UK festival promoter to track thousands of young music fans

UK-- The organisers of the Reading and Leeds music festivals have teamed up with research agency Crowd DNA for a study looking at the role brands can play in live music.

The Sixty Thousand Voices project will kick off with an online survey to be sent to 65,000 ticket holders aged 16-24 in the next few weeks. The aim is to follow participants through the lead-up to the festivals in August, and conduct qualitative research during the events.

Festival Republic sponsorship manager James Kent told Research this is the first time the organisation has mounted a research project on this scale. “Whilst there is a wealth of statistical research around how many kids listen to music on their mobiles etc, there's a lack of qualitative insight into the roles that brands play in the pre and post-festival periods, as well as the weekend itself,” he said. “These kids have an opinion and I believe that the brands that listen are the ones that will really enjoy the benefits of live music sponsorship.”

Kent said the project has been designed with existing sponsors in mind, but there is opportunity to open it up to other brands too. Top line findings will be presented to the industry, while detailed category-specific content will be owned by the clients that take part.

Reading and Leeds are two of the UK's biggest summer music festivals, taking place over three nights. Last year's events were headlined by Metallica, Rage Against The Machine and The Killers.

Author: Robert Bain