‘New Gig Economy’ Research Examines Changing Fan Behaviour

‘The New Gig Economy’, a new cultural study of the live music industry commissioned by BRING - Universal Music for Brands, has been unveiled to marketers by general managers James Griffith and Brooke Pilton.

The newly commissioned report, launched at a live event at Universal Music HQ in Sydney, is designed to better understand music fans’ desires in a shifting live-music landscape.
With recent turbulence in multi-day festivals here in Australia, including the cancellation of long-running events like Splendour in the Grass, BRING says there has been a shift in how fans can experience the artists they love.

BRING wanted to delve deeper into Aussie music fans' desires to understand what they value most from live music. The report is a culmination of months of data and analytics and is designed specifically to assist brands with their live music experiential activations.
The report’s insights are expected to be leveraged by brands looking to “activate in music culture”, and come in response to changing fan behaviours, James Griffith says.

“Some of the findings have been incredibly positive, with 74% of live music fans intending to attend more live music events in 2025 and 80% of fans seeking live music events that cater to their specific music tastes,” James said.

“For brands, this presents an opportunity to create a real value-exchange by making owned moments for themselves that activate and engage deeply with an engaged music community.”

The challenge many brands face when sponsoring live music properties, according to the report, is creating “cut-through”. The report revealed that 58% of live music fans are unaware of the brand sponsoring an event, so brands must be innovative in their approach to create cut-through.

However, the real opportunity for brands is in creating their own live music moments, the report suggests.

63% of all music fans would like to see brands host their own live music events with a curated line-up. By creating their own bespoke, owned music moments, brands can achieve a total share of voice and more deeply associate themselves with a progressive audience, further accelerating their connection to music culture.