Live nation
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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and many liberal Democrats have two things in common, and perhaps only two: They hate the way concert and sports ticket sales work — specifically the company selling most of them, Ticketmaster — and they love Taylor Swift. Or, at least, they acknowledge that ingratiating themselves to Swift’s fan army as she sells out stadiums in their states is an efficient way to build up constituent support.
Over the past couple of months, Cruz, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Massachusetts Sen. John Velis (D-Hampden and Hampshire) and others have presented a variety of bills intended to reform the ticket-selling business, invoking Swift and fans’ displeasure with Ticketmaster’s Eras Tour on-sale fiasco in November, when more than 100,000 fans were kicked out of the online sale queue. Following a Senate subcommittee hearing focused on Ticketmaster in January, politicians clearly see positioning themselves against the ticketing giant and attaching themselves to Swift’s millions of passionate fans as a winning combination. They’re even naming their bills after her.
“There’s a growing awareness of the problem, and the Taylor Swift concert debacle played a part in focusing a lot of attention on the issue,” Cruz tells Billboard, adding that his 12-year-old daughter recently attended an Eras Tour show.
That debacle, Ticketmaster declared at the time, was due to unprecedented levels of illegal bots attacking the online sale. But that claim did little to satisfy fans and politicians, who during a January Senate hearing instead chose to focus on monopolistic behavior by Ticketmaster and its owner, promoter Live Nation, often referencing Swift lyrics between swipes at the company. Since then, the rhetoric has changed slightly. While politicians continue to scrutinize the concert giant — Klobuchar says the Department of Justice is investigating Live Nation and Ticketmaster for possible violations of their 2010 consent decree — senators and congresspeople at federal and state levels are proposing solutions to potentially more manageable issues.
In Massachusetts, Velis and his co-sponsor, Rep. Dan Carey (D-Easthampton), have introduced what they nicknamed the “Taylor Swift bill,” which aims to abolish hidden ticket fees and require sellers such as Ticketmaster and SeatGeek to disclose service charges and costs upfront. A similar law already exists in New York state, and Live Nation actually supports the issue — including it in the company’s own proposed legislation outline. “Taylor Swift obviously sells out every concert,” Velis says, “but she’s also got this support ecosystem that lends itself to, ‘If you want to do something about this, why not use something that’s absolutely going to get the public’s attention?’”
But at a time when opposing Ticketmaster is good politics, one source in touring suggested politicians do not want to be seen aligning with the corporate giant. That political strategy may even be holding back legislation on other subjects where there’s popular consensus. Other bills, like the one Klobuchar and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced in April, limit exclusive deals with venues and therefore more directly target Ticketmaster.
Velis said he and Carey plan to meet with Ticketmaster executives in the coming weeks to discuss their bill. “The more you can firm up a piece of legislation to get rid of unintended consequences, you’re better off,” Velis says. “That being said, as it relates to just telling a consumer, ‘This is what you’re going to spend if you want to go to this concert’ — I can’t think of anything remotely close to approaching how someone can convince me that’s not a good idea.”
To help wade through the many different pro-Swift, Ticketmaster-targeting bills out there, here’s a rundown of what they each intend to achieve — and what each legislator gets out of sponsoring them:
Unlocking Tickets Markets Act, in the U.S. Senate
Gloria Trevi will not renew her contract with Universal Music Latino after 15 years with the label, Billboard Español can exclusively report.
The Mexican superstar will now be an independent artist through her own company, Great Talent Records, Trevi’s publicist, Mayna Nevarez, confirmed. She has also signed a new distribution deal with Tango, and another one with ByteDance’s SoundOn for TikTok.
Furthermore, she has an agreement with Live Nation for an upcoming U.S. tour.
“This new stage is very exciting for me,” Trevi said in a statement to Billboard Español. “With our label, I will be able to have more investment, open new markets and work with dream collaborations. I love being the head of my own label now, Great Talent Records.”
On Friday (June 16), Trevi’s fans will be able to hear her first independent release, “Medusa,” a techno dance beat track produced by Dabruk, Manu Chalud and Alcover that will be available on all digital platforms.
During her years with Universal Music Latino, Trevi, known for classics like “Pelo suelto” and “Dr. Psiquiatra”, reached No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Latin Albums chart with Gloria (2011), El Amor (2015), Inmortal (2016) and Versus (2017), the latter a joint album with Alejandra Guzmán.
Prior to Universal Music Latino, Trevi was previously with Sony BMG Mexico (1989-2004) and Univision (2005-2008).
The news of Trevi’s departure from Universal comes amid a wave of other major Latin music artists switching labels. On Wednesday (June 14), Billboard exclusively reported that Spaniard star Alejandro Sanz left Universal and joined Sony Music. And in April, Anitta and Warner Music Group announced their separation; the Brazilian star subsequently signed with Republic Records and will work closely with Universal Music Latino.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is hosting executives from Live Nation, Airbnb and other companies at the White House on Thursday to highlight his administration’s push to end so-called junk fees that surprise consumers. Biden prioritized the effort to combat surprise or undisclosed fees in his State of the Union address and has called […]
The concert travel business, once a reliably modest slice of the estimated global $25 billion concert industry, is being primed as a potential growth category as promoters of all sizes look for new revenue sources to offset rising costs.
As the pandemic has receded and the demand for live entertainment has blossomed, inflation and scarcity have driven up expenses across the board, and the resulting rise in ticket prices is unlikely to cool soon — a recent report from the American Bus Association cited a driver shortage as part of the reason for higher costs and concluded another 7,300 drivers would need to be added to the 28,000 tour bus drivers now working just to meet current demand.
With already tight margins squeezed further, concert promoters are looking for new revenue streams. “Many are seeing the economic impact their events create within their community and realize they’re not participating in that upside, despite taking on the bulk of the risk with their event,” explains Daren Libonati, co-founder of Las Vegas-based Fuse Technologies, which partners with concert promoters to source and sell accommodations and VIP upgrades for their events.
Libonati, a longtime Vegas event veteran who has served as an executive at both MGM and the University of Nevada Las Vegas, wants to help music event organizers unlock “travel per caps,” a twist on the phrase “per caps,” the concert business measurement of the spending on food and beverage per patron at an event. Tapping into travel spending could unlock major value. A March study commissioned by Live Nation found that its marquee Lollapalooza festival generated $270 million for Chicago last year, with fans spending $48.5 million on hotels and over $80 million on food and beverage.
Libonati is just one of a half dozen entrepreneurs who believe that event producers who draw fans from around the world to festivals and concerts should share in the hotel and hospitality revenue those fans generate. These entrepreneurs include Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, whose company announced a new travel and hospitality firm, Vibee, in April, which is producing a premium cruise based on Electric Daisy Carnival called EDSea and was behind a Resorts World hotel takeover during the flagship dance festival in May. They’re bringing new ideas to market just as two of the biggest players in concert travel have either gone bankrupt or pulled out of the music travel industry.
Pre-pandemic, three types of businesses were involved in concert travel: destination festivals, mostly in Mexico and the Caribbean; high-end packaging as an add-on for domestic events; and music-driven cruises.
Demand for music-driven cruises has been stronger than prior to the pandemic, but those packages are difficult for promoters to make substantial margins on because of the high fixed costs of chartering vessels and hiring crews, as well as the pressure to keep prices low against competing cruise lines.Hotels have lower fixed costs than cruises and come with different expectations: Customers are used to paying a premium for hotel inventory during periods of high demand. That was what helped drive the success of two of the biggest concert travel companies during much of the last two decades, CID Entertainment and Pollen.
CID focused on creating destination events like Luke Bryan’s long-running Crash My Playa at Riviera Cancun in Mexico, as well as travel packages similar to those it put together for the Grateful Dead’s 2015 Fare Thee Well concerts in San Francisco and Chicago. Pollen helped expand hospitality and VIP offerings for events like Bestival, a four-day event held in the south of England.
Pollen, founded in 2014, raised over $200 million from venture capital investors. But the pandemic stalled business, and a series of last-minute cancellations — including a January 2022 J Balvin event in Cancun — cost the company dearly. By October 2022 Pollen had collapsed, owing nearly $100 million in debt.CID Entertainment, launched by Dan Berkowitz in 2007 and purchased by a private equity group in 2016, was merged with a number of sports travel companies in 2020 and eventually sold to entertainment conglomerate Endeavor, where it operates as OnLocation and focuses mainly on big-ticket sporting events like the Super Bowl.
With CID Entertainment and Pollen out, companies like 100x, which Berkowitz launched earlier this year, and Fuse see a gap in the market they can fill. Fuse has been racing to expand its white-label software systems, which make it easy to tack partner hotels and add-on VIP events to a festival’s website for sale, divide revenue and handle credential management and verification through an integration with the ticketing company. The revenue lift from packaging and bundling these items with ticket purchases would then be split with promoters.
Live Nation has made the fastest inroads into the space with Vibee. It launched as both a facilitator of high-end destination events, like the Nov. 9-12 Chasing Sunsets festival in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, headlined by Tiësto with prices (tickets and hotel included) ranging from $999 to $3,259, and an entrant into the hospitality business for Live Nation’s traditional headline concerts, offering hotel packages paired with VIP upgrades for U2’s U2:UV Achtung Baby shows at the MSG Sphere in Las Vegas. Those packages have already yielded a $20 million boost to revenue from ticket sales for Live Nation and its partners at the Sphere and the Venetian hotel, Rapino explained during a recent investor earnings call.“Vibee is a product where we looked at OnLocation and CID and others that were doing it,” Rapino said. “The challenge these other companies have is the expensive part: the rights. We don’t have that problem.” He added, “These are our rights. We can do it in-house. We don’t have to outsource it and split any of that upside with anyone else but our own businesses.”
That leaves the rest of the sector competing for non-Live Nation events, which by some estimates equals 40% to 50% of the business and billions of dollars in potential revenue. Berkowitz has not yet revealed his plans or business strategy for 100x, while Libonati says that for now, Fuse plans to focus on creating add-on packages for existing events.
Can either firm make enough money to survive without also operating as an event promoter? It will take the right combination of scale and volume, but given the rebound in travel spending across the board — and engagement of dedicated fans — it seems possible.
Danny Robson, co-founder of management firm Leisurely, believes the answer is yes if the artist controls the event. Robson’s client Rüfüs Du Sol sold an impressive 8,000 tickets for the Australian EDM trio’s Sundream festival — a four-day event in San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico, where prices ranged from $700 to $2,000 per person — without a promoter or any outside help.
“The same changes in the business that make destination events lucrative for promoters,” Robson says, “also make these types of events profitable for artists interested in cutting out the middleman.”
As 2023 heads into summer, multiple signs point to a healthy and growing live music business for the rest of the year. In recent weeks, executives from the publicly traded concert promotion and ticketing companies have signaled that surging consumer demand won’t slow down, and there will be enough tours to satiate music fans’ appetite for live events.
Demand has been strong “and is showing no signs of letting up,” said Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino during the company’s May 4 earnings call. Live Nation expects to sell more than 600 million tickets in 2023, up from 550 million in 2022. To date, the concert promoter has sold more than 100 million tickets to Live Nation events, a 20% increase from the prior-year period, and expects to host a record number of fans in 2023.
Vivid Seats, the publicly traded secondary ticketing marketplace, shares Live Nation’s sentiment. “Consumers continued to crave live experiences in the first quarter,” said CEO Stan Chia during a May 9 earnings call, “and we believe this trend will continue for many years.” Vivid Seats does business primarily in the U.S. while German promoter and ticketing provider CTS Eventim focuses on Europe. “Both in Germany and internationally, we are pursuing organic growth and anticipate that our business performance will continue on its successful course,” said CTS Eventim CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg in the quarterly results released May 24 that reiterated the positive outlook in its 2022 annual report of “moderately higher earnings” for the live entertainment segment 2023.
The concert business is meeting — and perhaps surpassing — some lofty expectations. In 2022, as the concert business exited the pandemic, the widespread belief was that pent-up demand for in-person experiences would drive the concert business beyond pre-pandemic levels. That turned out to be true. Concert promoter Live Nation posted record revenue of $6.2 billion in the third quarter that was 67% above the same period in 2019. What’s more, the volume of fans returning to concert venues was augmented by an unmatched willingness to absorb higher prices. Frenzied demand — and sky-high prices on the secondary market — for tours by Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Bruce Springsteen have showed A-list artists have yet to find their ceiling on prices.
Concert promoters have posted strong quarterly earnings that fit their narratives. Live Nation’s first-quarter revenue was up 71% to $3.1 billion. CTS Eventim’s online ticket sales increased 58% to 18 million as consolidated revenue improved 163% to 366.2 million euros ($393 million). At Vivid Seats, which also does business in major sports such as baseball and basketball, first quarter revenue grew 23.2% to $161 million and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization doubled to $42.4 million.
Investors absorb past earnings history while figuring out what to expect in the future, and according to JP Morgan analyst David Karnovky they often ask two questions about Live Nation: First, is there enough supply to meet growing, healthy demand? Yes, Live Nation president and CFO Joe Berchtold said at JP Morgan’s Global Technology, Media and Communications conference on Tuesday. That’s because global streaming platforms such as Spotify and social media apps like Instagram and TikTok allow artists to build global followings in ways that weren’t previously possible, he explained. K-pop and other up-and-coming genres of music “that maybe once were regional are now going global,” he said, and artists that used to sell out mid-sized venues are now selling out stadiums. “So, you’re seeing that supply continue to build.”
The second thing investors want to know is how demand will respond during a softer economy. Live Nation closely follows the indicators — such as on-sales show closings — Berchtold said, “but we’re not seeing anything that gives us pause.” Separately, Berchtold noted that Live Nation’s research indicates getting back to concerts are one of fans’ top priorities after the pandemic and will be “one of the last things they’re going to cut back on.”
Vivid Seats CFO Lawrence Fey also addressed the possibility of an economic downturn — a scenario becoming increasingly likely in the U.S. should Congress fail to find a compromise to raise the debt ceiling by early June. “[T]here’s a lot of chatter and concern out there” that demand will weaken “in the not-too-distant future,” said Fey, “but it continues to be the case that we’re seeing very robust demand across our event categories [and] across price points.” Beyond the consistently strong demand, Vivid Seats has “been pleasantly surprised by the supply calendar,” particularly a concert schedule that includes recently announced tours by Drake and Aerosmith, he added, “and [that] gives us optimism.”
Veeps, the Live Nation-owned streaming platform has named Eileen Mercolino as its first chief marketing officer. She joins Veeps most recently from SPIN where she served as CMO and has held a number of senior marketing and partnership roles at leading entertainment brands including The Walt Disney company, festival producer Danny Wimmer Presents, Hard Rock […]
It was a good week for music stocks overall and an even better week for concert promoters, who made the biggest gains on the Billboard Global Music Index ahead of the blockbuster summer touring season.
The index rose 4.4% to 1,256.06 this week, with 15 of the 21 stocks ending in positive territory. It was led by concert promoter Madison Square Garden Entertainment’s (MSGE) 19.4% gain amidst multiple news items that influenced the share price. On Wednesday (May 17), Guggenheim initiated coverage of MSGE with a buy rating, while a report claimed that MSG Entertainment may sell the theater at Madison Square Garden for about $1 billion. On Thursday, the company released first-quarter results that showed a 4% increase in revenue to $201 million, though the company’s executives did not comment on the report during Thursday’s earnings call.
Shares of German promoter CTS Eventim also made big gains, rising 9.2% to 64.30 euros ($68.61). On Thursday, the company’s first-quarter earnings showed a 163% revenue jump to 366.2 million euros ($396 million) — beating pre-pandemic levels from the first quarter of 2019 by 29.5%. Year-to-date, CTS Eventim has sold 18 million tickets online, a 58% increase from the prior-year period. Meanwhile, Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, improved 8.4% to $84.73 and is now up 21.5% year to date. Sphere Entertainment Co., which spun off MSG Entertainment in April, improved 6.1% to $23.61.
The S&P 500 improved 1.6% to 4,191.98 and the Nasdaq composite rose 3% to 12,657.90. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index was unchanged at 7,756.87, while South Korea’s KOSPI composite index rose 2.5% to 2,537.79.
K-pop companies continued their hot streak this week. Two companies not in the Billboard Global Music Index, JYP Entertainment and YG Entertainment, gained 22.7% and 17.8%, respectively. Year-to-date, shares of JYP Entertainment, home to Stray Kids and Twice, have gained 70.6%. Shares of YG Entertainment, whose roster includes recent Coachella headliner Blackpink, are up 109.8% in 2023. Shares of HYBE dropped slightly by 0.4% but have gained 62% year to date. Likewise, shares of SM Entertainment gained only 1.1% this week but have grown 40% this year.
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In case you might have forgotten, 50 Cent is first and foremost a rapper. Although lately he’s gotten more attention for his behind the scene moves in television and his trolling on social media, the Queens native is hitting the road for a global tour that includes Busta Rhymes and Jeremih as well as special guests.
Fitty’s THE FINAL LAP TOUR 2023 will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of his landmark album Get Rich Or Die Tryin‘. The Dungeon Dragon Busta Rhymes will be performing all the dates while R&B singer Jeremih will also be in attendance at all the North American stops.
Produced by Live Nation and presented by Sire Spirits, The Final Lap Tour will hits citiies like Cleveland, Virginia Beach, Charlotte and Brooklyn stateside before heading overseas and arriving in locations like Berlin, Zurich and Oslo. Also, additional markets will be added in the following months.
The Final Lap Tour kicks off on Friday, July 21 at the Maverik Center in Salt Lake City, UT and will wrap its stateside leg at the Pine Knob Music Theatre in Detroit on Sunday, September 17. From there, the internation portion starts on Thursday, September 28 at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, Netherlands and will wrap up on Sunday, Nov 12 at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham, England.
Of course, 50 Cent’s own Sire Spirits brands, Branson Cognac and Le Chemin du Roi Champagne, will be available throghout the tour, local laws permitting.
As for tickets:
North American Tickets: Verified Fan will be used for The Final Lap Tour to ensure more tickets get into the hands of fans. Fans in North America can register now through Sunday, May 7th at 11:59 PM ET for the Verified Fan presale CLICK HERE. Fans who are selected to receive an access code will be able to participate in the Verified Fan presale starting Wednesday, May 10th. Limited tickets will be sold during a general on sale starting Friday, May 12th at 10am local time at Ticketmaster.com while supplies last.
VIP Tickets: Fans can also access VIP Packages which may include premium tickets, VIP parking and exclusive access to a pre-show lounge, special entry, Sire Spirits bottle signings, access to afterparty events, and more. For VIP Package information, visit vipnation.com and for all other tour and ticket information, visit livenation.com.
European Tickets: Tickets will be available starting with local presales on Wednesday, May 10th at 10am local time and available to the general public on Friday, May 12th at 10am local time on 50Cent.com.
Check out all the dates of the tour below.
THE FINAL LAP TOUR 2023 – NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES:
Fri Jul 21 – Salt Lake City, UT – Maverik Center
Sun Jul 23 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena
Tue Jul 25 – St. Louis, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – STL
Thu Jul 27 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center
Fri Jul 28 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
Sat Jul 29 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center
Mon Jul 31 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage
Wed Aug 02 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
Thu Aug 03 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center
Sat Aug 05 – Darien Center, NY – Darien Lake Amphitheater
Sun Aug 06 – Cleveland, OH – Blossom Music Center
Tue Aug 08 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live
Wed Aug 09 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center
Fri Aug 11 – Hartford, CT – XFINITY Theatre
Sat Aug 12 – Camden, NJ – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
Sun Aug 13 – Virginia Beach, VA – Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach
Tue Aug 15 – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek
Wed Aug 16 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion
Thu Aug 17 – Atlanta, GA – Lakewood Amphitheatre
Sat Aug 19 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
Sun Aug 20 – West Palm Beach, FL – iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
Tue Aug 22 – Tuscaloosa, AL – Tuscaloosa Amphitheater
Thu Aug 24 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center
Fri Aug 25 – Dallas, TX – Dos Equis Pavilion
Sun Aug 27 – Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheater
Tue Aug 29 – Phoenix, AZ – Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
Wed Aug 30 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com Arena
Thu Aug 31 – Chula Vista, CA – North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
Sat Sep 02 – Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre
Mon Sep 04 – Sacramento, CA – Golden 1 Center
Wed Sep 06 – Ridgefield, WA – RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater
Thu Sep 07 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
Fri Sep 08 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
Sun Sep 10 – Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome
Mon Sep 11 – Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place
Wed Sep 13 – Winnipeg, MB – Canada Life Centre
Fri Sep 15 – St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
Sat Sep 16 – Chicago, IL – United Center
Sun Sep 17 – Detroit, MI – Pine Knob Music Theatre
THE FINAL LAP TOUR 2023 – EUROPEAN TOUR DATES:
Thu Sep 28 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Ziggo Dome
Fri Sep 29 – Hamburg, Germany – Barclays Arena
Sat Sep 30 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Royal Arena
Wed Oct 4 – Oslo, Norway – Spektrum*
Thu Oct 5 – Trondheim, Norway – Spektrum*
Sat Oct 07 – Stockholm, Sweden – Avicii Arena
Mon Oct 09 – Riga, Latvia – Arena Riga*
Wed Oct 11 – Lodz Poland – Atlas Arena
Sat Oct 14 – Berlin, Germany – Mercedes-Benz Arena
Sun Oct 15 – Oberhausen, Germany – Rudolf-Weber-Arena
Fri Oct 20 – Zurich, Switzerland – Hallenstadion
Sat Oct 21 – Nice, France – Palais Nikaia
Sun Oct 22 – Milan, Italy – Mediolanum Forum
Tue Oct 24 – Munich, Germany – Olympiahalle
Wed Oct 25 – Mannheim, Germany – SAP Arena
Thu Oct 26 – Brussels, Belgium – Forest National
Sat Oct 28 – Prague, Czech Republic – O2 Arena
Tue Oct 31 – Strasbourg, France – Zenith
Thu Nov 02 – Nantes, France – Zenith
Fri Nov 03 – Paris, France – La Defense Arena
Mon Nov 06 – Dublin, Ireland – 3Arena
Thu Nov 09 – Glasgow, Scotland – OVO Hydro
Fri Nov 10 – Manchester, England – AO Arena
Sat Nov 11 – London, England – The O2
Sun Nov 12 – Birmingham, England – Resorts World Arena
*NOT A LIVE NATION DATE
Live Nation announced the return of Concert Week on Thursday morning (May 4), the $25 all-in ticket deal that will cover more than 3,800 shows across North America this year. The week-long annual program will offer limited-time low-dough tickets specials for shows by more than 300 acts, including gigs by Janet Jackson, Fall Out Boy, Don Toliver, Maroon 5, Shania Twain, Snoop Dogg and more.
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Between May 10-16, fans can click here to see the full list of available shows, filtered by the events, venues or artists; on the site fans can also search for the closest city with a participating gig. Tickets will be available beginning with Verizon and Rakuten presales, with the both kicking off on May 9 at 10 a.m. ET through 11:59 p.m. local time.
Among the lengthy list of other acts participating in Concert Week are: 5 Seconds of Summer, The Offspring, Garbage and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, the Outlaw Music Festival, Pantera, Hayley Kiyoko, Ghost, P!nk, Pepe Aguilar, Pentatonix, Avenged Sevenfold, Bebe Rexha, Beck & Phoenix, Hunter Hayes, Incubus, Jason Aldean, Rob Zombie & Alice Cooper, Rod Stewart, Boy George & Culture Club, Jelly Roll, Keith Urban, Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa, Santana, Sam Hunt, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Brooks & Dunn, Charlie Puth, Def Leppard & Motley Crue, LL Cool J, Luke Bryan, Weezer, The Smashing Pumpkins, Maneskin, Louis Tomlinson, Miranda Lambert, Wizkid, Wu-Tang Clan and Nas and more.
Concert Week ticket will be available on a limited-time, while supplies last basis, with tickets including all fees upfront in the $25 cost; any taxes will be added at checkout as applicable in each city, state or venue. Click here to see the full list of participating events.
Live Nation chief executive Michael Rapino was in Washington D.C. over the weekend, hosting his own party around the White Correspondents Dinner on Saturday.
The Axios After Hours Presented by Live Nation party on Saturday was held at the National Building Museum with media partner Axios after the White House Correspondents dinner ended and included a private performance from rising country star Lainey Wilson.
Rapino, who received $139 million in salary and stocks last year, according to a SEC fillings, isn’t a major political donor and hasn’t appeared at a major congressional hearing in a decade. But with the Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster coming under fire from lawmakers in recent years over long-standing concerns about anti-competitor business practices and the Taylor Swift ticketing crash in November, Rapino’s presence capped off a frenzied lobbying effort over the last two years to build a political base for the company.
Financially, Live Nation had its best year ever in 2022, posting a record $16.7 in revenue last year and $732 million in income. But the growing music conglomerate has largely been politically inactive in the years following its 2010 merger with Ticketmaster.
That changed in 2019 when the Department of Justice recommended extending a consent degree governing the 2010 merger. Last election cycle, Live Nation spent $1.4 million lobbying Congress, more than it has ever spent before. That spending is expected to continue unabridged in 2023 as Live Nation continues to lobby for ticketing reform legislation to curb illegal scalping activities, floating its own FAIR ticketing proposal as as a possible model for legislation.