WHAT ARE THE MOTIVATIONS BEHIND

ATTENDING MUSICAL CONCERTS?

CREATED BY STEPHANIE LADAS
INTRODUCTION

• A look into the socio/demographic reasons why college students may be drawn and willing to
attend musical concerts.

• “Motivations” consist of and are reliant upon social and demographic data.

• Statistics were gathered via the student body at Westfield State University during the 2015-
2016 school year.
HYPOTHESIS

Research Hypothesis:
College students dedicate time and money to music of their choice; as a result, different music
preference causes different overall motivations between college students.

Null Hypothesis:
Money/time spent and musical genre preferences have no individual affect in regards to college
students tastes.
 LITERATURE REVIEW

• OAKES (2003): Reports of the need to be acquainted with demographic characteristics of

musical event attendees.

• GIBSON and HOMAN (2004): Understand the importance in regards to use and promotion of
music in cities due to changing demographics.
DATA

• Data were obtained by survey administered to Westfield State University students.

• 50 surveys were collected during the month of April 2016.

• Sample sizes vary from genre to genre due to the fact that surveyors were allowed to select
more than one preference in music.
DESCRIPTIVES
N Min Max Mean SD

What is the farthest you have travelled for a musical

concert? (mi) 50 0 1900 201.3 437.932

How many people do you usually travel/attend with? (#) 50 0 10 3.4 1.99

How much would you willingly spend on concert tickets? ($) 50 0 500 100.2 83.982

How much is spent on food/drinks/merchandise? ($) 50 0 200 34.6 34.844

Age? (#) 50 18 32 20.84 2.698

Table 1.
DESCRIPTIVES FOR POP
N Min Max Mean SD

Farthest Drive (mi) 20 0 250 94.25 70.361

How Many People (#) 20 1 6 3.35 1.531

How Much Tix ($) 20 0 500 103.5 108.046

How Much Merch ($) 20 0 200 39.75 43.148

Age (#) 20 19 32 20.9 2.808
Table 2.
DESCRIPTIVES FOR ROCK
N Min Max Mean SD

Farthest Drive (mi) 31 0 1900 270.65 545.295

How Many People (#) 31 0 10 3.32 1.973

How Much Tix ($) 31 0 500 101.13 98.478

How Much Merch ($) 31 0 200 35.32 39.706

Age (#) 31 18 32 21.35 3.168

Table 3.
DESCRIPTIVES FOR COUNTRY
N Min Max Mean SD

Farthest Drive (mi) 18 0 200 75.28 55.213

How Many People (#) 18 1 10 3.89 2.083

How Much Tix ($) 18 50 160 91.39 38.76

How Much Merch ($) 18 0 100 36.94 29.612

Age (#) 18 18 22 20.11 1.278

Table 4.
DESCRIPTIVES FOR FOLK
N Min Max Mean SD

Farthest Drive (mi) 14 20 1900 236.43 482.376

How Many People (#) 14 1 6 2.86 1.703

How Much Tix ($) 14 0 500 121.43 139.923

How Much Merch ($) 14 0 200 37.14 49.951

Age (#) 14 18 23 20.64 1.646

Table 6.
DESCRIPTIVES FOR HIP-HOP

N Min Max Mean SD

Farthest Drive (mi) 19 0 1900 291.58 572.541

How Many People (#) 19 0 10 3.95 2.198

How Much Tix ($) 19 0 500 113.42 111.829

How Much Merch ($) 19 0 200 38.42 44.192

Age (#) 19 18 24 20.37 1.383

Table 7.
DISCUSSION
Min Max Highest Average
(Genre)

Distance Travelled (mi) 0 2000 Hip-Hop (292mi)

# Attending With 0 10 Hip-Hop (4 people)

$ Spent on Tix 0 500 Folk ($121)

$ Spent on Merch 0 200 Pop ($40)

Age 18 32 Rock (21)

CONCLUSION

• College students travel far and with the most people when attending hip-hop based musical
concerts.

• Students tend to spend the most money on tickets for a folk musical concert.

• Those students who favor pop music tend to spend the most money on merchandise.

• Older students tend to favor rock as a genre over younger students.

REFLECTION

• There were way too many variables involved in this survey; data would have been more
accurate and fixed if there were fewer variables.

• Varying sample sizes for each genre also throws off the accuracy of the data set as a whole;
limits the study from going further.
REFERENCES

• Chris Gibson and Shane Homan. “Urban Redevelopment, Live Music and Public Space:
Cultural performance and the re-making of Marrickville.” International Journal of Cultural
Policy, Vol. 10, No.1, 2004. March 6th 2016.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1028663042000212337.

• Steve Oakes. “Demographic and Sponsorship Considerations for Jazz and Classical Music
Festivals.” The Service Industries Journal, Vol. 23, No.3, 2003. March 6th 2016.

• Xiang (Robert) Li and James F. Petrick. “A Review of Festival and Event Motivation Studies.”
Cognizant Communication Corporation, 2006. March 10th 2016.