Arena Market: Japan
Japan is the second-largest live music market in the world, but traditionally it has skewed heavily towards the domestic.
The Ariake Arena tells IQ its bookings are 90% domestic, while theTokyo International Forum puts its percentage of domestic bookings at 98%. Breaking into such a lucrative market for international acts is not impossible, but the reality is that audiences do lean heavily towards the homegrown.
There are, however, macro-economic factors making it difficult for international acts to tour there (more of which below).
The arena market in Japan is going through a phenomenal expansion period at the moment, driven by bold forecasts for how much the sector will grow over the coming decades. A total of four new arenas are expected to open this year: the 17,000-cap IG Arena in Nagoya and three 10,000-cap venues– the Tokyo A-Arena, the Kobe Arena, and the Kagawa Prefectural Arena.
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