Concert culture is booming, but the audience is bigger than the venue

Live music has a huge audience across APAC, but most of that audience is not regularly standing in front of a stage.

More than 60% of consumers in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand have attended a live concert or music festival, according to YouGov’s "Following the music: APAC concert goers report 2026". Active concert-goers, however, make up only a small share of that audience, with occasional attendance far more common across the region.

That raises an interesting question: where does concert culture live when the concert is over?

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The concert is just the beginning 

Seeing an artist live is the biggest motivation for frequent concert-goers, cited by 59% of respondents. The atmosphere and energy follow at 52%, while 40% say creating memorable experiences is part of the appeal.

Those motivations put the focus on the experience around the artist, rather than simply the performance. That can mean the merchandise fans take home, the content they share afterwards, the collectibles they pick up or the experiences they have with friends and family.

Merchandise, in particular, gives fandom a physical life beyond the event. Limited-edition products and artist collaborations can turn a concert into something fans continue to engage with after the final song.

The opportunity is not limited to major ticketed shows either. Solo artist or band concerts are the most popular live music format at 51%, followed by free outdoor or community events at 44%. This creates different ways to participate in music culture, from building experiences around artists to creating products and moments that fans can engage with outside the venue.

KFC Singapore’s latest Live Nation partnership offers another example of this wider engagement. Its “Concert Nation 2.0” programme lets fans earn points through purchases, mini-games and social posts around concerts, with rewards including concert tickets and VIP experiences. The programme also lets fans earn points before and after attending a show, extending the experience beyond the venue.

Fandom doesn't end when the lights go down

Gen Z is emerging as an important concert audience across APAC, although the pattern varies by market. Indonesia has the strongest appetite for frequent attendance, with 5% of concert-goers attending six or more events in the past year. Australia is the exception, where Millennials are more likely than Gen Z to attend multiple shows.

The social side of live music also varies. Friends are the most common concert companions across the region, while Singaporeans are more likely to attend with family. Consumers in Indonesia and Thailand are more likely to attend alone.

Then there is the question of access. Ticket prices are the biggest reason consumers do not attend more concerts, cited by 40% of respondents, while 29% point to the overall cost of going out. Singapore and Australia also have relatively high proportions of respondents who did not attend a concert or festival in the past year, at 39% and 38% respectively.

The result is an audience that engages with music in very different ways. Some are regular concert-goers while others go once or twice a year. Some may never enter the venue at all, yet still follow an artist, buy the merch, share the content or turn up for a free experience. Taken together, the findings make concert culture a much broader space than the ticketed event itself.

That broader live music economy is also being reflected in how women engage with concerts across Asia. Research from The Collective, the global advisory and advocacy business of THE·TEAM, found that women are influencing not only attendance decisions but spending across the wider concert experience.

Its "Her frequency: How women amplify value across the live music experience" study surveyed nearly 15,000 women across 12 markets, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan and China. It found that 77% of women surveyed across Asia play a key role in creating the group experience around live music, from discovering events and buying tickets to coordinating plans before, during and after a show.

The spending opportunity also extends beyond admission, with more than half of women surveyed globally spending over US$100 beyond the ticket price on areas such as transport, hospitality, merchandise, food and beverages, and premium experiences.

The findings add another dimension to the live music opportunity. The concert may be the point of entry, but the value of fandom can stretch across the entire experience. 

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