Tracking the Live Music Business: A Special Report

It was another blockbuster year for the live music industry. After Variety Intelligence Platform first issued this “Peak Performance” report in October 2023 that chronicled the concert boom, we have now updated a slew of pages with fresh year end data to give a more complete sense of what a massive opportunity the past 12 months have been for both the artists and the companies producing these experiences.

The pent up demand has created a big opening for both the artists and the companies producing these experiences, such as Live Nation. Even as the world’s economies grapple with geopolitical turmoil and suppressed economic growth, music fans continue to fill up the world’s largest stadiums and arenas, driving up record revenue for the live music business.

To dig deeper to understand just what and who is driving this surge in live music consumption, Variety Intelligence Platform partnered with UTA IQ to conduct an online survey of over 4,000 U.S. consumers and 1,500 live musicgoers ages 15 to 69 to get a better sense of current and future demand for the concert business, and we present those findings in our new report, “Peak Performance.” When thinking about the year in live music, the headlines have all highlighted the stunning summer of Beyoncé and Taylor Swift.

While the two female superstars did in fact drive a sizable portion of the business this year, our survey found that they were just part of a much larger and complex story. From understanding the audience, making sense of soaring ticket prices, assessing the growing appetite for music tourism and venue preferences of consumers, our report will take you through every facet of the live entertainment industry.

As ticket prices ratchet higher and economic conditions put pressure on discretionary spending, the main question is, Can the concert business maintain its strength and momentum in the years to come? Also in this report….