Company
Music Tech Hub
Music Tech Hub, as described on the show by Lauriane Saint-Denis.
Episodes (1)
Lauriane Saint-Denis of Music Tech Hub explains why festivals struggle to use audience data and how smaller festivals can start building their own.
Questions these episodes answer
What does audience development actually mean for a music festival?
Saint-Denis defines audience development as understanding which kinds of people attend an event and why they come back, beyond selling more tickets. The goal is retaining the most loyal participants first, since a festival's most loyal fans are what actually attracts new ones over time.
Why is it hard for festivals to actually use their own audience data?
Saint-Denis says the obstacle is usually data quality rather than willingness. A festival needs its website, ticketing platform, social channels and newsletter connected into one place before the data becomes usable, and setting up that connection takes real time most festivals have not yet invested.
Do ticketing platforms give festival promoters access to their own audience data?
It depends on the country and the contract. Saint-Denis says ticketing platforms often keep the data collected at an event for themselves, using it to grow their own database and market their own future events instead of handing it back to the promoter who organized the show.
What can a small festival with almost no budget do to start owning its audience data?
Saint-Denis recommends starting with a newsletter, since it costs almost nothing and creates a two-way channel where fans share information directly. Combined with a short post-event survey, this lets a small festival build its first real database before it can afford a full data platform.
Why do musicians have a harder time getting audience data than festival promoters do?
Saint-Denis says an artist playing at someone else's festival has no legal claim to knowing which attendees actually came to see them, unlike a promoter who runs the whole event. That gap is pushing artists toward direct fan platforms like SESH, where they can collect and own audience data themselves.