos on her social media, with the caption" This summer's grades are a key, time will give everyone the answer

Compared to Mao Chuan's emotions, Da Chuan, who also shared his happy summer moments on his social media, became much more relaxed and casual. As the Chief Content Officer of domestic leader LivehouseMao, who has been established for 16 years, he appeared in the seats of "Lexia Youyou" (a professional jury with one vote per person), and many leaders of domestic top Livehouses were also in this category.

However, perhaps for many Livehouse executives sitting in the "band friends" section, this year should be much more comfortable than the days when they participated in the second season of 2020, Le Summer.

After struggling through the epidemic, the Livehouse industry began to recover in 2023. According to barley data, in February and March of this year alone, the barley platform sold over 2800 Livehouse performances, and the box office size increased by 15 times compared to the same period in 2019. On the content side, Livehouse has also returned to the focus of young people's attention. According to the "Bilibili Youth Interest Trend Observation: Spring 2023 Chapter" released by Bilibili, Livehouse has become a high growth interest hotspot, with various submissions such as novice strategies, dressing, and makeup increasing by 276% year-on-year.

The market is indeed more prosperous than before, for example, Beijing has added more than ten new companies in a short period of time, "Dachuan told Husniff.

However, as the plates grow, some new challenges also arise in the Livehouse industry.

For example, as more players crowded into the Livehouse track, different voices began to appear in the circle regarding what "Livehouse" means.

Previously, Livehouses were mostly associated with labels such as rock music, underground, and subculture. The model of these types of Livehouses was relatively simple, and revenue mainly relied on the band's performance box office sharing or rent. But with the participation of entrepreneurs and capital from various backgrounds, some institutions formerly known as bars and nightclubs have also begun to adopt the name Livehouse. Contrary to the past, Livehouse mainly relies on dining and alcohol for revenue, while performances are only auxiliary.

The increasingly blurred positioning of Livehouse has raised concerns among some industry insiders.

Zuo Ye, the founder of Jiangjin Liquor at the top domestic Livehouse, told a joke to Hu Sniff: A lighting engineer who used to work at a table wine style Livehouse came to apply for a traditional Livehouse and asked, "Are you a fake Livehouse that can only stand and watch performances

In addition to concerns about confusion in positioning, the growth of Livehouse has also brought anxiety to the independent music industry.

The number of small Livehouses is decreasing, and the number of large venues with thousands of people is increasing. The type of venue seems to be becoming increasingly singular.

When most offline transactions only need to consider commercial monetization issues, the Livehouse industry is more complex.

In this industry, the game between art and business has become an unavoidable issue. How to seek balance is the top question that many Livehouse owners are thinking about.

Li Kui and Li Gui in the Livehouse circle

The smile on the face of the boss of Livehouse during the epidemic has resurfaced this year.

In the first half of the year, the recovery was particularly rapid, "Zuo Ye told Tiger Smell. His company, Xinjiang Jinjiu, returned to profitability a few months after the epidemic was lifted this year. This year, he opened a new venue in Guangzhou.

In Zuo Ye's view, the prosperity of the industry after the epidemic was lifted is expected.

Prior to the epidemic, many people were optimistic that Livehouse would be an offline scene with a large influx of young people, and were eager to join this race track. It is natural for this pent up enthusiasm to be quickly released after the epidemic.

And Wang Haifeng, the manager of Red Tong, believes that the deeper reason for the explosion of Livehouse after the epidemic is that many offline venues began to be vacant in the first two years.

Many cultural and tourism projects or commercial real estate are no longer operated by anyone, and many people take over the establishment of Livehouses at low prices, "said Wang Haifeng.

The reason for choosing to turn these low-cost spaces into Livehouses is also partly due to the fact that in the early stages of the epidemic, Livehouses were more loosely managed compared to larger performance venues with stricter controls. This allowed Livehouse to take on some offline needs during that special period, where people could enjoy the performance while easily whispering in the few places where they could gather.

However, the prosperity of the industry has also attracted "intruders" from different backgrounds.

Institutions from restaurants and bars have also begun to flock to the Livehouse track, and even some large consumer goods companies have begun to establish their own Livehouses.

The expansion of the Livehouse category has begun to raise concerns among some industry insiders.

In the eyes of early founders, the concept of Livehouse was firmly bound to rock music and indie music, with words such as utopia, Bohemia, underground, and even dirty and messy being closer to the temperament of such places.

For this type of Livehouse, the personalized imprint of the manager is very profound, "Zuo Ye said to Hu Mo.

Many times, the different personalities and backgrounds of the managers affect the operational style of this Livehouse.

Berlin Nurse Economy Cat Chuan gave Tiger Sniff a few examples: for example, in a well-known Livehouse wine club, the hosts usually warmly entertain musicians and have a big drink, but in the Livehouse founded by Li Zhi, due to Li Zhi's more rigorous personality and more discipline.

But for the new Livehouse, personalization is less important. They generally have a unified approach to materials, design, and operation, and standardization and templating are their qualities. If we use an analogy, it's like the difference between homestays and chain hotels.

The difference in temperament determines the differences in business models, customer circles, and development prospects.

Traditional Livehouses place more emphasis on cultural content, and their revenue mainly relies on the band's box office share or the band's performance rent, attracting a small group of music deep users who enjoy watching the band live. Moreover, due to the emphasis on personalized imprinting, their development core is inherently contradictory to large-scale replication and expansion. Observing the top domestic livehouses, it can be seen that many have been established for more than ten years but the number of venues does not exceed 10.

However, due to many backgrounds in bars and nightclubs, the new type of Livehouses rely more on food and beverage for their revenue support. Therefore, the customer group who consume alcohol and food is more concerned by them, and live music performances are more like icing on the cake. But compared to traditional Livehouses, these types of Livehouses are easier to replicate and expand. For example, the representative company of this style, Mengtian Music, expanded dozens of stores within a year, and now has more than 60 stores nationwide.

A clear difference is that the audience of traditional Livehouses usually leave after listening to the performance, and even if some Livehouses provide drinks, their consumption demand for drinks is not high. But the customer base of the new Livehouse has a high demand for alcohol consumption, and the venue will also provide them with seats.

Dachuan told Tiger Sniff an interesting detail: in the past year, more and more consumers who have called MAO to inquire about whether they have a seat.

However, the emergence of the new Livehouse has raised doubts among some industry insiders.

In their eyes, this is not Livehouse, essentially a bar or cafeteria, just the name given to Livehouse.

But Yu Dong, the founder of Mengtian Music, does not agree with these doubts.

The term 'Livehouse' was originally introduced from Japan and represents a leisurely lifestyle, 'Yu Dong told Tiger Smell. In his opinion, the debate over the definition of the term' Livehouse 'is not important, and the concept does not need to be too rigid or ritualized.

In recent years, due to its background in the bar, as well as its focus on dining and drinking, as well as its card seating model, Mengtian Music has become a controversial focus in the industry. Questions such as "not rock enough" and "not really a Livehouse" often arise.

But an interesting thing is that when its founder Yu Dong studied physics at Xiamen University, he was the president of the guitar club at Xiamen University, formed a band, liked Cui Jian, Scorpion, and was also a fan of rock music. However, according to his description, his greatest achievement during his time at the guitar club was to grow the club's members from a few dozen to five hundred. His lack of refinement in music, but his more talented talent for management, may have foreshadowed the future development path of Mengtian Music. Yu Dong told Tiger Smell that the profit of each store of Mengtian Music is basically over ten million yuan, and the business has grown rapidly in recent years.

At the same time as the dispute arises, in fact, the two types of Livehouses are also merging with each other to some extent.

Finding new growth points and breaking the cycle are both their common propositions.

For example, both are trying to improve the utilization of idle time.

Traditional Livehouses have begun to attempt to add party drinking sessions during the post performance schedule, while the new Livehouse adds live performance sessions before evening drinks and dining.

To some extent, they are getting closer to each other.

The disappearing small Livehouse

The "factional conflict" between the Livehouse industry does not have a significant impact on the bands and the brands behind them.

The changes in the scale of Livehouses actually have a deeper impact on them.

It should be noted that Livehouse is to independent bands what soil is to flowers. For most small and medium-sized bands, Livehouse is their main source of income. According to Maochuan, when nurses in Berlin are less well-known, 60% of their income comes from touring Livehouses in various regions.

But as Livehouse continues to expand in scale, this soil is being destroyed.

In the past year, when we were developing a Livehouse tour plan for the small band, we suddenly realized that we didn't have many options, "said Li Qing. Due to cost considerations, unknown small bands often start touring in small venues with one or two hundred people. These types of Livehouses also provide space for many independent bands to grow and practice, but now this space is being squeezed.

Small venues are becoming increasingly scarce, and many venues are evolving towards the scale of thousands of people, to some extent related to "compliance costs".

According to Berlin nurse agent Maochuan, due to the unique nature of Livehouse, the approval process for performances is often a significant cost. Many Livehouses have found that the 'compliance costs' borne by small and large venues are the same, and in order to amortize this cost, sometimes larger venues have more profit potential.

In addition to the disappearance of small Livehouses, Livehouses with the "business card effect" are also disappearing.

According to Li Qing's recollection, during the era when his band Carsickcars grew up, China was at the peak of the development of Livehouse. At that time, almost every first and second tier city had many representative or distinctive Livehouses, and the band's touring in these Livehouses was one of their achievements.

But with the transformation and expansion of the model, this type of Livehouse has sharply decreased. It's very likely that there are less than ten now, "sighed Li Qing. This is undoubtedly a disaster for small and medium-sized independent bands in China, but it is also an unavoidable reality.

In fact, the conflict between art and business not only occurs between independent music and Livehouse, but also permeates the entire music industry.

As the manager of the brand, Wang Haifeng had always had the say in who Chitong signed and promoted, but with the intervention of the management, Wang Haifeng felt that his control was getting lower and lower.

I often refer to them as' Excel 'Tsars in meetings with the finance department.

According to several industry insiders, the popularity of Livehouse has declined in the second half of the year. Livehouse, which quickly entered the game a while ago, may soon experience some issues.

For example, the explosion of performance types such as Livehouse, music festivals, and concerts may put Livehouse in fierce competition.

Livehouse

At present, there are still many problems that lie ahead of the founders of Livehouse. How to break the cycle, find growth points while balancing art and business are all urgent issues to be solved.

#I am Zhou Yueming, editor of the Tiger Smell Commercial Consumption Group. I follow multiple fields such as going overseas, consumption, IPO, etc. For industry professionals, please add our WeChat account: muzhouzhishi. Please indicate your identity, and news leads can also be sent via email to zhouyueming@huxiu.com .