Marketing my product

I have found a niche market for my product as there are no specific magazines about festivals or gigs, despite the fact that live music is a rapidly increasing market. The number of music festivals has doubled in the last five years and existing festivals have massively increased in size, despite rising ticket prices:

Glastonbury festival opened in 1970 with an attendance of 1,500 people and a price of £1 including free milk. At the start of the millenium (2000), Glastonbury sold 105,000 tickets at a price of £87. In 2010, 177,500 tickets sold in 2 hours at a price of £185. This shows that festivals are growth industry and that this is very bizzare considering it is a market where many people are reluctant to pay for music and piracy is rife.

This is very suprising that people are still desperate to get tickets for such an expensive festival despite the current economic climate.

75,000 people attended Reading festival in 2009 with the same number at the sister festival Leeds. Ticket prices were similar to Glastonbury's, £180 for the weekend, and these festivals are mainly attended by young people and teenagers.

Reading festival opened in 1971, a year after Glastonbury at a cost of £2 for the weekend.

Over the next few years the popularity of outdoor festivals increased, and Reading grew until it had outgrown the festival site by 1998. The organisers solved this problem by opening up another venue in Leeds, with same acts playing different nights at each venue. Both festivals now sell out very quickly.

The internet has been fundamental in this growth with online ticket sales being the accepted way to buy a festival ticket and huge build up online prior to the tickets going on sale has helped them sell out in hours.

People follow the festivals on Facebook, twitter and the festival's official and unofficial websites to get information about the bands that will be playing festival dates etc. It is an indication of the success of festivals as a concept that most sell out within hours before the official lineup has been released. Marketing and promotion of most festivals is done online and by word of mouth though some, especially the smaller ones, advertise themselves in music magazines and papers.

Part of the excitement has become guessing which bands will actually perform, some people bet on the predicted lineup. There is also alot of online gossip on this matter. Whilst the internet has persistently helped the consistent growth of festivals and gigs of all types, people are still keen to experience music live. A festival ticket has become a must-have commodity, festivals are seen as cool, fun and an escape from everyday life. Some people regard festivals as a holiday now. This is a growing, not dying niche market, and there is no paper magazine that covers this topic.

The website (http://www.efestivals.co.uk/) is the nearest online equivalent to a festivals magazine but is just a listing of information about all forthcoming festivals and some that have past.

I believe that a monthly magazine (12 issues per year) would sell many copies as its target audience have proved they are willing to pay for live music and the content of the magazine would be exactly that.

Part of the magazine's brief would be to list forthcoming festivals and gigs, (like TIMEOUT) lineups, ticket release dates, etc. The magazine would include articles on festival life (camping, food, equipment needed, what to expect at overseas festivals, travel etc) and articles on current bands.

Advertising revenue will come from festival organisers or promoters and related industries such as camping shops (millets advertise tents etc. in NME in the festival season!). The magazine would run throughout the year as there are festivals and gigs in the UK and overseas all year round.

In quiet periods such as the autumn, there would be reviews of the summer's festivals, and build up to the festive gigs like Winter Wonderland (December, organised by radio station XFM).

In summary, I feel that I can justify using traditional print as my medium because of the content of my magazine.