Recent evidence on the determinants of concert attendance for mid-size symphonies

This study provides some recent evidence regarding the determinants of aggregate annual attendance at the concert performances of mid-size symphonies. In data from the 2003, 2004, and 2005 seasons from fifty-two mid-size symphonies, attendance is found to be positively affected by quality of the symphony, number of concert performances, and possibly the proportion of the population with some college level education or better. Attendance is negatively affected by ticket price, proportion of the population with very high income levels, the number of competing symphonies in the region, and the square of the number of concert performances. The effect on attendance from age depends on the age cohort.