Despite having to pay more for everyday goods and services, Americans feel like they’re in a better place financially than earlier this year. How they choose to increase and cut back their spending, though, varies from music to vacations to groceries.
The data show consumers are generally in a good place. The latest numbers from University of Michigan’s survey of consumers released today (Sept. 13) show consumer sentiment is the best since May and 40% above its June 2022 low. Deloitte’s financial well-being index rose for the third straight month in August and has risen from 95.9 to 102.6 over the last year, which suggests that consumers are feeling good enough about their finances to increase spending on a range of products and services.
Listen to travel and leisure companies and you’ll get the impression that inflation-weary, cash-strapped consumers are holding close to their wallets. In August, Airbnb missed earnings and warned of slowing demand, while Booking.com told investors that it expected slower growth in the number of nights booked by customers. Disney’s theme parks are seeing softer demand. Comcast’s Universal theme park revenue fell 11% in the most recent quarter after having a record 2023.
Trending on Billboard
The concert business, though, doesn’t share the malaise of theme parks and vacation rentals. “We don’t see [a slowdown],” Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino said Tuesday (Sept. 10) at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference in San Francisco. “And you almost hate saying it, because everyone else is saying it, but we do think we have a very unique product.” Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter and ticketing company, had a record second quarter with total revenue of $6 billion, up 7%, and expects 2024 will be a record year.
Concerts have the advantage of creating a more visceral reaction than other types of entertainment. And because it’s in-person and live, Rapino explained, it’s a unique experience with a competitive advantage. “[Fans] want to connect with that artist,” he said. “There’s no digital duplicate replication here. You cannot watch that show at home. You do not get goosebumps when you watch it on Apple TV.”
Live music isn’t totally immune to economic woes, of course. Numerous tours — including The Black Keys and Jennifer Lopez — have been cancelled due to poor ticket sales. Festivals ranging from Desert Daze in California to Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis pulled the plug in 2024 due to economic reasons. And as Billboard has documented in recent years, the financial strain of touring artists following the pandemic has been very real. Higher costs for transportation, fuel and food have forced artists to economize and cut back on expenses to turn a profit.
Fans are still spending dearly on a small number of superstars, though. Surge pricing used in the Oasis on-sale inflated the cost of primary tickets beyond many fans’ comfort zones. Sphere in Las Vegas has drawn high-spending fans to residencies by U2, Phish and Dead & Co., and The Eagles’ upcoming shows should do similarly well. Prices to Adele’s final residency performance at The Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas before an indefinite hiatus soared beyond $17,000 for top-tier seats.
Consumers continue to spend on recorded music, too. According to the RIAA’s mid-year report, the parts of the business that involve direct consumer spending — subscriptions, physical formats and digital downloads — rose 4.7% in the first six months of 2024. Subscription revenue improved 5.1% and surpassed 60% of total recorded music revenue. Spending on physical music formats fared even better, rising 12.7% on the strength of a 17.0% increase in vinyl sales. Download spending, an increasingly inconsequential part of the business, fell 15.8%.
Segments that don’t represent consumer spending — ad-supported streaming, synchronization royalties and SoundExchange royalties — rose just 0.9%. Ad-supported on-demand streaming, the biggest component of the non-spending segment, rose just 1.7%. (SoundExchange royalties include ad-supported streaming in addition to satellite radio royalties, which stem from direct consumer spending, and cable radio stations, which do not.) Synchronization royalties — it reflects the money flowing into advertisements and TV and film production — dropped 9.8%.
Elsewhere in the entertainment business, spending is mixed. U.S. movie ticket sales were down to $3.6 billion from $4 billion, though the pop culture sensation of Barbie and Oppenheimer in the summer of 2023 made for a tough comparison. U.S. video game revenue is expected to rise about 2.2% to $47 billion in 2024, according to market research firm Newzoo.
While consumer are looking to splurge on entertainment, they’re much more price conscious about everyday items. According to the consulting company McKinsey, people are cutting back on spending on essentials — especially gasoline and fresh produce — as well as home improvement and domestic flights.
During a 1980 presidential debate, Ronald Reagan posed a now-famous question: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” In 2024, many Americans feel they were better off in 2020 — even though the economy was crippled by the pandemic that year. The music industry is better off today than four years ago. And although recorded music growth has slowed this year, 2024 will be better than 2023, too.
