Kaohsiung’s concert policy
On Oct. 5, the Taipei City Government hosted a Double Ten National Day gala at the Taipei Dome. Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Yen Juo-fang (顏若芳) said that the first “non-sports event” at the venue exposed four major flaws: too many empty seats, an echo, poor smoke extraction and a delayed video feed for the media.
The problems were mostly due to the contractor’s lack of familiarity with the venue, or the city government’s inexperience and poor communication with artists’ agencies. The criticisms were reasonable and improvements can be made.
Meanwhile, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kaohsiung City Councilor Hsu Tsai-chen (許采蓁) criticized the Kaohsiung City Government’s “concert economy” policy at a council meeting on Oct. 9, as if she was indirectly defending the Taipei Dome. Hsu also repeatedly criticized the rent-free strategy for Kaohsiung’s National Stadium, disregarding the fact that Kaohsiung is different from Taipei, which enjoys a number of advantages as the nation’s capital.
Taipei dominates the pop music market in Taiwan and its concerts can attract fans without much publicity, but concerts in Kaohsiung have cost issues to do with equipment, production, media and personnel that are not as much of a factor in Taipei.
The Kaohsiung City Government has adopted the rent-free strategy to attract artists to perform in the city. Statistics show that its concerts this year are expected to attract 1.44 million tourists and generate NT$4.5 billion (US$140.26 million).
Coldplay’s two concerts in Kaohsiung provide an example. With the venue fee of NT$1.5 million waived, the losses were NT$2.5 million when adding labor cost.
However, the concerts attracted 170,000 people, generating NT$550 million.
So, the benefits of the rent-free strategy are self-evident.
Kaohsiung has boosted tourism revenue through concerts. According to the information on the “Taiwan Stay” Web site of the Tourism Administration, Kaohsiung’s income from tourism accommodation reached NT$3.2 billion in the first half of this year — much higher than Taoyuan’s NT$1.5 billion, Taichung’s NT$1.3 billion, New Taipei City’s NT$1.2 billion and Tainan’s NT$1 billion. Kaohsiung ranked second among the country’s six special municipalities, with a 60 percent growth from the same period in 2022, before promotional work for the “concert economy” began.
The figures prove that Kaohsiung’s “concert economy” efforts have paid off.
As a resident of Kaohsiung, Hsu should have understood the city’s predicament. Kaohsiung is trying to transform from an industrial city to a tourism city. In contrast, Taipei has sufficient hardware and software resources, and a stable audience base. So venue maintenance and operation might be easier.
On the other hand, Kaohsiung needs greater strategic support to facilitate its industrial transformation.
The “concert economy” is driving a competition between northern and southern cities, but it is important to not only satisfy fans, but also take public safety into account.
What is needed are well-maintained facilities and contingency mechanisms rather than criticism.
Hopefully, Hsu can support local economic development rationally, and stop attacking Kaohsiung’s policy for no reason and hindering its progress.
Chen Chung-ping
Taipei
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