The Tribune

By CHRIS ILLING

CCO of ActivTrades Corp

Ticket business for the superstars in the entertainment industry is shared by a few providers worldwide. While the Live Nation group (LYV.US) with its subsidiary Ticketmaster dominates the business in the US, the German Eventim (EVD) is one of the leading international ticketing and live entertainment providers in Europe.

Live Nation’s earnings reached a record $16.7bn in 2022, up by 44 percent from the pre-pandemic era of 2019. That growth was spread across several factors like more fans, more concerts, more spending per fan, higher average ticket prices and a greater number of large sponsors. The share price was up YTD by 34 percent at $92.58 last Friday.

Eventim closed the 2022 financial year also with record figures. In the 2022 financial year, consolidated sales increased by 372 percent compared to the previous year to EUR 1.926 billion, an increase of 33 percent compared to the previous record year 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. The new record of almost two billion euros is supported by strong growth in both the ticketing and live entertainment segments.

Concert ticket prices for famous pop stars like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift have risen sharply in the past. And now Taylor Swift breaks all records during her current world tour. The US pop icon could bring in more than 1.3 billion dollars, unmatched in music history.

No wonder the pop icon brings in hefty proceeds. The US singer and the organisers earn around 13 million dollars per evening, reports the business news agency Bloomberg. This does not even include the proceeds from merchandise sales. But even without the sales from the sale of fan paraphernalia, Swift’s “The Eras Tour” is likely to bring in more money than any other in music history. Admission tickets will contribute the lion’s share of expected sales.

At Stubhub, the cheapest seat for a Taylor Swift concert in Seattle this July costs $1,200. In Mexico City it’s still $500 that promoters and artists charge for the cheapest ticket.

Five years ago, Britney Spears and Celine Dion were the only two artists to earn more than $200 per ticket.

High ticket fees are a constant source of criticism. The US government wants to ban hidden fees when buying tickets with the “Junk Fee Prevention Act”. The market leader Live Nation intends to show all-in prices immediately in the future.

Cultural diversity suffers from the dominant position of the big corporations, because Live Nation and Co. are only interested in business with the big stars. Approximately five percent of artists bring in about 85 percent of worldwide concert revenues.