(Source: Visual China)
Blue Whale News reported on February 28 (Reporter Peng Leyi) During the Spring Festival of the Year of the Horse, Shanghai's Oriental Sports Center did not take a break. The lights were on and the stage was as usual. Ren Xianqi's "Qiji" concert was performed twice in a row on the fifth and sixth days of the Lunar New Year, becoming the first large-scale concert held in Shanghai during the Spring Festival holiday.
After the Spring Festival, the Galaxy Arena in Macau became lively again. Wang Sulong kicked off the first stop of the 2026 "Roman Prequel" world tour here. There were three consecutive concerts on the weekend, and fans spread a sea of pink support outside the venue.
The concert economy will explode in 2025. The "2025 National Performance Market Briefing" recently disclosed by the China Performance Industry Association shows that in 2025, the number of national commercial performances (excluding performances in entertainment venues), box office revenue, and audience numbers will increase for three consecutive years; there will be 3,000 large-scale commercial performances with more than 5,000 people, which is equivalent to an average of 56 large-scale performances per week.
Some outsiders' capital and retail investors with "living money" in their hands began to focus on the concert project. A reporter from Blue Whale Technology, a concert production director, revealed that she receives seven or eight investment intentions every week. These people are "all kinds of people", rich but not necessarily knowledgeable. She generally advises outsiders to observe carefully, but there are still many fresh forces pouring into the circle.
The problem is that concerts are not a guaranteed profit-making business. A producer who has been in the industry for 10 years admitted that only 70% of his projects can make money. "This industry is very deep," said the above-mentioned producer. What's more, hot money is pouring in, there are more and more performances, and the audience has more and more choices. In the fierce competition, will investing in concerts still be a good business?
The concert economy is booming, and outsiders are getting involved
In 2025, the performance industry will indeed make a lot of money. According to statistics from the China Performance Industry Association, the box office revenue of commercial performances (excluding performances in entertainment venues) nationwide last year was 61.655 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.39%. In 2023, this figure will be 50.232 billion yuan.
The performance industry has experienced three years of epidemic, and consumer demand has been released intensively in the past two years. In 2023, after the return of large-scale commercial performances with more than 5,000 people to the market, the number of projects and the number of performances reached a record high; by 2025, the box office revenue of large-scale performances has reached 32.448 billion yuan, accounting for more than half of the total box office revenue that year.
(Source: Visual China)
Mr. Zhuge, the founder of Akula Media, has been engaged in concert investment and production for 10 years. Previously, he worked as a director and producer at Hunan Radio and Television. According to his observation, the blowout of the performance market after the epidemic is not only related to the rebound in consumer desire, but also to the upgrade of the attributes of concerts. "Nowadays, going to concerts has been endowed with a great social attribute. Checking in with friends and posting on Moments can be the reason for going to the concert, which has also indirectly led to a higher premium in the secondary market." Mr. Zhuge said.
People's lifestyles are being changed by short videos. Mr. Zhuge believes that vertical screen short videos can achieve instant emotional satisfaction for users in a short, flat and fast way. From this logic, watching a live performance of a favorite artist can also quickly and directly achieve instant pleasure.
On the other hand, when time is filled with fragmented content and the market for long-form dramas and movies has declined, performances have stood out. Zhou Yantao, who has been the program director of "I Am a Singer" for nearly 10 years, told a Blue Whale Technology reporter that in the past, when TV variety shows were gaining momentum, concerts and variety shows complemented each other. After singers gain more popularity in variety shows, holding concerts can continue the popularity and give back to fans, forming a complete chain.
After traditional channels gradually declined, the situation changed and concerts moved to the forefront of the industry chain. Zhou Yantao has also adjusted his direction and started to devote himself to concerts in 2023. He will be the producer and organizer himself, and also undertake planning, artist coordination, concert approval and other subdivided work.
(Source: Visual China)
The concert producers interviewed all reported that in the past two years, a large number of investors who are not in the industry but "have money" want to join the industry because they have seen the prosperity of the concert industry. According to the interviewees' description, these external investors mainly include people related to the media industry, such as advertising companies; some declining real economies, such as real estate companies; or retail investors with idle funds. Many people come up and ask Zhou Yantao, "Can I invest in your project?" But after asking him a few more questions, he will know that the other person "doesn't know how to do it", so "90% of them will persuade him to quit."
Mr. Zhuge said that the capital currently remaining in the market is relatively clear. One category is giants and veteran performers who have been involved for many years. The representative companies are Chinese Culture Entertainment and Luopan Culture. The former handles concerts such as Mayday and Deng Ziqi, while the latter handles Phoenix Legend, The concerts of Zhang Jie and others are all top-notch singers; the second category is entrepreneurial companies with a background in content industry production, such as the teams of Mr. Zhuge and Zhou Yantao; the third category is ticketing platforms, such as Damai, which has also begun to participate in concert production; and the last is scattered capital from outsiders.
Like movies, concerts can have multiple co-producers. Mr. Zhuge said that he is usually the first producer, and artists directly authorize him. He is responsible for coordinating the entire project, completing preliminary planning and production, and preparing initial funds. Generally, it is necessary to prepare funds for three to four shows to maintain subsequent operations. After the project is launched, Mr. Zhuge will find a second producer at a slight premium. "This may come from several sources, including professional investment institutions, retail investors, bank credit, and secondary authorization to performers in the host city."
Mr. Zhuge said that outsiders who want to join the game with money will usually participate in the project as the second or third producer. However, due to lack of industry experience and insufficient judgment on projects, the risk of losses also increases. In the view of practitioners, the investment risks of concerts themselves are relatively high, and only a few make money. What may affect the final result is likely to be unexpected events, such as sudden public opinion, policy changes, etc. Industry "veterans" like Mr. Zhuge also said that only 60%-70% of the projects he operated in a year were profitable. Among the 12 performances he operated last year, 3 lost money, 3 were even, and 6 were profitable.
There is a deep secret to profit, a business that pays attention to "long-termism"
The performance industry has deep connections. This is a sentence repeatedly mentioned by the interviewees. A common misunderstanding among laypersons is that as long as they hire artists with traffic, tickets will be sold.
The market assessment of artists is one of the "ways". Huang Minhua, president of entertainment and culture investment company Tongyang Culture, explained to Blue Whale Technology reporters that the market influence of artists has a certain appeal on the box office, but not all traffic can be converted into box office. "Traffic is also divided into general traffic and paid traffic. The difference lies in whether fans are willing to pay. This requires the professional comprehensive ability of the operator, based on the market influence and conversion ability of the artist, in turn determines what type of performance should be performed, and how the ticket price, city, and venue should be determined."
(Source: Visual China)
In fact, the "show fee" (artist appearance fee) is only a part of the total cost. Mr. Zhuge said that for a concert, the "show fee" accounts for about 25-30%, the production cost is equivalent to the "show fee", accounting for about 30%, the implementation cost accounts for 30%-35%, and the publicity investment accounts for 5-8%. Huang Minhua said that if it is a leading artist, the "show fee" will even account for 60% of the total cost.
How to control costs and spend money wisely has become another "doorway", and outsiders often don't know what "edge" is. In Zhou Yantao's view, the production level and content quality of the concert also greatly determine whether it will sell well. Some investors did not understand why they spent more than a million on speakers and thought that "making a sound" would be enough. However, Zhou Yantao pursues a higher audience experience, which he believes is the difference in competitiveness.
Among the three types of performances: solo concerts, platter concerts and music festivals, the latter two have relatively low hard thresholds for venues and artists, and have lower production requirements than solo concerts. They have become the most favored form by lay capital. In the eyes of industry insiders, these two performances are ranked high in risk. "If you don't understand what fans like and put artists with non-overlapping audiences into the same platter, the choice will be wrong from the beginning – consumers will rationally evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the platter concert." Huang Minhua said.
However, the reason for doing mixed concerts and music festivals may be because they have no choice. There is no shortage of money for head projects, and it is difficult for outsiders to get access to capital. Zhou Yantao believes that even if leading artists need to cooperate, they will choose a company that can supplement other resources. "Having money" is not the primary condition. As a result, although hot money has poured into the market, most of it is "money looking for projects" rather than "projects looking for money."
On the other hand, concerts are a "long-term" business. Many interviewees said that measuring profitability does not usually use a single project as the calculation standard, but extends the calculation period to quarters or even years. Huang Minhua Company's project income is reflected in the annualized rate of return, following this principle. Therefore, the reputation of the concert is very important. "In many cases, investing in a concert is not an investment in the project itself, but an investment in good traders." Zhou Yantao said.
The appearance of a prosperous market has intensified the confusion behind it. Blue Whale Technology reporters have seen that there are many project parties who claim to have first-line artist resources but are short of funds. They even post on social media in the hope of promoting transactions. There are also many people who are interested in consulting, but it is difficult to distinguish the authenticity. Huang Minhua said that his company would publish performance previews on its official account, and some people used posters to falsely claim that it was their own project to seek investment. "We often hear friends around us asking if they want to invest in a certain project, but in fact, we have the overall project in our own hands, and we have not sought any external cooperation."
(Source: Visual China)
Many well-known singers have publicly spread rumors. For example, in February 2025, Luopan Culture announced: "The 'Phoenix Legend's Auspicious Ruyi' 2025 Tour Concert' will be exclusively organized by Beijing Luopan Culture and Arts Co., Ltd. as the sole organizer and will be exclusively responsible for all related matters." This project does not invite investment or issue contracts. Any authorization and commitment other than Luopan Culture is false information. Please be careful not to be deceived. "
Entering 2026, performance venues are still busy and weekend schedules are full. This also means that audiences have more choices and the intensity of competition will naturally increase. Zhou Yantao revealed that this year a central city required a cost budget when applying for approval, with the aim of eliminating some low-cost performances and improving the overall quality.
Professionalism, not money, has become the scarce resource in this industry. More practitioners are already considering the next development. For example, Zhou Yantao regards concerts as an "entrance" and places profit points in the subsequent peripheral and IP economies; Mr. Zhuge's company is being favored by well-known investment institutions including IDG and Alibaba with a valuation of 1 billion. In 2026, a 500 million yuan industrial fund will be launched to focus on investment in concerts, and launch more frequent celebrity meetings and music live IP.
(At the request of the interviewee, Mr. Zhuge’s name is changed to a pseudonym)
