Nutthaseth Vanchaichana / EyeEm
Source: www.insideradio.com, June 2023
The live event business is going gangbusters this year with artists back on tour and fans scooping up tickets, despite headlines and Congressional action to combat the dynamic pricing practice that kept many fans locked out of some of the larger tours.
During Live Nation’s recent fourth-quarter conference call, CEO Michael Rapino told Billboard that demand is strong “and is showing no signs of letting up.”
The company expects to sell more than 600 million tickets this year, up from 550 million in 2022. So far in 2023, more than 100 million tickets to Live Nation events have been sold, up 20% from the same period last year. Live Nation venues expect a record number of fans in 2023.
Also feeling the positive effects of a live music renaissance is secondary ticketing marketplace Vivid Seats. “Consumers continued to crave live experiences in the first quarter,” CEO Stan Chia said during the company’s recent earnings call. “We believe this trend will continue for many years.”
Post-pandemic demand in 2022 drove record revenue of $6.2 billion in the third quarter, an increase of 67% from the same period in 2019.
That seems to be the case this year. Live Nation said its first-quarter revenue was up 71% to $3.1 billion. Vivid Seats says its first-quarter revenue grew 23.2% to $161 million and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization doubled to $42.4 million.
