While it remains an industry standard amongst ticket companies to retain booking fees when events are cancelled or postponed in order to cover costs, in light of the current COVID-19 crisis Skiddle has rejected this practice, seeking instead to put money back into the accounts of its customers.

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In a survey of over 200,000 of its customers*, Skiddle found that 75% of respondents said they would ‘be happy to attend a safely-organised, socially-distanced music event in 2020’.

The UK-based ticketing platform and what’s on guide also found that over 65% of people are planning to attend live music events within one month of lockdown. Within that group, 42% said they would be willing to attend a live music event ‘straight away’.

Less than 9% of those surveyed said they’d wait over 6 months after lockdown before attending live music events, with less than 0.5% stating they would never go again.

While outdoor events are likely to be the first to return once restrictions are lifted, over 70% said they were ‘likely’ to attend both indoor and outdoor events post-lockdown, while over 50% said they would attend a seating-only event (with at least one empty seat between those who do not live together).

Skiddle also asked music fans whether they’d be willing to attend a live music event with reduced capacity ‘sessions’ (eg. between 8pm-10pm or 10pm-12am), and interestingly 57% of those surveyed said they would.

Looking forward to live music events in 2021, 38% of respondents said they had already purchased tickets for 2021, with a further 47% saying they’d be happy to buy tickets for 2021 before the end of this year.

But what about the cost of tickets? When asked if they expected tickets to be more expensive next year due to the knock-on effects of the COVID-19 crisis, 38% said that they didn’t, while 37% said they did (25% were not sure).