Developing and Sustaining New Audiences for Classical Music in China: Adapting the Marketing Strategies Used in K-pop

This thesis explores how marketing strategies employed by Korean popular music (K-pop) might inform audience development for Western classical music among young, urban consumers in China’s major metropolitan areas, addressing the persistent challenge of attracting and engaging younger demographics in an increasingly competitive cultural landscape. It considers the practices underlying K-pop’s success in engaging global audiences, the characteristics and motivations of potential classical music audiences in urban China, and the alignment between their expectations and K-pop strategies. This thesis is the first to systematically examine whether strategies from rapidly globalising popular cultures can inform arts marketing, especially within the Chinese market where both cultural forms coexist. This thesis provides alternative perspectives to existing research which has focused primarily on Western classical music contexts or generalised popular approaches.

Three studies were undertaken using a mixed-methods approach. A scoping review of 215 media sources analysed K-pop industry practices. An online survey explored classical music engagement patterns among 749 respondents across China’s Tier-1 regions. Qualitative analysis of motivation and barriers informed the design for focus group discussions with 21 participants, allowing in-depth exploration of audience perceptions and expectations for classical engagement. The youth-dominated survey sample (78% under 35) contrasts with aging classical audiences in Western markets, however this reflects methodological limitations of online recruitment and self-selection bias rather than representative demographics of broader Chinese classical music market. Results highlight several convergences between K-pop’s strategies and the characteristics and expectations of young, urban Chinese audiences across digital engagement, visual enhancement, cultural motivations, perceived knowledge barriers, relevance building, immersive cultural experience, and social connection desires.

These findings have important implications for classical music organisations seeking to develop and engage new audiences among young, digitally native demographics, for whom traditional marketing approaches may be inadequate. Ultimately, this thesis provides a framework for culturally situated audience development and identifies how classical music might adapt successful popular culture strategies while considering practical challenges and cultural tensions.