Exploring South Africa’s ‘black diamonds’ at live music performances

Martinette Kruger,Melville Saayman

doi:10.4102/ac.v14i1.222

Abstract

Problem under investigation: This exploratory study fills a gap in the literature by profiling ‘black diamonds’, the South African up-and-coming middle-class market, at live music concerts. Design, methodology and approach: A destination-based survey at five concerts in South Africa in 2012 extracted a sample of 164 black diamond attendees from the rest of the audience. The attendance motives of this sample were used to identify different market segments within the sample.Findings and implications: Factor analysis identified five key motives and five key management factors for a memorable experience, and a cluster analysis found three types of black diamond concertgoers: Enthusiasts, Sentimentalists and Novices. The three clusters differed significantly in terms of their socio-demographic and behavioural characteristics, and especially in terms of what they regarded as important for a memorable experience at a live concert. These results will enable managers to package live concerts accordingly in order to develop this market in South Africa. The research emphasises that attendees at live concerts cannot be regarded as homogeneous in terms of their profiles, needs and preferences.

Highlights

The term ‘black diamonds’ has been coined to describe South Africa’s black middle class, a newly emerged and rapidly growing market in the South African economy (Ndanga, Louw & Van Rooyen 2008; Olivier 2007; Van Loggerenberg & Herbst 2010; Visagie 2013)
This section discusses the results of the factor analysis, and presents the results of the cluster analysis as well as ANOVAs and cross-tabulations with chi-square tests to investigate significant differences between black diamond attendees at live music performances
This was the first time that the profile, motives and preferences of the black diamond market have been analysed in a live music performance context

Summary

Introduction

The term ‘black diamonds’ has been coined to describe South Africa’s black middle class, a newly emerged and rapidly growing market in the South African economy (Ndanga, Louw & Van Rooyen 2008; Olivier 2007; Van Loggerenberg & Herbst 2010; Visagie 2013). According to the Unilever Institute for Strategic Marketing and TNS research surveys conducted in 2008, black diamonds share the following characteristics: African or black skinned, middle to high income, in suitable occupations, well educated, own or acquiring homes, own cars, own household goods, have aspirations and confidence in the future and credit worthy. This segment of the South African market has shown a 38% value growth to R180 billion spent from 2006 to 2007 and a subsequent growth to R250 billion in 2008. As for leisure activities, the preference for listening to music, visiting family and friends and participating in church activities (Horn & Booysen 1992; Saayman 1993) has shifted to visiting the gym, dining out, and attending festivals and music shows (Fourie et al 2011; Mogajane 2005)

Methods

Results

Conclusion