Eventbrite is today announcing a ticketing partnership with the iconic Melbourne venues, The Corner Hotel, Northcote Social Club and Sydney venue Newtown Social Club.

From the beginning of October, Eventbrite will be the primary ticketing partner for all upcoming live events at the three venues, including The Corner Hotel, which has a history stretching back to the 1940s and is a much loved icon in Melbourne’s live music scene.

Rod Smith, group general manager at The Corner Hotel, said, “We are excited to partner with Eventbrite to be our primary ticketing platform. It was Eventbrite’s progressive technology that drew us to them. Their tech-forward solution will streamline our ticketing process, enabling us to keep our offering competitive for both the artists and our punters.”

Phil Silverstone, general manager Australia, Eventbrite, said of the partnership, “The Corner Hotel is one of the most successful and well loved music venues in Australia who are just as obsessed with delivering incredible live experiences to their customers as we are.

“This deal is further testament to our continued growth and shows our commitment to providing the best live music events to fans and attendees.”

The announcement coincides with the release of research looking into the state of music consumption in Australia. Executed in partnership with Media Insight Consulting, a boutique music research agency, the report shows that more and more Aussies are showing preference for spending their money on live music events rather than recorded music in the form of CDs or digital downloads, with younger Australians aged 16-34 driving the trend.

Eventbrite has seen a steady increase in live music events with more than 5,000 Australian music-related events being hosted on the platform in the last year alone.

The way we consume music is ever-changing: Live experiences are on the rise thanks to young Aussies

The Australian music market’s transition to a primarily digital market in recent years has seen a decline in both CD sales and digital downloads and strong growth in streaming, with revenue from subscription services growing at 101 per cent in Australia in 2015 and making up 14 per cent of overall sales (up from seven per cent in July in 2014). In comparison, the live music sector is seeing substantial and sustained growth in terms of attendance of gigs and music festivals. Australia has seen a 42 per cent increase in revenue from live performances and 17 per cent increase in attendance between 2008-2014, a number that continues to grow.

The research indicates this growth is being strongly fuelled by young Australians (aged 18-24), who are more likely to attend live shows than spend money on recorded music. Males in this age group are the drivers of this trend with almost half (45 per cent) going to a bar or club at least once a month to see live music, compared with fewer than one in five (18 per cent) females in the same age category.

The experiences generation holds huge potential for the live music events industry

Phil Silverstone, GM, Eventbrite, said that these findings mirror a survey conducted last year, which found that Aussie millennials are shunning money and things for experiences, with almost three quarters (71 per cent) choosing to experience something desirable over buying something desirable (like clothes, cars, etc.).

“As a society, we’re shifting value away from possession and placing more value on one’s own experiences. The challenge for industry is to figure out how to adapt to the changing demand for recorded music and to start planning for a world where the majority of profit comes in drips over time as streaming becomes more popular, compared to traditional upfront sales.

“Events will be instrumental in enabling artists and labels to remain profitable as will creating new revenue streams and a clear customer journey between online platforms and live experiences,” he said.

Festivals continue to grow and diversify

With the demand for and popularity of live music events increasing year on year, it’s no surprise the festival scene continues to grow in Australia. More than a quarter of respondents (26 per cent) have been to a small festival and over a fifth (21 per cent) have been to a large festival at least once in the last year.

Word of mouth trumps advertising when it comes to music discovery

The report shows live music discovery is heavily influenced by other people, with word of mouth being the most common way Australians discover live music.  Almost a third (30 per cent) of respondents stated they have discovered live music events via a social media post from a friend.

In comparison, less than a quarter (22 per cent) discovered live music events through social media adverts and even fewer (17 per cent) reported outdoor adverts were effective in alerting them to music events happening in their area.

New media is on the rise

Young Australians have embraced ‘new media’ (such as online streaming services, digital downloads and online radio) most with 86 per cent of Gen Z (16-24 years old) and 75 per cent of millennials (25-34 years old) using new media as their primary channel for consumption of recorded music.

Taking into account new and old media, YouTube is most popular overall with 35 per cent of 16-34 year olds saying it is their primary consumption channel, while more than a third of Australians (35 per cent) head straight to YouTube to listen to an artist after discovering them.