Wall Street has wondered how much longer the good times will last for the concert industry, after it roared back to life last year following two years of pandemic shutdowns.
But executives at Ticketmaster parent and concert-venue operator Live Nation Entertainment Inc. said those trends could go on for another two years, as bigger, global tours help expand the company’s international footprint, and the company buys its way into a bigger share of the market.
“We think we’re headed to a very, very strong 2024, 2025 onward,” Chief Executive Michael Rapino said on Live Nation’s
LYV,
earnings call on Thursday.
He added: “The consumer demand is growing, and our ongoing bolt-on acquisitions, venues, new market entries, compounded on top of our organic growth is going to give us this continual one-two punch of growth for the next multiple years.”
Shares of Live Nation were up 2.8% on Friday, after the company’s second-quarter results a day earlier scorched past analysts’ expectations. Live Nation’s stock is up 42.8% so far this year.
When the pandemic first hit in 2020, some analysts believed Live Nation, which already dominates the concert industry, could become even bigger, as struggling venues and other companies dependent on concerts looked for bigger buyers to rescue them.
In Live Nation’s earnings release on Thursday, Rapino said Latin America and Asia represented areas to do bigger business. International acts, the release said, have “doubled representation in top 50 tours over last five years,” with “more acts touring globally and visiting 42% more countries.” Executives also said that the early pipeline for 2024 concerts — for arena, stadium and amphitheater shows — had increased.
According to Pollstar data, gross proceeds for larger outdoor venues jumped last year when compared to 2019. But smaller indoor clubs, the ones emerging artists build their careers on, didn’t do as well, possibly due to concerns over contracting COVID-19.
While lawmakers and concert-goers worry about fees tacked on to tickets, and authorities reportedly investigate the ticket industry’s competitive practices, company executives have argued that artists set the price of tickets. More of them, they say, are trying to get higher prices from front-row seats.
“A lot of artists now – I would say it’s almost becoming the standard that they’re understanding they should price the front of their house to capture most of the value,” Chief Financial Officer Joe Berchtold said on Live Nation’s earnings call on Thursday.
“Otherwise, it’s the scalper who’s going to take it. And then they want to make sure the back of the house is priced [attractively], so that every fan can afford to buy a ticket and get in.”
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