Matprat measures the Christmas mood among Norwegians, and has investigated how many Norwegians will go to a Christmas concert this year. TONO helps put it all into context. You can see the press release here.
/ 15/12/2016 / codexIllustrative photo above: Trygve Skaug in Borgund Church, December 9, 2016. (Photo: Oddi Nessa)
Matprat measures the Christmas mood among Norwegians, and when they asked a representative sample of Norwegians whether they would go to a Christmas concert, they also contacted TONO to hear what we have to add to the findings they have made.
The results are pleasant reading, both for TONO members and other music lovers. Because the results may indicate that more and more people are using the time before Christmas to go to Christmas concerts – be it in churches or cultural venues across the country. A full 34 percent, or 1 in 3, say they are planning or have been to at least one Christmas concert now before Christmas.
– We have seen in our surveys through the Norwegian Christmas Index that music and concerts are one of the things that come up high on the list of what gets people in the Christmas spirit. And based on this, we wanted to take a closer look at how many people go to concerts in the run-up to Christmas. The greatest interest in Christmas concerts is found in Eastern and Southern Norway. Here, just over 1 in 3 say that they are planning one or more Christmas concerts. We also see that it is the age group 35 to 59 years who spend the run-up to Christmas music the most, says Siv Iren Moe, communications consultant at MatPrat.
Huge demand
TONO, which manages the performance rights for 28,000 Norwegian composers, lyricists and music publishers as well as 2,5 million of their colleagues from other countries, also notices that Christmas is a music holiday.
– There are two periods that are characterized by particularly high activity in the concert area, and that is the festival season in the summer and then there is Christmas. Choirs, orchestras, bands and artists all have Christmas concerts, and there is no shortage of offers for music lovers who want to get into the Christmas spirit, says communications manager Willy Martinsen at TONO.
70 percent of concert revenues come from Norwegian-written music
The fact that there is high activity in the Norwegian concert market both during Christmas and the rest of the year is confirmed by TONO's concert revenues, which increase every year, and which in 2015 ended at 60 million kroner.
– We have conducted our own investigations where 57 percent of Norwegians say they have been to a concert in the past year, which harmonizes well with the findings of MatPrat. Norwegians love going to concerts, and it is worth noting that 70 percent of TONO's concert income comes from Norwegian-written music. And although many standard songs are performed at Christmas concerts, new Christmas songs are also written. This means that Norwegians are constantly getting new Christmas favorites, while at the same time it helps Norwegian composers and lyricists to make a living from writing music, says Martinsen.
For more information see www.norskjuleindeks.no, or contact:
Siv Iren Moe, communications consultant at MatPrat
siv.iren.moe@matprat.no
400 79,995
Willy Martinsen, Communications Manager at TONO
Willy.Martinsen@tono.no
909 65,254
About the survey: Surveys for the Norwegian Christmas Index are conducted by Opinion AS against a representative sample of the Norwegian population, with 200 interviews each day throughout the period from 23.11 to 23.12. The sample is drawn randomly among registered telephone subscribers, and both mobile phones and landlines are contacted (70/30). The statistical margin of error for this sample size (200 interviews) is +/-3,1-7,1%, where the margin of error (statistical uncertainty) is largest for results with values of 50/50.