RESEARCH ARTICLES

 

How to improve the visitor experience: lessons from a Neil Diamond performance

 

 

B Manners; M Kruger; M Saayman

North West University

 

 

---

ABSTRACT

This research determined what factors motivated visitors to attend the Neil Diamond concerts in South Africa and the critical success factors that influence attendees' experience when attending a live music performance. Surveys were conducted at all four Neil Diamond concerts held during April 2011, where a total of 1820 questionnaires were administered.
The statistical analyses were conducted in three stages where stage one included factor analyses, stage two included the cluster analysis based on the motives and finally, an analysis of the significant differences between the motivational clusters of visitors at the four Neil Diamond concerts was undertaken.
Two clusters were identified, and named the Neil Diamond Fanistas and the Neil Diamond Curious. According to the t-test, four motivational factors contributed to differentiating the two motivational clusters from one another. These included: Excitement and group affiliation, Socialisation, Artist affiliation and unique experience and Entertainment. Apart from this, significant differences were identified with regard to the socio-demographic and behavioural characteristics as well as the aspects regarding the critical success factors for a memorable experience.

Key phrases: critical success factors; live music performances; motives; Neil Diamond; Neil Diamond Fanistas; Neil Diamond Curious

---

 

 

1. INTRODUCTION

Entertainment, especially in the form of music events, is an essential and dependable part of everyday life that consumes a considerable quantity of waking hours (Holbrook & Hirschman 1982). Sonder (2004:

Live music performances not only have a significant impact on attendees in terms of the unique experience and excitement, but also are very important to artists, for a significant portion of their income is provided from tour revenues. This forms part of the three main reasons for artists to perform live which are to earn money, to expand their fan base and to satisfy existing fans (Black et al. 2007:154). According to Hausman (2011:210), there is furthermore a contribution made by live music performances that leads to an increase in the purchasing of recorded music.

However, Rondàn-Cataluna and Martin-Ruiz (2010:1410) warn that various versions of music can be downloaded from the internet and shared cheaply by millions of users. These include pirated copies of music CDs and DVDs that are burnt illegally and sold all over the world. Indeed, one of the greatest threats the music industry is facing is piracy (Chiou, Huang & Lee 2005:161 ; Zentner 2006). Nevertheless, apart from this, multitudes of people continue to attend live music performances and to listen to recordings of music performances (Goebl, Dixon, De Poli, Friberg, Bresin & Widmer 2005:196).

This leads to the question: "Why do people still choose to travel and attend live music concerts and what is important in order to ensure that their needs are fulfilled?" The purpose of this research will therefore be twofold: firstly, to determine the motives of visitors who attend a live music concert in South Africa and then to cluster these visitors according to these motives. Secondly, to determine whether different segments of live music performance attendees differ in terms of their socio-demographic and behavioural characteristics as well as the critical success factors for a memorable experience. This is important since experience plays such a big role when attending these events that it is important to consider what is important to these individuals.

This research specifically focuses on the four Neil Diamond concerts held in South Africa during April 2011. This artist performed long awaited concerts for the first time in South Africa at four different locations (Johannesburg, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town, respectively). These live performances were the ideal setting for this research for, as Saayman (2007:219) explains, the variety or attractiveness of national artists has an effect only within a small radius, usually within the town/area surrounding the event venue. However, the impact of renowned international artists, such as Neil Diamond, is much larger and extends to neighbouring towns and regions. This indicates that more visitors will be prepared to travel further to attend the events, thus making this an ideal event to determine the motives of the attendees that have travelled such a distance to see a live music performance and what aspects they regard as important for a memorable experience.

 

2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

The theoretical background will follow a two-pronged approach. Firstly, the motives for event attendances will be discussed. This will be followed by a background of critical success factors for a memorable experience at events, and more specifically, at live music performances.

2.1 Event motivation

The following section will discuss the background of event motivation as well as previous research conducted on motives.

2.1.1 Background of event motivation

According to Hudson (2008:41), a motive is described as the inner drive that causes people to take action in order to gratify their personal needs. Iso-Ahola (1980:230) believes that a motive is an internal factor that arouses, directs and integrates a person's behaviour. Crompton and McKay (1997:427), on the other hand, state that motivation is conceptualised as a dynamic process of internal psychological factors (wants or needs) that generate a state of tension or disequilibrium within individuals.

Thus, according to Getz (1997), it is important to consider the satisfaction of various personal needs as a mechanism for getting people to attend various events, including major music events. Shone and Parry (2004:27) state that the motives for attending events might be physical, social or personal, but it should not be overlooked that the motivation might also be organisational. Travelling to attend events may therefore be because of an extensive range of potential motives (Shone & Parry 2004:27). Furthermore, motives for attending a live music performance can differ significantly from one person to the next. Indeed, live music concert visitors should not be seen as homogeneous as their motives for attending a live music performance will differ, even if the visitors attend the same concert (Kruger & Saayman 2012a).

Earl's (2001) study is one of the few studies that identified the reasons why visitors attend live music performances. Earl (2001) found psychological, sociological and anthropological reasons that validate why music lovers continue to buy tickets. These include reasons such as:

■ At a live music concert, the artist/performer has the opportunity to play certain songs that are not recorded, make improvisations and adaptations that make each concert unique;

■ A live concert provides excitement that cannot be provided by a recording, in terms of the risk that a disaster may be observed, such as musical errors on stage, on-stage personnel disputes, equipment troubles or the failure by artist or road-crew to catch a thrown guitar;

■ At a concert, new and older songs are played by artists/bands, therefore fans are confident that, at the worst, only part of the concert (lesser known songs) could make them feel as if they are wasting their time;

■ Live concerts allow people to get physically close to famous people and to become a part of the performance;

■ A live concert allows the opportunities for social behaviour that may be prohibited in a household setting including setting high sound levels, dancing, jumping and shouting;

■ Concerts are places individuals can see and especially can be seen by others, as well as offering opportunities to make new friends or relationships.

2.1.2 Previous research conducted on motives

The majority of research conducted into motives, internationally, largely focussed on music festivals. As examples, Formica and Uysal (1996) identified various motives of festival visitors to the Umbria Jazz festival in Italy that included: excitement and thrills; socialisation; entertainment; event novelty; and family togetherness as important motives whereas Faulkner, Fredline, Larson and Tomljenovic (1999) identified local culture/identity; excitement/novelty seeking; to party; local attractions; socialisation; known-group socialisation; ancillary activities; and enjoyment of the artists who were performing as motives for attending a the Sweden Storsjoyran music festival.

It is clear from the results that the various motives identified in international research vary from event to event, highlighting the fact that various attendees' motives will differ from various festivals in particular and from one music event to the next. From the research conducted, family togetherness, socialisation, entertainment, novelty and excitement were identified at various music festivals.

Apart from this, and in a South African context, the results from Kruger and Saayman (2012a:190), identified five motives (artist affiliation and unique experience, socialisation and event novelty, fun and group affiliation, enjoyment and entertainment and nostalgia) in an exploratory two-cluster analysis of factors that motivated individuals to attend the various Roxette concerts in South Africa that were held during 2011. To date, this is the only study found that has focussed specifically on the motives of visitors attending a live music performance in South Africa. Artist affiliation and unique experience obtained the highest mean value and was considered as the most important motive for visitors to attend the Roxette concert, followed by nostalgia, fun and group affiliation, enjoyment and entertainment and socialisation. Based on these motives, a cluster analysis was performed where Avid fans and Recreational attendees were identified. These clusters differ in terms of their socio-demographic and behavioural characteristics.

Another study conducted by Kruger and Saayman (2012b) focussed on the differences between female and male motives to attend the U2 concert held in South Africa during 2011. Results clearly indicated differences between male and female attendees in terms of socio-demographic, behavioural characteristics as well as motivational aspects. Five motives were identified from the factor analysis, namely: Unique experience, Socialisation and value, Enjoyment and entertainment, Artist affiliation and Group togetherness.

Kruger and Saayman (2012c) also conducted an additional study on live music performances based on the differences between the profiles of attendees at different live music performances. This study clearly indicated that the socio-demographic, behavioural profiles and personal characteristics differed. However, this particular research indicated that live music attendees shared certain homogeneous characteristics, primarily being well-educated and from the upper- and middle-class income groups.

2.2 Critical success factors at live music performances

The following section will discuss the background of critical success factors at live music performances as well as previous research conducted on critical success factors.

2.2.1 Background of critical success factors

According to Berridge (2010:198), in the case of live music performances, people attending these events often seek something specific from the experience that is initially based on pre-event communication prior to the event. Some years earlier, Berridge (2007:73) stated that the experience, which was derived from any programmed service, such as live music performances, was the essential component that influenced the level of satisfaction. Berridge (2007:73) further opined that the factors controlling the specific experience were very much bound up in the way the experience had been designed with regard to the performance being memorable and the success of the performance, as well as visual and ergonomical aspects. In further research, three years later, Berridge (2010:198) explained that visitors to a live music performance might be looking for something extraordinary, unique or special as the idea what visitors are looking for in and "experience" is central to their decision to attend live music performances.

Thus, it is clear that there are two components to the music performance attendance phenomenon where it is not only the motivations of individuals that have an influence on attending live music events, but also the critical success factors for managing such occasions. Therefore, according to Berridge (2007:79), having a deeper understanding and knowledge of how visitors experience an event will enable management to conceptualise the experience of users, in terms of design and programming, to ensure a more satisfying and fulfilling experience in the planning and implementation of live music performances in the future.

2.1.2 Previous research conducted on critical success factors

Limited studies have focused on major music events in South Africa, specifically with regard to critical success factors for managing the visitor experience, with the notable exception of Manners (2012). However, the critical success factors have been determined for other tourism operations in the country, such as those for a wine festival (Marais 2009), a guesthouse (Van der Westhuizen 2003), wedding events (De Witt 2006), wine tourism (Getz and Brown 2004), a conference centre (Kruger 2006), an arts festival (Erasmus 2011), for hotels (Appel 2011), nature based products (Engelbrecht 2012) and for a Jazz festival (Williams & Saayman 2013.

The results of these studies have shown that the critical management factors differ from the one tourism operation to another, thereby highlighting the fact that the type and nature of the tourism operation determines the critical success factors required to manage it effectively. The research by Marais (2009), Erasmus (2011), Engelbrecht (2012) and by Williams and Saayman (2013) were the only studies conducted from a demand side. These authors emphasised the importance of determining the critical success factors from the visitors' perspective. These studies also indicated that various critical success factors could be controlled by the event organisers. In the context of music mega-events that are subject to various external factors such as unfavourable weather conditions that are not controllable by management, it becomes vital to focus on those aspects that can be directly controlled by management. These critical success factors contribute to the improvement of ticket sales, marketing, safety, accessibility and entertainment, based on what it is that the visitor considers to be important.

Thus, based on the research conducted by the various authors, it becomes clear that different events have different socio-demographic aspects and various motives for individuals to attend a specific event. Nevertheless, certain homogenous aspects do occur. This is evident specifically at live music performances as various genres attract different people whose needs and wants differ, thus resulting in different motives for attending a live music performance. Further to this, research conducted by Manners, Kruger and Saayman (2014) clearly indicated that the critical success factors and the aspects visitors regarded as important for a memorable visitor experience would differ, especially where a live music event occurred at more than one location.

In this study, visitors from four different locations regarded six factors (General Marketing; Souvenirs; Marketing; Venue and Technical aspects; Accessibility; and Parking and Amenities) as critical to success. However, significant differences were evident at the various locations. Therefore, it can be assumed that one set of motives cannot be generalised for all genres of music and visitors to these events cannot be seen as homogeneous. Thus, by identifying the motives of individuals who attend not only festivals but live music performances management will be enabled to ensure a competitive advantage. With this in mind, it is important to consider why visitors attend live music performances, as well as what these visitors regard as critical success factors, not only for competitive advantage or to ensure a memorable visitor experience but also to add to the limited research of why consumers attend these events.

 

3. METHOD OF RESEARCH

The following section will describe the questionnaire, the sampling method and survey, as well as the statistical analyses conducted.

3.1 The questionnaire

A structured questionnaire served as the instrument for collecting data. The questionnaire used in the survey was divided into three sections.

Section A determined the socio-demographic information of visitors to the music event and included questions to determine the gender, age, home language, marital status, and province or residence of the respondents.

Section B was used to determine the critical management factors for a memorable visitor experience. This resulted in 50 management aspects pertaining to the creation of a visitor experience. The statements measured were based on the work of Erasmus (2011). These aspects were measured on a 5-point Likert scale of importance, where 1 indicated not at all important, 3 neither important nor unimportant and 5 extremely important.

Section C determined the behaviour and musical interests of the respondents, where 22 questions regarding the reasons that visitors attended concerts such as the Neil Diamond performance were also evaluated on a 5-point Likert scale of importance. The questions regarding the motives were based on the work of Formica and Uysal (1996); Faulkner et al. (1999); Foster and Robinson (2010); Kruger, Saayman and Ellis (2010); Kruger, Saayman and Ellis (2011); Kruger, Saayman and Strydom (2010); Kruger and Saayman (2012a) and upon the work of Kruger and Saayman (2012b).

3.2 Sampling method and survey

Surveys were conducted at the Neil Diamond concerts in Johannesburg (1 April 2011), Durban (5 April 2011 ), Port Elizabeth (8 April 2011 ) and in Cape Town (11 April 2011 ). The various stadiums were divided into blocks that determined the value of the different tickets purchased, for example, the seats on the field and close to the stage were more expensive than was the seating further away.

Thus, each block had its own entrance and so a stratified sampling method was used where trained fieldworkers distributed questionnaires to a range of Neil Diamond concert visitors at each of the four occasions. In order to limit bias, a simple random sampling method was used within the stratified method where the fieldworkers followed specific guidelines as questionnaires were handed out to different non-homogeneous age groups, gender groups and different priced ticket holders. Visitors at the various stadiums were also asked to complete questionnaires at the gates as they waited to enter the venue. Visitors who were willing, completed the questionnaire prior to the event. Fieldworkers explained the purpose of the survey before any questionnaires were completed.

A total of 2 000 questionnaires were administered and 1 820 completed questionnaires were included in the analysis. According to Israel (2009:6), in a population of 100 000 (N), 398 respondents (n) are seen as representative. Data provided by the event organisers, Big Concerts, gave the total numbers of visitors who attended the Neil Diamond concert at the various stadiums (Van Wyk 2012). Since approximately 52 000 visitors attended Neil Diamond at the FNB stadium, 613 questionnaires were completed, 21 000 attended the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth and 443 questionnaires were completed and 37 000 attended the Cape Town stadium in Cape Town where 522 questionnaires were completed. However, in the case of Durban, only 288 questionnaires were completed from the 25 000 visitors attending the concert at the Moses Mabhida stadium. In this particular case, a sampling error of 7% was used due to the weather conditions that hindered the survey at the event. Even so, the total number of completed questionnaires (n = 1866) was more than adequate.

3.3 Statistical analyses

Data was captured in Microsoft© Excel© and analysed using SPSS (SPSS 2010). The analysis was done in three stages. Stage one included the factor analyses, stage two the cluster analysis and, finally, stage three was an analysis of significant differences between motivational clusters of visitors at the four Neil Diamond concerts.

Two principal axis factor analyses were used in stage one, using an Oblimin rotation with Kaiser normalisation. The first factor analysis was performed on the 22 motivation items whereas the second factor analysis was conducted on the 50 management aspects pertaining to the creation of a memorable visitor experience. This was conducted in order to explain the variance-covariance structure of a set of variables through a few linear combinations of these variables. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy was used to determine whether the covariance matrix was appropriate for the factor analysis. Kaiser's criteria for the extraction of all factors with eigenvalues larger than one were used as it was considered to explain a significant amount of variation in the data.

All items with a factor loading greater than 0.3 were considered as adequate to a factor, and all items with loadings less than 0.3 were regarded as not correlating significantly with this factor (Steyn 2000). Any item that cross-loaded on two factors with factor loadings on both greater than 0.3 was categorised in the factor where interpretability was best. A reliability coefficient (Cronbach's alpha) was computed for each factor to estimate its internal consistency. All factors with a reliability coefficient above 0.6 were considered as adequate in this study. The average inter-item correlations were also computed as another measure of reliability - these, according to Clark and Watson (1995), should lie between 0.15 and 0.55.

Secondly, a cluster analysis was performed on the scores of the motives for attending the concert by using Ward's method with Euclidean distances. According to Hair, Bush and Ortinau (2000:594), a cluster analysis is a multivariate interdependence technique, where the primary objective is to classify objects into relatively homogeneous groups based on the set of variables considered which, in most cases, is an exploratory technique. Hierarchical clustering makes no assumptions concerning the number of groups or group structure. Instead, the members are grouped together based on their natural similarity (Johnson & Wichern 2007:671-673). This research did not take an a priori view of which data points should fall into which segment. Rather, a hierarchical cluster analysis was used to explore the natural structure of the data, by means of Ward's method with Euclidean distances.

Third, independent t-tests were used to investigate any significant differences between the visitor clusters. The results of the statistical analyses are discussed in the next section.

 

4. RESULTS

The following section will discuss the results of the factor analyses (travel motives and critical success factors) as well as the results of the t-tests to investigate any significant differences.

4.1 Results from the factor analyses

4.1.1 Motivational aspects for visitors attending the Neil Diamond concert

The pattern matrix of the principal axis factor analysis, using an Oblimin rotation with Kaiser normalisation, identified four motivational factors that were labelled according to similar characteristics (Table 1).

The four motivational factors accounted for 59% of the total variance. All factors had relatively high reliability coefficients, ranging from 0.79 (the lowest) to 0.83 (the highest).

The average inter-item correlation coefficients with values between 0.39 and 0.57 also imply internal consistency for all factors. Moreover, all items loaded on a factor with a loading greater than 0.3, and the relatively high factor loadings indicate a reasonably high correlation between the factors and their component items. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy of 0.92 also indicates that patterns of correlation are relatively compact and yield distinct and reliable factors (Field 2005). Barlett's test of sphericity also reached statistical significance (p < 0.001), supporting the factorability of the correlation matrix (Pallant 2007). Factor scores were calculated as the average of all items contributing to a specific factor in order to interpret them on the original five-point Likert scale of measurement.

As Table 1 shows, the following travel motives for visitors attending the various Neil Diamond concerts were identified: Excitement and group affiliation (Factor 1), Socialisation (Factor 2), Artist affiliation and unique experience (Factor 3), and Entertainment (Factor 4). With a mean value of 4.36, Artist affiliation and unique experience was considered the most important motive to attend the Neil Diamond concerts, followed by Entertainment (4.20), Excitement and group affiliation (3.81) and Socialisation (2.78).

4.1.2 Critical success factors for a memorable visitor experience

With regard to the critical success factors (critical success factors) in creating a memorable visitor experience, the pattern matrix of the principal axis factor analysis using an Oblimin rotation with Kaiser Normalisation identified six management factors (critical success factors). These factors accounted for a 59% of the total variance.

All factors had relatively high reliability coefficients, ranging from 0.84 (the lowest) to 0.94 (the highest). The average inter-item correlation coefficient, with values between 0.35 and 0.84 imply internal consistency for all factors. Moreover, all items loaded on a factor with a loading greater than 0.3 and the relatively high factor loadings indicate a reasonably high correlation between the factors and their component items.

The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measures of sampling adequacy of 0.97 indicate that the patterns of the correlation are relatively compact and yield distinct and reliable factors (Field 2005). Barlett's test of sphericity also reached statistical significance (p < 0.001), supporting the factorability of the correlation matrix (Pallant 2007:197).

The following management factors for visitors attending the various Neil Diamond concerts were identified: General management (Factor 1), Souvenirs (Factor 2), Marketing (Factor 3), Venue and Technical aspects (Factor 4), Accessibility and parking (Factor 5), and Amenities and catering (Factor 6). Management (4.44) was considered the most important management factor to enhance the visitor experience at the Neil Diamond concerts, followed by Venue and technical aspects (4.43), Marketing (4.36), Accessibility and parking (4.30), as wel as Amenities and catering (3.94). Souvenirs (3.27) obtained the lowest mean value and was regarded as a less important critical success factors (see Table 2).

4.2 Results from the cluster analysis

A cluster analysis, based on all cases in the data, was performed on the motivational factors. A hierarchical cluster analysis, using Ward's method of Euclidean distances, was used to determine the clusters' structures based on the motivational factors. A two-cluster solution was selected as the discriminatory (Figure 1).

The results of the multivariate analyses were used to identify the two clusters and to indicate that significant differences existed between them (p<0.05).

4.3 Identification of segmented clusters

As shown in Table 3, t-tests indicate that all four motivational factors contributed to differentiating the two motivational clusters (p<0.05). According to Table 3, Cluster 1, labelled Neil Diamond Fanistas, contained 989 respondents, which is the largest sample of respondents that also had the highest mean value scores across the four motivation factors, particularly for Artist affiliation and unique experience, Entertainment and Excitement and Group affiliation. Cluster 2, named Neil Diamond Curious, contained 734 respondents and had the lowest mean value across all four motivational factors and was therefore labelled Neil Diamond Curious.

4.4 Results from the independent Mest

Independent t-tests were carried out to determine whether significant differences existed between two clusters of concert attendees. Table 4 indicates that there are significant differences between the Neil Diamond Fanistas and the Neil Diamond Curious clusters. These differences are based on age (p= 0.001), number of tickets purchased (p= 0.028) and the number of music concerts attended (p= 0.001). Cluster 1 averaged 45.71 years of age, which made them younger than Cluster 2 (48.25 years of age).

However, and unsurprisingly, the Neil Diamond Fanistas purchased more tickets (an average of 2.79 tickets) and attended more music concerts annually (an average of 1.60 concerts) compared to the Neil Diamond Curious who purchased an average of 2.58 tickets and attended an average of 1.22 concerts per year. Significant differences were also found amongst the six critical success factors identified (general management (p= 0.001), souvenirs (p= 0.001), marketing (p= 0.001), venue and technical aspects (p= 0.001) and accessibility and parking (p= 0.001)). For the Neil Diamond Fanistas, general management was considered as the most important critical success factor with a mean value of 4.55, followed by venue and technical aspects (4.53), marketing (4.48), accessibility and parking (4.43), amenities and catering (4.14) and lastly souvenirs with a mean value of 3.53. However, interestingly, the Neil Diamond Curious cluster regarded venue and technical aspects as a more important Critical Success Factor with a mean value of 4.31, followed by general management (4.27), marketing (4.17), accessibility and parking (4.13), amenities and catering (3.66) and souvenirs (2.89).

According to Table 4, no statistically significant differences were found based on other socio-demographic and behavioural characteristics. Both clusters travelled in groups of four persons, were financially responsible for an average of two persons, spent two nights in the area where the concert occurred and spent between R1032 to R1059 during the event.

 

5. FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS

This research has the following findings and implications.

5.1 Motives for attending live music performances

On the question, why do people attend live music performances, five motives were identified; Excitement and group affiliation, Socialisation, Artist affiliation and unique experience and Entertainment. These motives correspond with only certain ones such as Excitement; Socialisation and Entertainment identified in studies conducted by Formica and Uysal (1996), Faulkner et al. (1999), Foster and Robinson (2010) and by Kruger and Saayman (2012a,b).

This emphasises that people who attend different events are motivated by different reasons. This confirms that the motives differ from event to event. Concerning the mean values, it is clear that the importance of similar motives identified in this study does not correspond with the motives identified by Kruger and Saayman (2012a). Thus, the complexity of determining the motives for visitors to attend a live music concert is emphasised in this study, as music consists of a multitude of genres that result in visitors attending any given live music performance for a wide variety of reasons.

Thus, motives will differ not only from event to event, but also from one music genre to another. In essence, it implies that managers continually need to assess the reason why people attend live music events and, particularly, the different musical genres. This is crucial for management to consider when a live music event is organised, managed and marketing are implemented. This corresponds well with the findings of Kruger and Saayman (2012a).

5.2 Essential differences between segments

In response to the question, who are these visitors, the cluster analysis identified two clusters, labelled here as Neil Diamond Fanistas and Neil Diamond Curious. The results indicate that both clusters are homogeneous in terms of their demographic profile with significant differences identified concerning their behavioural characteristics that included the number of tickets purchased and the number of concerts attended. This finding corresponds with research conducted by Kruger and Saayman (2012a) of visitors to the Roxette concerts where the differences amongst the two clusters were also largely in terms of their behaviour.

Based on this finding, together with the results of the Roxette research (Kruger & Saayman, 2012a), it is clear that a distinction can be made between two types of visitors at a live music performance. Specifically, these are the visitors who attend a live music performance as fans of the performing artist/band/performer (Fanistas) and those who attend the performance out of curiosity or as a travel companion (Curious). Thus, the implication is that it is important to focus merely on to the Fanistas and to determine their motives for attending a live music performance. This can be used to accurately determine the profiles of the different visitors and so enable management to improve marketing and management strategies. This also implies that if the marketing focuses on the Fanista market, it will automatically attract the Curious. Further research is, however, required to fully understand and capitalise on this for the different artists/bands/performers and musical genres.

5.3 Memorable live music experiences

Concerning the question, what is important for visitors and how can their needs be fulfilled, interesting results were obtained. Neil Diamond Fanistas regarded different critical success factors as more important than did the Neil Diamond Curious. General Management (4.55), in other words, was regarded as the most important critical success factors by the Neil Diamond Fanistas, whereas the Neil Diamond Curious identified Venue and Technical Aspects (4.31) as the most important critical success factors.

Bearing these differences in mind, management should focus on the superiority of basic operations, good management and focus on improving critical aspects. These aspects include: clean and hygienic ablution facilities, effective traffic control to and from the events, visibility of security on the stadium terrain, friendly and professional personnel in and around the stadium, appropriate gate opening time prior to the event, correct information on the tickets and adequate safety measures/precautions in place during the concert. These aspects would enhance the visitor experience for the Neil Diamond Fanistas.

Apart from this, management should also focus on enhancing and improving the quality of acoustics in the stadium. This can be done by ensuring that the visibility of the stage from all viewpoints is clear, a good layout of the stadium, ensuring easy accessibility to the stadium entry points, effective and fast service at the entrance gates of the venue as well as adequate seating. This will ensure not only the Neil Diamond's Fanistas experience is enhanced, but the memorability of the experience of the Neil Diamond Curious is enhanced.

5.4 Attracting lucrative markets

From an economic point of view, the Neil Diamond Fanistas is the more lucrative market as these visitors attend more music concerts and purchase more concert tickets. This confirms that marketing should strongly focus on this market segment. This implies that marketing should focus on the Neil Diamond Fanistas to attract them to other music concerts in the future. Management should also consider using specific marketing media, which visitors relate to and prefer, such as magazines, to promote other events and so ensure cost effective and successful marketing strategies.

 

6. CONCLUSION

The purpose of this research was to identify the travel motives of visitors who attended the live music concerts of Neil Diamond in South Africa. Four travel motives were identified, namely, excitement and group affiliation, socialisation, artist affiliation and unique experience and entertainment.

Two clusters of attendees (Neil Diamond Fanistas and Neil Diamond Curious) were identified based on these motives. This research contributed to the literature as this was the first time that the motives of visitors were determined at live music concerts held at four different venues across South Africa. This research not only determined the motives for attending a live music performance but also the critical success factors that influenced the attendance. The research indicated that there were no differences with regard to the demographic profile of the two clusters, while significant differences were identified with regard to behavioural characteristics such as number of concerts attended, number of tickets purchased and the importance of various critical success factors.

Thus, management should use these findings to enhance the critical success factors identified to enhance the outcome of the event, and should focus on the ratings of the different attendees in order to enhance the experience for a specific group. From this research, it is evident that a distinct difference can be made amongst the visitors who attend these live performances based on their differing motives for attending the concert. It becomes clear that different genres not only attract different attendees, but that one specific genre also attracts different groups of individuals (Neil Diamond Fanistas and Neil Diamond Curious) to attend the live performances and who travel for different reasons.

Therefore, it is important to conduct further research at various live music performances to give management a more holistic view of the different profiles, the critical success factors visitors regard as important, the motives of attendees at live music performances and how the motives of visitors differ from genre to genre, for example, pop, rock and classical, amongst other musical styles.

 

REFERENCES

APPEL C. 2011. Critical success factors in managing hotels in South Africa. International Journal of Hospitality Management Potchefstroom: North-West University Potchefstroom Campus. (Unpublished Hounors mini dissertation.         [ Links ]).

BERRIDGE G. 2007. Event design and experience. Oxford: Elsevier.         [ Links ]

BIG CONCERTS. 2010. Neil Diamond live for the first time ever in South Africa. [Internet: http://www.bigconcerts.co.za/media_centre/press_release/2010/october/Neil%Diamond%20Official%Press%20Release.pdf, 2011/03/30; downloaded on 2011-03-30.         [ Links ]]

BLACK GC, FOX MA & KOCHANOWSKI P. 2007. Concert tour success in North America: an examination of the top 100 tours from 1997 to 2005. Popular Music and Society 30(2):149-72.         [ Links ]

BROTHERTON B & SHAW J. 1996. Towards an identification and classification of critical success factors in UK hotels plc. International Journal of Hospitality Management 1(15):113-135.         [ Links ]

BERRIDGE G. 2010. Design management of events. In Tassiopoulos D (ed). Events management: a developmental and managerial approach. Claremont: Juta . pp. 185-206.         [ Links ]

CHIOU JS, HUANG C & LEE H. 2005. The antecedents of music piracy attitudes and intentions. Journal of Business Ethics 57(1):161-174.         [ Links ]

CLARK LA & WATSON D. 1995. Constructing validity: basic issues in objective scale development. Psychological Assessment 7(3):309-319.         [ Links ]

CROMPTON JL & MCKAY SL. 1997. Motives of visitors attending festival events. Annals of Tourism Research 24(2):425-439.         [ Links ]

DE WITT L. 2006. Key success factors for managing special events: the case of wedding tourism. Potchefstroom: North-West University Potchefstroom Campus. (Unpublished MCom Dissertation.         [ Links ])

DICKINSON RA, FERGUSON CR & SIRCAR S. 1984. Critical success factors and small business. American Journal of Small Business 8(3):49-57.         [ Links ]

EARL PE. 2001. Simon's travel theorem and the demand for live music. Journal of Economic Psychology 22(3):335-358.         [ Links ]

ENGELBRECHT WH. 2012. Critical success factors for managing the visitor experience at the Kruger National Park. Potchefstroom: North West University Potchefstroom Campus. (Unpublished MCom dissertation.         [ Links ])

ERASMUS lJ. 2011. Key success factors in managing the visitors' experience at the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival. Potchefstroom: North-West University Potchefstroom Campus. (Unpublished MCom dissertation.         [ Links ])

FAULKNER B, FREDLINE E, LARSON M & TOMLJENOVIC R. 1999. A marketing analysis of Sweden's Storsj'oyran music festival. Tourism Analysis 4(1):157-171.         [ Links ]

FIELD A. 2005. Discovering statistics using SPSS. 2^nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.         [ Links ]

FORMICA S & UYSAL M. 1996. Market segmentation of an international cultural-historical event in Italy. Journal of Travel Research 36:16-24.         [ Links ]

FOSTER K & ROBINSON P. 2010. A critical analysis of the motivational factors that influence event attendance in family group. Event Management: An International Journal 14(1):107-125.         [ Links ]

GETZ D. 1997. Event management and event tourism. New York, NY: Cognizant Communications.         [ Links ]

GETZ D & BROWN G. 2004. Critical success factors for wine tourism regions: a demand analysis. Tourism Managment 27(2):146-158.         [ Links ]

GOEBL W, DIXON S, DE POLI G, FRIBERG A, BRESIN R & WIDMER G. 2005. Sense in expressive music performance: data acquisition, computational studies and models. In_Polotti P & Rocchesso D (eds.) Sound to sense: a state of the art in sound and music computing. Berlin:Logos. pp.195-242.         [ Links ]

HAIR JF, BUSH R & ORTINAU J. 2000. Marketing research: a practical approach for the new millennium. Chicago IL: Irwin Professional.         [ Links ]

HAUSMAN A. 2011 Attribute satisfaction and experiential involvement in evaluations of live musical performance: theory and managerial implications for services. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 18(1):210-217.         [ Links ]

HOLBROOK MB & HIRSCHMAN EC. 1982. The experiential aspects of consumption: consumer fantasies, feelings and fun. Journal of Consumer Research 9(1):132-140.         [ Links ]

HUDSON S. 2008. Tourism and hospitality marketing. Londen: Sage.         [ Links ]

ISO-AHOLA SE. 1980. The social psychology of leisure and recreation. Dubuque, IA: Wm C Brown.         [ Links ]

ISRAEL GD. 2009. Determining the sample size. University of Florida IFAS Extension. [Internet: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pd00600pdf, 2011/15/17; downloaded on 2011-05-17.         [ Links ]]

JOHNSON RA & WICHERN DW. 2007. Applied multivariate statistical analysis. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.         [ Links ]

KRUGER ME. 2006. Key success factors in managing a conference centre in South Africa. Potchefstroom: North-West University Potchefstroom Campus. (Unpublished MCom dissertation - MCom.         [ Links ])

KRUGER M & SAAYMAN M. 2012a. Listen to your heart: motives for attending Roxette live. Journal of Convention and Event Management 13(3):181-202.         [ Links ]

KRUGER M & SAAYMAN M. 2012b. Attendance at the U2 concert - is it a case of 'this is a man's world'? Event Management 13(3):1 -40.         [ Links ]

KRUGER M & SAAYMAN M. 2012c. Show me the band and I will show you the market. Journal of Convention and Event Management 13(4):250-269.         [ Links ]

KRUGER M, SAAYMAN M & ELLIS SM. 2010. Does loyalty pay? First-time versus repeat visitors at a national arts festival. Southern African Business Review 14(1):79-104.         [ Links ]

KRUGER M, SAAYMAN M & ELLIS S. 2011. Segmentation by genres: the case of the Aardklop National Arts Festival. International Journal of Tourism Management 13(1):511-526.         [ Links ]

KRUGER M, SAAYMAN M & STRYDOM A. 2010. First-time versus repeat visitors: the Volksblad Arts Festival. Acta Academica 42(4):91-121.         [ Links ]

MANNERS B. 2012. The critical success factors for managing the visitor experience at a major musical event. Potchefstroom: North-West University Potchefstroom Campus. (Unpublished MA dissertation.         [ Links ])

MANNERS B, KRUGER M & SAAYMAN M. 2014. Different venues, different experiences: evidence from live music performances. Social Science Journal (In process of review).         [ Links ]

MANSFELD Y. 1992. From motivation to actual travel. Annals of tourism research 19(3):399-419.         [ Links ]

MARAIS M. 2009. Key success factors in managing the Wacky Wine Festival. Potchefstroom: North-West University Potchefstroom Campus. (Unpublished MCom dissertation.         [ Links ])

NICHOLSON RE & PEARCE D. Why do people attend events: a comparative analysis of visitor motivations at four South Island events. Journal of Travel Research 39(2001):449-460.         [ Links ]

PALLANT J. 2007. SPSS survival manual: a step-by-step guide to data analysis using SPSS Version 15. 3^rd ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.         [ Links ]

PEARCE P. 1993. Fundamentals of tourist motivation. In Butler R & Pearce D (eds). Tourism research: critiques and challenges. London: Routledge. pp.113-134.         [ Links ]

RONDÀN-CATALUNA FJ & MARTIN-RUIZ D. 2010. Customers' perceptions about concerts and CDs. Management Decision 48(9):1410-1421.         [ Links ]

SAAYMAN M. 2007. En route with tourism: an introductory text. 3^rd ed. Potchefstroom: Institute for Tourism and Leisure Studies.         [ Links ]

SHONE A & PARRY B. 2010. Successful event management: a practical handbook. 3^rd ed. Andove, NH: Cengage Learning.         [ Links ]

SONDER M. 2004. Event entertainment and production. Upper Sadle River, NJ: Wiley.         [ Links ]

SPSS. 2010. SPSS® 16.0 for Windows, Release 16.0.0, Copyright© by SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL. [Internet: http://www.spss.com; downloaded on 2011-06-01.         [ Links ]]

STEYN HS. 2000. Practical significance of the difference in means. South African Journal of Industrial Psychology 26(3):1-3.         [ Links ]

THOMPSON WF, GRAHAM P & RUSSO FA. 2005. Seeing music performance: visual influences on perception and experience. Semiotica 156(1):203-227.         [ Links ]

VAN DER WESTHUIZEN T. 2003. Key success factors for developing and managing a guesthouse. Potchefsroom: North-West University. Potchefstroom Campus. (Unpublished MCom Dissertation.         [ Links ])

VAN WYK J. 2012. Database statistics for Neil Diamond [e-mail: Justin@bigconcerts.ac.za]. 15 Aug. 2012.         [ Links ]

WILLIAMS K & SAAYMAN M. 2013. Determining the needs of visitors to the Cape Town International Jazz Festival: a difference approach. South African Journal of Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation 35(1):183-202.         [ Links ]

WITT CA & WRIGHT PL. 1992. Tourism motivation: life after Maslow. In Johnson P & Thomas B (eds). Choice and demand in tourism. London: Mansell.         [ Links ]

ZENTNER A. 2006. Measuring the effect of file sharing on music purchases. Journal of Law and Economics 49(1):63-90.         [ Links ]