Last year he represented a historical maximum for the live music industry since its post-pandemic resurgence. If this year you can measure you are subject to interpretation.
Q1 for the sector is usually a somnollient fourth for live music, although it still offers an idea of where the rest of the year is going. But with the launch of Live Nation Entertainment and Pollstar reports, the 2025 trajectory is perhaps more nebula than before the room ends.
LNE Q1 report (which tracks in mid -April) paints a pink image for the rest of ’25 despite the fact that the real results of the first quarter are disappointing. The company attributed its falls in income ($ 3.4 billion, -11% year -on -year) and adjusted operational income ($ 341.1 million, -6% yoy) to a drop in activities not with concert, as well as fluctuations of current foreign currency, although the income from concerts also decreased by 14% compared to the Q1 of 2024, with $ 2.48 billion.
But instead of focusing on these losses, the company highlighted what is ahead by 2025. Deferred income of Live Nation, or the money of the events that occur below in the year, are around $ 5.4 billion, 24% at this point of last year, while the deferred income of Ticketmaster also increased a record of 13%, to $ 270 million.
A LNE representative confirmed that as of last week, 100 million tickets for Live Nation concerts this year have been sold, already beyond the 98 million sold in 2019 and the pair to match or even exceed 160 million 2024.
Interestingly, that elevator was promoted by an increase in «more than 80%» in the sale of stadium tickets, probably a surprise for anyone who tracks the trends of the entire industry in the last two years, including LNA, pointing out the «reduced stadium activity» in progress in previous quarterly reports. (A LNA representative clarified that the change in the stadium activity is partly the «reflux and the natural» industry «flow).
These results prepared the stage for another «historical year for live music» in LNE’s opinion. Pollstar, meanwhile, predicted a «mixed year ahead» based on its own results of the first quarter (in mid -November until mid -February).
Looking at the 100 best tours worldwide, Pollstar discovered that the average ticket price was below For the first time in years, in 20%, nothing less. By extension, the total tickets sold and the average tickets sold by show also increased in two digits (17.3% and 18.8%, respectively). Even so, despite the increase in the sale of tickets, gross Q1 (-6.4%) and the gross average by show (-5%) decreased for the first time in the era after the pandemic.
But this development is not necessarily negative, as Pollstar pointed out in its analysis that Yoy’s most dramatic deficits are at the front of the list of the 100 best routes. The five main tours of greatest collection for Q1, for example, saw a 39% decrease in gross and a 10.3% decrease in the sale of tickets versus the first quarter last year.
The loss of gross yoy is not only reduced by more than half of the 50 main acts, but the yoy rate for tickets sold increases to almost 9%. In other words, the gross and average price has decreased even though the sale of tickets has increased, because money is distributed more evenly among the 100 best routes compared to the previous rooms.
Actually, Pollstar and LNA found similar trends Q1, not so much money in this quarter, while assistance has increased, but finally released different conclusions. It is LNE’s optimism for beyond Q1, especially in the front of the stadium, that seems to be the point of divergence.
There may be some factors at play behind the Show Push stadium. On the one hand, there is a particularly stacked line of stadium tours of popular artists among the youngest public. There are the usual acts of rock and nostalgia led by the stadium (think of Coldplay, Billy Joel, Oasis), of course, but a change to the most young pop and adjacent acts, the high -scale tours predominantly are underway.
The respective respective tours of Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar/SZA are currently obtaining countless thousands, and the first one already broke a box office record with its beginning at the Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles despite the reports of unvery tickets.
The artists who are already playing or ready to play in concerts of the stadium this year include beginners Olivia Rodrigo and Lana del Rey, superstars of the pop country after Malone and Morgan Wallen and the heavyweights Latinos Bad Bad Bunny and Shakira.
By extension, these great tours that come from an exceptional year for new musical releases is not coincidence either. The successes headed by the graphics, including «Cowboy Carter» by Beyoncé and «Not Like Us» of Lamar were especially culturally generalized during the past year, and Luminete Data shows how the 200 main songs have become more and more the total one -year transmissions given since 2022. Perhaps an effect on one side of such a new and popular music is a greater live demand for certain artists.
Another potential change is that the stadium tickets, for now, are becoming cheaper. LNE pointed out in its Q1 report that the average income price for all types of place is currently $ 40, while the stages are specifically 8% lower than 2024 levels to $ 60. If this is true, it is a welcome adjustment after years of firing the prices and tariffs of the tickets.
It is also a necessary change since the music industry tests the monetary potential and the limits of the superfans through premium experiences and dedicated price levels for the most dedicated. In fact, these lower income prices seem to be part of Robin Hood’s strategy «of LNE, as described by the LNE CEO, Michael Rapino, in the first quarter of profits call, so that base prices are cheaper and adjust the value of the premium levels accordingly.
In the Fandom front, it is also possible that the public fits the «new normality» of high prices. As live music fans change from millennials to the Z generation, zoomers have shown the will to spend big, travel far and even debts to attend a concert or festival. Luminate also discovered that from Q1 2025, generation Z is surpassing millennials in the expense of concerts and festivals. And not for nothing: ticket service rates are pioneers in Ticketmaster eventually evolved from scandalous anomaly to a reluctant standard.
But perhaps among the most important factors is one that applies to the entire music industry: people really love music. In response to the inevitable issue of the impact of the new tariffs of the United States, Rapino said that the company has not yet seen any consumer setback.
Common thinking is that music is «recession -proof» because it is not the first thing that most consumers will resign compared to, say, go to the movies or visit a theme park. Part of that reasoning is due to low -cost barriers for music services such as Spotify, but even as an activity as expensive as live music, the love of fans for their favorite artists continues to overcome the cost of seeing them act.
Like last year, 2025 may not end as a new maximum of all time for live music, but it is likely to be a great year, at least for LNE. But as much as the company is The live music industry, a distinction that the Department of Justice is investigating, a record year for LNE does not necessarily mean a record year for all others, especially as independent places continue to close and artists fight to allow the tour.
Time will say if the stadiums recover most of the income growth, if the smallest places will see greater participations or, ideally, a little of both.
(Tagstotranslate) live music
