Live nation
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For some music companies, 2022 was the payoff for weathering the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. When business returned that year — sometimes in record-setting fashion — these companies rewarded their executives handsomely, according to Billboard’s 2022 Executive Money Makers breakdown of stock ownership and compensation. But shareholders, as well as two investment advisory groups, contend the compensation for top executives at Live Nation and Universal Music Group (UMG) is excessive.
Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promotion and ticketing company, rebounded from revenue of $1.9 billion and $6.3 billion in 2020 and 2021, respectively, to a record $16.7 billion in 2022. That performance helped make its top two executives, president/CEO Michael Rapino and president/CFO Joe Berchtold, the best paid music executives of 2022. In total, Rapino received a pay package worth $139 million, while Berchtold earned $52.4 million. Rapino’s new employment contract includes an award of performance shares targeted at 1.1 million shares and roughly 334,000 shares of restricted stock that will fully pay off if the company hits aggressive growth targets and the stock price doubles in five years.
Live Nation explained in its 2023 proxy statement that its compensation program took into account management’s “strong leadership decisions” in 2020 and 2021 that put the company on a path to record revenue in 2022. Compared with 2019 — the last full year unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic — concert attendance was up 24%, ticketing revenue grew 45%, sponsorships and advertising revenue improved 64%, and ancillary per-fan spending was up at least 20% across all major venue types. Importantly, Live Nation reached 127% of its target adjusted operating income, to which executives’ cash bonuses were tied.
The bulk of Rapino’s and Berchtold’s compensation came from stock awards — $116.7 million for Rapino and $37.1 million for Berchtold — on top of relatively modest base salaries. Both received a $6 million signing bonus for reupping their employment contracts in 2022. (Story continues after charts.)
Lucian Grainge, the top-paid music executive in 2021, came in third in 2022 with total compensation of 47.3 million euros ($49.7 million). Unlike the other executives on this year’s list, he wasn’t given large stock awards or stock options. Instead, Grainge, who has been CEO of UMG since 2010, was given a performance bonus of 28.8 million euros ($30.3 million) in addition to a salary of 15.4 million euros ($16.2 million) — by far the largest of any music executive.
This year, shareholders have shown little appetite for some entertainment executives’ pay packages — most notably Netflix — and Live Nation’s compensation raised flags at two influential shareholder advisory groups, Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, which both recommended that Live Nation shareholders vote “no” in an advisory “say on pay” vote during the company’s annual meeting on June 9. Shareholders did just that, voting against executives’ pay packages by a 53-to-47 margin.
Failed “say on pay” votes are rare amongst United States corporations. Through Aug. 17, just 2.1% of Russell 3000 companies and 2.3% of S&P 500 companies have received less than 50% votes on executive compensation, according to executive compensation consultancy Semler Brossy. (Live Nation is in both indexes.) About 93% of companies received at least 70% shareholder approval.
ISS was concerned that the stock grants given to Rapino and Berchtold were “multiple times larger” than total CEO pay in peer group companies and were not adequately linked to achieving sustained higher stock prices. Additionally, ISS thought Live Nation did not adequately explain the rationale behind the grants.
To determine what Rapino, Berchtold and other executives should earn, Live Nation’s compensation committee referenced high-earning executives from Netflix, Universal Music Group, SiriusXM, Spotify, Endeavor Group Holdings, Fox Corporation, Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. and Paramount Global. Netflix co-CEOs Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos were paid $51.1 million and $50.3 million, respectively, in 2022. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslov made $39.3 million in 2022 — including a $21.8 million cash bonus — a year after his pay totaled $246.6 million, including $202.9 million in stock option awards that will vest over his six-year employment contract. Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and executive chairman Patrick Whitesell received pay packages worth $308.2 million and $123.1 million, respectively, in 2021 thanks to equity awards tied to the company’s IPO that year (the received more modest pay of $19 million and $12.2 million in 2022).
Some companies in the peer group didn’t fare well in “say on pay” votes in 2023, though. Netflix, got only 29% shareholder approval in this year’s say-on-pay advisory vote after Hastings’ and Sarandos’ compensations both increased from higher stock option awards while the company’s stock price, riding high as COVID-19 lockdowns drove investors to streaming stocks, fell 51% in 2022. Warner Bros. Discovery’s 2022 compensation squeaked by with 51% shareholder approval.
Minutes from UMG’s 2023 annual general meeting in May suggest many of its shareholders also didn’t approve of Grainge’s compensation. UMG’s 2022 compensation was approved by just 59% of shareholders, and the company’s four largest shareholders own 58.1% of outstanding shares, meaning virtually no minority shareholders voted in favor.
UMG shareholders’ votes could be meaningfully different next year. Anna Jones, chairman of the music company’s remuneration committee, said during the annual meeting that in 2024, shareholders will vote on a pay package related to Grainge’s new employment agreement that takes minority shareholders’ concerns from the 2022 annual meeting into consideration. Grainge’s contract lowers his cash compensation, and more than half of his total compensation will come from stock and performance-based stock options.
Other companies in Live Nation’s peer group received near unanimous shareholder approval. SiriusXM’s 2022 executive compensation received 98.5% approval at the company’s annual meeting. Paramount Global’s executive compensation was approved by 96.4% of its shareholders. Endeavor didn’t have a “say on pay” vote in 2023, but a year ago, it’s sizable 2021 compensation packages were approved by 99% of voting shareholders.
As the radio industry came back from pandemic-era doldrums, two iHeartMedia executives — Bob Pittman, CEO, and Richard Bressler, president, CFO and COO — were among the top 10 best-paid executives in the music industry. It was new employment contracts, not iHeartMedia’s financial performance, that put them into the top 10, however. Both executives received performance stock awards — $6.5 million for Pittman and $6 million for Bressler — for signing new four-year employment contracts in 2022. Those shares will be earned over a five-year period based on the performance of the stock’s shareholder return. Neither Pittman nor Bressler received a payout from the annual incentive plan, however: iHeartMedia missed the financial targets that would have paid them millions of dollars apiece. Still, with salaries and other stock awards, Pittman and Bressler received pay packages valued at $16.3 million and $15.5 million, respectively.
Spotify co-founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon once again topped the list of largest stockholdings in public music companies. Ek’s 15.9% stake is worth nearly $4.8 billion while Lorentzon’s 11.2% stake has a market value of nearly $3.4 billion. Both Ek and Lorentzon have benefitted from Spotify’s share price more than doubling so far in 2023. In September 2022, the inaugural Money Makers list had Ek’s stake at $3.6 billion and Lorentzon’s shares at $2.3 billion.
The billionaire club also includes No. 3 HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk, whose 31.8% of outstanding shares are worth $2.54 billion, and No. 4 CTS Eventim CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, whose 38.8% stake — held indirectly through his KPS Foundation non-profit — is worth $2.25 billion. They, too, have benefitted from higher share prices in 2023. Last year, Bang’s stake was worth $1.7 billion and Schulenberg’s shares were valued at $2.1 billion.
These top four shareholders and three others in the top 10 have one important thing in common — they are company founders. At No. 5, Park Jin-young, founder of K-pop company JYP Entertainment, owns a $559 million stake in the label and agency he launched in 1997. Another K-pop mogul, No. 8 Hyunsuk Yang, chairman of YG Entertainment, owns shares worth $199 million in the company he founded in 1996. And No. 9 Denis Ladegaillerie, CEO of 18-year-old French music company Believe, has a 12.5% stake worth $112.7 million.
Live Nation’s Rapino again landed in the top 10 for amassing a stockholding over a lengthy career, during which he has helped significantly increase his company’s value. Rapino, the only CEO Live Nation has ever known, took the helm in 2005 just months before the company was spun off from Clear Channel Entertainment with a market capitalization of $692 million. Since then, Live Nation’s market capitalization has grown at over 20% compound annual growth rate to $19.1 billion. Rapino’s 3.46 million shares represent a 1.5% stake worth $291 million.
Selling a company that one founded is another way onto the list. Scooter Braun, CEO of HYBE America, has a 0.9% stake in HYBE worth $69.8 million. That’s good for No. 10 on the list of executive stock ownership. Braun, HYBE’s second-largest individual shareholder behind chairman Bang, sold his company, Ithaca Holdings — including SB Projects and Big Machine Label Group — to HYBE in 2021 for $1.1 billion.
These rankings are based on publicly available financial statements and filings — such as proxy statements, annual reports and Form 4 filings that reveal employees’ recent stock transactions — that publicly traded companies are required by law to file for transparency to investors. So, the list includes executives from Live Nation but not its largest competitor, the privately held AEG Live.
Some major music companies are excluded because they are not standalone entities. Conglomerates that break out the financial performance of their music companies — e.g., Sony Corp. (owner of Sony Music Entertainment) and Bertelsmann (owner of BMG) — don’t disclose compensation details for heads of record labels and music publishers. Important digital platforms such as Apple Music and Amazon Music are relatively small parts of much larger corporations.
The Money Makers executive compensation table includes only the named executive officers: the CEO, the CFO and the next most highly paid executives. While securities laws vary by country, they generally require public companies to named executive officers’ salary, bonuses, stock awards and stock option grants and the value of benefits such as private airplane access and security.
And while Billboard tracked the compensation of every named executive for publicly traded music companies, the top 10 reflects two facts: The largest companies tend to have the largest pay packages and companies within the United States tend to pay better than companies in other countries.
The list of stock ownership is also taken from public disclosures. The amounts include common stock owned directly or indirectly by the executive. The list does not include former executives — such as former Warner Music Group CEO Stephen Cooper — who are no longer employed at the company and no longer required to disclose stock transactions.
Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, is launching an ambitious new program to improve the lives of touring musicians and cut down on the growing costs traveling artists facing criss-crossing the country.
Today, the concert giant has announced the launch of “On the Road Again,” a new program inspired by legendary singer/songwriter Willie Nelson to support developing artists and their road crews. The program — which has no expiration date and is expected to save artists tens of millions per year — tackles the growing costs of travel expenses and the ability of artists to make money through merch sales.
“Touring is important to artists so whatever we can do to help other artists, I think we should do it. This program will impact thousands of artists this year and help make touring a little bit easier,” said Nelson, who provided his famous hit song On the Road Again as the anthem for the program.
Starting today, all acts playing Live Nation owned and operated clubs, from headliners to support acts will receive a $1,500 gas and travel cash stipend per show to all headliners and support acts, on top of nightly performance compensation.
As part of the program, the company’s clubs will no longer charge merchandise selling fees, allowing artists to keep 100% of merch profits. Many artists rely on merch sales to generate cash for the band while they’re on the road. In January, Ineffable Music Group became the first company to wave merch fees for the companies 10+ venues and showrooms. The decision by Live Nation to waive these fees will likely lead to more cash in the hands of touring artists.
“Touring is a crucial part of an artist’s livelihood, and we understand travel costs take one of the biggest bites out of artists’ nightly profits,” a press release from Live Nation reads. “By helping with these core expenses, we aim to make it easier for artists on the road so they can keep performing to their fans in more cities across the country.”
The On the Road Again also includes financial bonuses to local promoters that help execute at shows as well as tour reps and venue crew members that have worked over 500 hours in 2023. On the Road Again also includes $5 million to Crew Nation, a fund created during the pandemic to support crew across the industry facing unforeseen hardship.
“Delivering for live artists is always our core mission,” said Michael Rapino, President and CEO of Live Nation in a statement to Billboard. “The live music industry is continuing to grow and as it does, we want to do everything we can to support artists at all levels on their touring journey especially the developing artists in clubs. Like Willie says, this is all about making it a little easier for thousands of artists to continue doing what they love: going out and playing for their fans.”
Conpany officials added that On the Road Again is “a true collaboration that draws on insights from Nelson’s years on the road as well as feedback from touring artists, their teams and venue operators to help support day to day life on tour. All benefits from On the Road Again are being provided directly from the venue’s existing earnings, with no increases to consumers.”
For more information on the program and a list of participating venues, visit roadagain.live
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The management division of Kygo‘s Palm Tree Crew has partnered with Live Nation. The new partnership is intended to expand opportunities for Palm Tree Crew Management’s dance/electronic-focused roster, which currently includes Kygo, Dean Lewis, Gryffin, Sam Feldt, Frank Walker, Forester, Thomas Jack and Petey Martin. Palm Tree Crew Management was founded in 2018 by Kygo (born Kyrre […]
Of all Jimmy Buffett‘s accomplishments, from classic hits such as “Margaritaville” and “Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes” to building a billion-dollar travel-and-lifestyle empire, one of the biggest was an unprecedented, decades-long amphitheater deal in which he received a whopping 105% of the gross ticket receipts. This anti-mathematical trick stunned the concert business.
“Early in our careers, we would all whisper about Buffett’s rumored deal. Could he possibly be getting not just the lion’s share of the show profits, but all of the box-office gross? Or in some cases more than the box-office gross? What?” asks Fielding Logan, a Q Prime manager who represents country star Eric Church. “Like a mythical white whale, we’ve been chasing that deal ever since.”
How did Buffett, who died Friday at 76, pull off this legendary deal, which several concert-industry sources confirm was in place through his very last amphitheater tours?
In the late 1990s, when SFX Entertainment bought out promoters around the country, the new concert-business giant offered touring stars huge payments to anchor its summer-amphitheater lineup — and avoid losing them to rival companies. Back then, artists were asking — and receiving — 90% of the net ticket sales after expenses, leaving 10% to the promoter.
Buffett took this trend to a new level on his annual summer runs, which drew more than 3.9 million fans and grossed $215.4 million over 196 shows in the 2000s, according to Billboard Boxscore. “Here’s the thing about Jimmy: 90-10 wasn’t good enough for him. He started demanding 105%! All of the gate plus 5% of the gross,” Barry Fey, the late Denver promoter who competed with SFX at the end of his career, wrote in his 2011 book Backstage Past.
Promoters agreed, knowing they could take a cut of ancillary revenues, like parking, food and ticket service charges and — especially with Buffett’s hard-partying Parrotheads — alcohol. “It worked out for me and the other promoters because of beer sales,” Fey wrote.
In 2000, Clear Channel Communications bought SFX, then spun off the concert-promotion business into a new company known as Live Nation — which maintained his deal, sources say. So, for example, in 2005, when Buffett’s show at Arrowhead Pond (now the Honda Center) in Anaheim, Calif., made $1.13 million at the box office, according to Billboard Boxscore, Buffett would have taken home roughly $1.136 million.
Buffett, who toured through spring 2023, set a financial precedent that younger stars, such as country singer Kenny Chesney, were able to replicate, according to sources. “Jimmy was a key artist in establishing and solidifying the amphitheater model,” says Brock Holt, a longtime Nashville promoter who is now a touring consultant, “and opened the doors for a higher financial return for artists.”
“He was the only one who had the leverage to do it. He toured perennially and did the same amount of business each time. The Parrotheads came out. It was a yearly ritual,” says Randy Phillips, former CEO of promoter AEG Live, and now a consultant for Silver Lake, an investment group whose portfolio includes Madison Square Garden Sports and Endeavor. “He was the anchor to Live Nation’s schedule so it was really critical. He used that to negotiate.”
Buffett’s longtime touring reps, including Live Nation, attorney Joel Katz and agent Howard Rose, did not respond to requests for comment.
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Travis Scott is going back on the road, as he’s announced a new tour almost two years after the Astroworld tragedy.
The UTOPIA rapper broke the news through a post made on Tuesday (August 29th) through his Instagram account. The caption to the post bearing an NSFW image was brief, beginning with “UTOPIA Tour” and relating that tickets sales for the tour would begin at 10 A.M. on Thursday (August 31st) before adding his website and ending off with “Hsbsdbbddbsbsnsjsbdnd”.
The UTOPIA Circus Maximus Tour (inspired by his recent Rome concert) will kick off in the fall, beginning at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina on October 11th. It will then cover most of North America, with the largest headlining date projected to be at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California on November 5th. The tour will conclude at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada on December 29th. Tickets can be purchased at the website, and Live Nation said that $2 from each sale will be donated to Scott’s Cactus Jack Foundation, a nonprofit aimed towards enriching the lives of youths in the Houston area.
One noticeable feature of the tour is that while there are two stops in Texas (Dallas on October 17th and Austin on November 21st), there is no tour date in Houston, Travis Scott’s hometown. Sylvester Turner, the mayor of Houston, had previously issued a statement earlier this month saying that Scott and the promotion team had “booked the Toyota Center for a concert in October.” Mayor Turner also said that the city expected the concert to be like others that have occurred there. “Before (Tuesday’s) announcement, Toyota Center representatives convened meetings with public safety officials and the city’s special events office. They will continue working together to ensure this concert’s safety, not unlike the thousands of concerts held at Toyota Center each year,” it read.
The tour announcement with Live Nation comes almost two years after the tragedy at the Astroworld Festival which occurred in November 2021 where 10 people died after a massive crowd crush. Earlier this year, a grand jury in Houston decided that Scott as well as Live Nation and other organizers would not be held criminally responsible for those deaths at Astroworld. They are still contending with civil lawsuits from over 400 individuals stemming from the incident.
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Live Nation Entertainment continued to profit from the red-hot live music market in the second quarter, beating earnings expectations with $5.6 billion in revenue — up 27.1% year over year and coming in a whopping $680 million over expectations. The company generated earnings per share of $1.02, which was $.40 higher than expected.
The financial results, which marked Live Nation’s strongest second quarter ever, also saw the company’s operating income rise 21% year over year to $386 million this quarter, while adjusted operating income was up 23% to $590 million and operating cash flow came in at $491 million, a 41% increase. The earnings report continues an upward trend at the company, indicating that 2023 will again set a revenue record for the concert promotion giant.
“We believe this is a time on a global basis when live will see incredible growth for years to come,” Live Nation chief executive Michael Rapino said on an earnings call after the company’s financial results were released Thursday (July 27).
The report noted that a record number of fans have attended Live Nation concerts this year, with 117 million tickets sold year-to-date for Live Nation shows — an increase of 20% year-over-year. Ticketmaster clients reported sales of 151 million fee-bearing tickets sold so far this year, with Ticketmaster on track to sell 300 million fee-bearing tickets in 2023. The company also reported a double-digit increase in sponsorship revenue and $4.3 billion in event-related deferred revenue, up 37% over last year, while double-digit attendance growth is expected next quarter.
In terms of venue size, stadiums saw the most growth, with attendance up 28% to 8.0 million fans, led by Europe and Asia Pacific. Arenas saw the second-highest growth rate, up 19% to 10.7 million fans, largely from Canada, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Finally, festivals grew 14% to 4.5 million fans, driven by global demand across all markets.
Capital expenditures at Live Nation totaled $158 million year-to-date, driven by investments in on-site venue enhancement and the expansion of the company’s venue portfolio. The 2023 capital expenditures forecast remains at $450 million, two-thirds of which is allocated for revenue-generating projects.
Despite the rosy earnings report, shares were slightly down Thursday after close to $96.93, marking a drop of less than 1%.
Below is a summary of 2023 Q2 results:
Total revenue: $5.6 billion, up 27% from 2022 Q2
Adjusted operating income: $168.1 million, up 37% from 2022 Q2
Concert revenue: $4.6 billion, up 29% from 2022 Q2
Ticketing revenue: $709.3 million, up 23% from 2022 Q2
Sponsorship and advertising: $302.9 million, up 15% from 2022 Q2
North American concerts: 8,111, up .67% from 2022 Q2
International concerts: 4,130, down 8% from 2022 Q2
North American fans: 18.5 million, up 6% from 2022 Q2
International fans: 18.6 million, up 13% from 2022 Q2
Fee-bearing tickets: 78.9 million, up 10% from 2022 Q2
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Live Nation is treating concertgoers to the ultimate summer promo: four tickets for $80. The Summer’s Live sale starts Wednesday (July 19) and will go until Aug. 1 or until tickets sell out. This year includes a stacked lineup of artists with upcoming tours and concerts.
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Yes, you read that right. You can really get four tickets to any qualifying concerts for only $80 total.
Some of the musicians you can get tickets for are the Jonas Brothers, Jelly Roll, 5 Seconds of Summer, Keith Urban, Maroon 5, Snoop Dog, Big Time Rush, Dominic Fike, Neon Trees, Chelsea Handler, Sam Hunt, Young the Giant, Counting Crows, Rod Stewart and many, many more. The promo isn’t live yet, but you can add it to your calendar here to ensure you get $80 concert tickets the second the deal starts. The last thing you want is to see the dreaded “sold out” message.
Want tickets earlier? Rakuten is offering members the ability to skip the line and purchase tickets during an exclusive presale on Tuesday (July 18). Click here to sign up and learn more or click the buy button below.
Rakuten Summer’s Live Presale
In order to get early access to the deal, you’ll need to sign up for Rakuten, then you’ll be able to take advantage of the four for $80 concert tickets deal.
Live Nation is home to events from concerts, tours and festivals to livestreams as well providing a one-stop destination to all things entertainment.
For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best travel deals, travel necessities and concert earplugs.
Ticketmaster owner Live Nation’s push for legislative ticketing reform earlier this year has actually slowed down progress on those issues, sources tell Billboard, stalling a long-in-the-works bill that addresses nearly identical concerns about the ticketing business.
Last year, even before Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour presale fiasco inspired a flurry of ticketing reform bills, the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) had been working on a wide-reaching piece of legislation in cooperation with Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) to “combat predatory and deceptive ticketing practices,” according to sources close to the issue. The bill included bans on deceptive practices and speculative listings, enforcement of existing anti-bot laws and new tools for countering ticketing fraud. Its most substantive change took aim at the secondary ticketing industry, granting artists and tour promoters sweeping power to reduce ticket scalping by allowing artists to set legally binding rules on how and where their tickets are resold, according to a November 2022 memo reviewed by Billboard. Besides NIVA, Universal Music Group, Wasserman Music, Dice and See Tickets were all among the broad coalition of music companies supporting the effort under the coalition name Fix the Tix.
But, for months, the bill has languished — even as attention around ticketing has grown considerably following a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in January on competition within the ticketing industry. That’s because of increased lobbying by pro-scalper groups and a decision in February, by Ticketmaster owner Live Nation, to unveil the FAIR Ticketing Act, a five-point proposal with a list of legislative fixes — and the recommendations were very similar to the fixes NIVA had been quietly lobbying for.
With NIVA representing thousands of independent venues and Live Nation representing its huge corporate portfolio, the two entities often have opposing agendas, and some NIVA members theorized that Live Nation was attempting to sabotage their bill. Worried that supporting a similar proposal would look like politicians were rewarding Ticketmaster at a time when outrage at the company was growing, momentum around the NIVA bill waned. Klobuchar’s office, which had planned to announce a bi-partisan bill with Cornyn in the spring, delayed its announcement amid new concerns that the bill might strengthen Ticketmaster, sources close to both Live Nation and NIVA tell Billboard. They add that the FAIR Ticketing Act was neither a clone of the proposed NIVA bill nor a poison pill.
“Live Nation and Ticketmaster have been the target of the Senate since the two companies merged in 2010,” says one NIVA member speaking on the condition of anonymity. “There’s an appetite in D.C. to punish Ticketmaster, but the reality is that there’s no way to pass a law that would both punish Ticketmaster and bring about the types of reforms needed to clean up the ticketing business.”
Case in point: On April 28, Klobuchar’s office introduced legislation with Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) that would have banned ticketing companies like Ticketmaster from signing venue clients to long-term exclusive contracts. The proposal has faced opposition from some members of NIVA, who argued it would hurt small venues that relied on the payments from those contracts, and that fans would likely have to make up for the loss through higher ticket prices. A representative for Live Nation previously told Billboard the proposal wouldn’t “have a material impact on our business as we historically add clients in competitive marketplaces.”
As for similarities between the NIVA-backed bill and Live Nation’s proposal, “It’s not surprising that the two groups that spent the last six months thinking about legislative fixes [to] the same issue came up with similar solutions,” said one source close to Live Nation, noting that much of the friction between NIVA and Ticketmaster has subsided.
Ticketmaster officials appear to have gotten the message and have toned down the rhetoric around their political efforts. Many of the campaign efforts have been picked up by NIVA, which successfully lobbied for $15 billion in federal aid for venues negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic in 2021. Now, sources say, the Fix the Tix bill is expected to be proposed in the next couple of weeks.
Leading the charge at NIVA is the organization’s executive director, Stephen Parker. A longtime D.C. insider who worked with Sen. Tim Kaine when he was the governor of Virginia, Parker spent a decade at the bipartisan National Governors Association and has served on the board of the Country Music Association.
Parker confirmed to Billboard that neither Live Nation nor Ticketmaster has signed on as official supporters of the Fix the Tix coalition, while he and others are being extra cautious not to make their legislative package a referendum on Ticketmaster. Still, the Live Nation-owned company will play an outsized role in the Fix the Tix plan, as opponents are getting ready to paint the proposal as a major power shift to Ticketmaster and away from scalpers.
The Fix the Tix proposal would “make it illegal for resellers, professional ticket brokers, and ticket platforms to violate the artists’ and venues’ ticket terms and conditions, including restrictions that prohibit price gouging of fans through the resale of tickets above face value,” according to an early draft obtained by Billboard. That means artists, venues, or promoters could place ceilings on how much tickets are allowed to be marked up or restrict ticket resale until after all primary tickets have been sold. Since Ticketmaster and AEG are the only two companies on the market with technology that can track tickets after they’re sold to see if they are being resold and for how much, however, critics say this sort of law would create an even greater dependence on their services.
That’s far more power than Ticketmaster should have, says John Breyault, vp of public policy at the National Consumers League and a founding board member of the Fan Freedom Project, an advocacy group fighting restrictions on resale that receives funding from StubHub and Vivid Seats. “Ticketmaster does not want to eliminate resale; they want to control resale,” Breyault says. The current proposals by Ticketmaster and NIVA could bankrupt major secondary resale sites, especially if most tours decided to make their tickets non-transferable. Once Live Nation “got rid of its competitors,” Breyault says the company could convince the artist it works with to lighten up on ticket transferability and effectively “own the resale market.”
To a degree, Fix the Tix is a response to the dozens of pieces of pro-scalping legislation and lobbying that have been proposed at the state and federal levels over the past six months. This Fix the Tix bill would seek to overrule any state-level legislation that exists; there are currently over a dozen states with laws that outlaw restrictions on ticket transferability, meaning anyone can resell tickets at any price they want.Others, like Rep. Bill Pascrell’s (D-NJ) BOSS and SWIFT Act — which Breyault supports and the Fix the Tix coalition opposes — would permanently legalize scalping by making it illegal for ticketing companies to restrict ticket transferability.
Last year, the American Economic Liberties Project, which is funded by Pierre Omidyar — former chairman of eBay and owner of Ticketmaster rival StubHub — announced the “Break Up Ticketmaster,” campaign, aimed at pressuring the DOJ “to investigate and unwind the 2010 Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger,” according to the group’s website.
Opponents of scalping say the BOSS Act would make it impossible for artists to keep their tickets off secondary sites and would allow all scalping sites to sell any tickets they wanted without restriction. Proponents, however, believe that outcome is better for fans than allowing Live Nation and the artists it works with to make these decisions.
While the scalpers and the concert promoters are far apart on most issues, the rival bills do share consensus on a number of practices in ticketing that have long drawn the ire of fans. Those include speculative ticket listing, drip pricing and misleading marketing campaigns — all of which would be banned by both NIVA’s proposal and the BOSS and Swift Act.
Editor’s note: Billboard has updated this story to more accurately describe the work performed by the American Economic Liberties Project.
Doja Cat will embark on her first North American arena tour this fall with The Scarlet Tour, Live Nation announced Friday (June 23).
The 24-date tour will kick off on Halloween, Oct. 31, at San Francisco’s Chase Center and hit major U.S. cities before wrapping Dec. 13 at Chicago’s United Center. Special guests Ice Spice and Doechii will also join select dates.
The Scarlet Tour will utilize advance registration to make sure more tickets get into the hands of fans directly by filtering out bots and scalpers from the ticket purchase process. Fans can register now through Sunday, June 25, at 10 p.m. PT here. Once registration closes, they’ll be randomly selected to receive a code that gives them access to the pre-sales that start Wednesday, June 28. A limited number of tickets will be available during general on-sale that starts next Friday, June 30, at 10 a.m. local time at Ticketmaster.com while supplies last.
The “Attention” singer’s tour will also offer a variety of VIP packages and experiences for fans. Packages vary but may include premium tickets, a photo opportunity with one’s party in front of the stage, pre-show VIP Lounge access, specially designed VIP gift items and more. For more information, visit vipnation.com.
See The Scarlet Tour’s dates below.
Oct. 31 — San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center *Nov. 2 — Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena *Nov. 3 — Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena * Nov. 5 — San Diego, CA @ Viejas Arena * Nov. 6 — Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center *Nov. 8 — Phoenix, AZ @ Footprint Center *Nov. 10 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena *Nov. 13 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center *Nov. 15 — Houston, TX @ Toyota Center *Nov. 16 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center * Nov. 19 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena * Nov. 21 — Miami, FL @ Kaseya Center # Nov. 24 — Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena * Nov. 26 — Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center #Nov. 27 — Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena #Nov. 29 — Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center # Nov. 30 — Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center #Dec. 2 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden # Dec. 4 — Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena # Dec. 7 — Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center #Dec. 8 — Omaha, NE @ CHI Health Center #Dec. 10 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena # Dec. 11 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena #Dec. 13 — Chicago, IL @ United Center #
* with Doechii# with Ice Spice
BMI’s recent rate court victory substantially increasing songwriters and publishers’ royalties for live events will be appealed, according to a notice filed by the North American Concert Promoters Association on Wednesday (June 21).
In May, Southern District of New York Judge Louis Stanton awarded the performance rights organization a 138% increase in rate to 0.5% of the event’s “revenue” with an expanded definition of the term to include tickets sold directly onto the secondary market, servicing fees received by the promoters and revenues from box suites and VIP packages. That 0.5% was up from what BMI said was a blended rate of 0.21%, based on 0.3% interim rate for venues that held less than 10,000 seats; and the interim 0.15% for venues that held more than 10,000 during the period of 2018-2022.
At that time, Stanton also set rates for the retroactive period of 2013-2017, with the previously used, less expansive “revenue” definition that only reflected earnings directly from the face value of primary market ticket sales. Those rates ranged from .08% of revenue for venues of up to 2,500 seats to 0.15% for venues with 10,000 or more seats.
On Tuesday, however, lawyers for the concert trade group filed a notice with the Southern District of intent to appeal that decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, according to the filing submitted by Weil, Gotshal & Manges, the law firm representing the concert promoters. The notice to appeal could mean that the group will appeal; or it could be a procedural move that keeps open the option to appeal. The concert trade group had 30 days to file the appeal notice from the last day in court— a few weeks back on a BMI motion regarding interest on whatever fees might be owed from the 2018-2022 term covered by the newly set rates for that period.
In a statement BMI said the concert industry has long fought against rate increases for songwriters.
“Given Live Nation, AEG and [the North American Concert Promoters Association’s] bizarre position throughout trial that concertgoers attend concerts for the experience of the staging, videos and light shows, as opposed to the actual songs and music being performed, their appeal was not a surprise to BMI,” BMI president and CEO Mike O’Neill said in a statement. “For decades, the live concert industry has fought to keep rates suppressed. And even now, when they are making more money than ever, in more ways than ever, they are determined to deny songwriters and composers the fair value of their work, despite the fact that without their contributions, a concert wouldn’t even be possible. BMI will continue to fight on behalf of our affiliates, the creators of the music that is the very backbone of the live concert industry, to prevent that outcome.”
The concert promoters did not. respond to a request for comment at time of publishing. In May, an AEG spokesperson said “AEG Presents and NACPA were defending performing artists, who bear the costs of BMI fees, in this litigation.” Concert promoters have long billed the performing artist for performance rights organizations’ royalty fees.