How has live music exploded in 2022? Let me tell you.
Recession? What recession?
Live Nation announced second-quarter results this week and reported a 40% increase in revenue, not from the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, but from the Olden Days, way back in 2019. Revenues were up US$4.4 billion. Meanwhile, operating income was up 86%.
CEO Michael Rapino (a Canadian boy from Thunder Bay, lest we forget), said this: “We have sold over 100 million tickets for our concerts this year — more than we sold for the entire year in 2019.”
Let that sink in: LN sold more tickets in the first six months of 2022 than they did in all of 2019 when there was no pandemic and no insane inflation.
More than 33 million fans attended 12,500 Live Nation-promoted shows worldwide over the last three months. That’s up 20% from the same period in 2019.
A few other notes:
- The average price of a concert ticket globally was up 10%.
- The average entry price for a concert was US$33, up 5% from 2019. (Note that this is an average of all the small shows mixed with arena-sized ones.)
- Live Nation opened 30 new venues around the world.
- Fans are spending 20% more while at the venue. (Gee, could that be because prices for everything from a bottle of water to a t-shirt is up?)
- Demand for tours already on sale for 2023 is strong.
The full report can be found at Variety.
