Impact, Innovation + Action for the Experience Economy

Kicking off our new Source Blog, we probe into last week’s Full Fat Source virtual panel on the impact, innovation and action needed within the experience economy to secure its future. You can also watch the panel in full here.

I’m sorry, but what just happened??

Global pandemics don’t come around too often. They aren’t something that feature in your company handbook or a clause in your tenancy agreement or even make it into your crisis communications plan, unless of course you’re Microsoft! Deadly invisible viruses are the stuff of apocalyptic films, not the 21st Century real-life moment we, as an entire globe, are experiencing.

The impact on the experience economy has been devastating with thousands of events and festivals postponed or cancelled across the world, pubs and restaurants have shut up shop, cinemas are empty and our high streets are desolate.

It feels like we are taking part in a mass social experiment and life as we know it is on pause, with the rule book firmly tossed out of the window.

Yet with astonishing times, history has taught us that human beings evolve, businesses innovate and cultural shifts materialise. The experience economy is no different - seeing an immediate shift from in-real-life to digital, adapting its offering and catering to our inherent need to experience culture. Whether this is a temporary fix or the future, what we do know is change has arrived.

The new normal

Pivot has become the new business buzzword. We’re all doing it whether swivelling from our office chair to our kitchen table, transcending from after-work pub drinks to weekly Zoom quizzes, or changing entire financial business models to capture the millions of consumers spending more time online.

The audiences remain but they are acting differently. Instagram usage is up 40%. The consumption of online articles has increased by 200-300% and screen time has spiralled with an average of 5hr40m spent on mobiles per day, an increase of 18%.

People are looking to brands, people and projects and are watching to see how they navigate the current times, making silent judgements on who’s doing it well, who’s not; who they will support, who they will not.

Government f*** ups aside, the sentiment is a willingness and a craving for something positive, brighter horizons and a better future…

What does this all mean for the experience economy?

The experience economy has had to pause, take stock and reevaluate. Yet with an industry that has creativity at its heart, it has become the perfect place to witness and participate in innovation.

Virtual festivals have become the new hot ticket with Defected Records taking the plunge before anyone else, demonstrating agility and quick-thinking by putting on their first Defected Virtual Festival a week into lockdown. Being the first, as well as exceptional programming from Melvin Baptiste to The Shapeshifters, resulted in over 2 million people tuning into the inaugural festival. Eight weeks in and the numbers are staggering with over 70 artists and performers booked at both Defected and Glitterbox’s Virtual Festivals, 14 million viewers across 91 countries and $1.2million raised through donations (which Google has pledged to double!). Simon Dunmore this week announced today is Defected’s last Virtual Festival, their “Closing Party”, citing a need to change approach as we ease out of isolation. The pivot continues…

Purple Disco Machine’s set for Glitterbox Virtual Festval

Festival promoters Mainstage Festivals’ brainchild @TheDriveIn - a fully loaded drive-in cinema experience touring the UK later this summer - demonstrates innovation and agility. A simple yet brilliant concept, coined with a perfectly timed launch has resulted in 50,000 sign ups in three days alone, driven by a desire for people to experience culture in real life, and the desperate need for something to look forward to. With brands knocking on their door to get a piece of the action and consumers desperate for something new, the appetite for these types of new cultural experiences will not wane and we’ll be sure to see a wave of adapted experiences over the coming months.

Cultural collaborations are emerging. The English National Opera announced last month it will head to London’s iconic Alexandra Palace in a series of drive-in opera performances this September. If successful, this could even result in a new wave of opera fans experiencing “accessible and shortened productions” of works including Puccini’s La Bohème and Mozart‘s The Magic Flute. We can see the cultural trends pieces now...

What does the future hold?

Monetising virtual events is on everyone’s minds. How can these virtual experiences sustain themselves with audiences unwilling to pay for them? A subscription model, as suggested by Scarlett Pares Landells, PR Manager at Defected Records, is a potential solution for the experience economy as a whole, whereby people receive regular high-quality digital content and buy into that digital community.

Mixcloud has already made moves into providing a solution to this through a recurring revenue model via its ‘Select’ subscription giving immediate revenue to artists through tipping and donations. Kwabena Amponsa, Head Of Creator Partnerships at Mixcloud, pointed out that, although this may not work for everybody, it doesn’t actually have to. It’s all about having a set of disciples that want to continue supporting what you as an artist or promoter are doing so you can keep on doing what you’re doing. It’s about strategising and working out how projects can have content that everyone has access to and then utlising exclusive content and offering to their loyal followers.

Reasons to be grateful

With travel restrictions set to be in place for some time, Scarlett made the prediction, with good reasoning, of a celebrated shift to local club nights and more intimate music venues, paving the way for an emergence of new talent and promoters across the dance music scene. This could also bode well for independent live music and community venues across the UK, supporting Independent Venue Week’s seven-year campaign to help save these sacred cultural hubs within our communities. Scarlett adds this could be a perfect time to invest in smaller local communities, local scenes and community centres.

Mark Newton, Founder of Verso, raised that perhaps a festival industry with spiraling artist fees, costs and competing events, needed this moment to reset. Could we see a new normal, with a shared responsibility to shoulder the financial risk across the industry, helping to reduce costs for both promoters and ultimately its ticket buyers.

Kwabena, also spoke of innovation within tech and a need and opportunity for businesses to accelerate their tech offering to provide solutions for both consumers and artists. The launch of Mixcloud Live to the outside world is the perfect Covid-pivot, applauded by the industry and its users and allowing people to connect in a time where it is needed more than ever before. Mixcloud and other tech platforms are having a deserved moment right now and we’re excited to see where they take it.

There is undoubtedly a consumer desire and societal need to see a greener economy emerge. This time could give us the collective opportunity to consider the impact our events and experiences have on the planet, and build an infrastructure and supply chain that can support a move into carbon-neutral events. The industry as a whole is beginning to take notice of this urgent need to reform, and 2020 was set to see festivals move into a more sustainable space. New London festival, Wide Awake launched its Positive Policy which aimed to build action, change and partnerships in climate, carbon, local causes and air pollution, setting the bar for how live music events can take responsibility for actions towards our planet.

With all the positive possibilities that could emerge post-pandemic, there is, of course, the very real risk that many festivals, pubs, restaurants and venues won’t make it out the other side. Our cultural landscape will look very different in 2021.

Yet perhaps this is no bad thing. We as a species are built to evolve and there is no better place to look for innovation than to the next generation. The current experience makers and creators would do well to look to the younger generation on how to shape a better, brighter and bolder cultural landscape. Watch this space.

Ella McWilliam | Co-founderMay 22, 2020