As 2023 draws to a close, we take the opportunity to look back at some of the major stories that influenced the live entertainment industry this year.
Now, almost three years after the pandemic struck in early 2020, the concert industry (at least the corporate side of it) is once again in full swing and firing on all cylinders. Companies like Live Nation and CTS Eventim reported breathtaking revenue in 2023 as fans returned to live shows in record numbers.
At the same time, smaller independent venues and promoters around the world are struggling to carve out a niche amid increasing costs and an increasingly dynamic entertainment environment.
Taylor Swift’s Eras tour was her most ambitious and successful tour to date, featuring a different setlist and stage design for each of her nine studio albums. The tour featured re-recorded versions of her first six albums, which she reimagined in the studio after losing her rights to the masters of the original albums. While the tour won’t officially wrap until early 2024, it was certainly one for the record books and is on track to be the highest-grossing tour in history, with grosses of more than $1 billion, according to Billboard.
The tour also promoted her 2020 albums ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’, which marked her transition to alternative and indie genres, and her 2023 album ‘Lover’s Moon’, which she surprised fans with on Valentine’s Day this year.
While Taylor Swift is on track to break records, the official title of the top tour for 2023 goes to Beyoncé, who returned to the road for the first time since 2016 with her Renaissance tour. The tour highlighted her musical and cultural influences, drawing on African, Caribbean, Latin, and Middle Eastern sounds, from hip-hop, R&B, and pop. The tour also featured a surplus of star power, including guest appearances from her husband Jay-Z, her sister Solange, and her former Destiny’s Child members Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams.
Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road, originally slated to wrap in 2020 but postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, finally returned to the road in 2022 before coming to an end this year. All told, the tour spanned five continents and 300 shows, with the legendary recording artist playing a selection of fan favorites and new material from his 2021 album ‘The Lockdown Sessions’, which featured collaborations with artists such as Dua Lipa, Stevie Wonder, and Lil Nas X.
While major tours returned to full form in the post-pandemic era, the demand for tickets and the sky-high prices charged for some of those tickets sparked outrage from both fans and lawmakers. Following the high-profile bungle of Taylor Swift’s presale in late 2022, Federal lawmakers have launched a review of the ticketing industry and have introduced bills in both the United States House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate that seek to impose some reforms on what are seen as the worst excesses of the ticketing industry. However, at least the initial version of the bills appeared to focus primarily on the secondary market and did little to address the primary market.
Additionally, Live Nation and a coalition of stakeholders under the Fix The Tix banner have released their own roadmap for reform and voiced measured support for the proposed legislation currently under consideration.
2023 was also a year of consolidation and acquisitions with a series of major deals that reconfigured the landscape in various sectors, from venue management and the agency business to recorded music.
On the venue side, ASM Global, the venue management firm created by the merger of SMG Worldwide and AEG Facilities, which manages many of the world’s leading sports stadiums, announced in November that it had been acquired by premium hospitality and experiences company Legends in a deal reported by Venues Now to be worth $2.4 billion.
The powerhouse talent agencies Agency for the Performing Arts (APA) and Artist Group International (AGI) announced plans for a merger, creating International Artist Group (IAG), led by APA President Jim Osborne. AGI co-founder Dennis Arfa became the agency’s new chairman of the music division, while noted agent Marsha Vlasic was named Vice President of the agency’s music division.
BMI, the non-profit performance rights organization, announced it was shifting to a for-profit model and will be acquired by the private equity investor New Mountain Capital in a deal expected to close in early 2024.
2023 also saw the continued sale of music catalogs from established artists to music publishers and their private equity financiers. Enrique Iglesias, Martin Solveig, Graham Nash, Joe Walsh, Katy Perry, Nelly, and Paul Simon were among the artists who sold at least a share of their music rights in 2023.
Despite the booming business in catalog sales, all is not well in the sector. Hipgnosis, one of the early pioneers of the current era of music rights acquisitions, seems at odds with its financial advisors, with investors raising concerns about conflicts of interest with its investment advisor, Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd. In October, the company’s shareholders voted to move forward with planned discounted disposals of some of its accumulated catalog and voted overwhelmingly to reject proposals for the company to continue to operate as an investment trust for another five years.
As the year draws to a close, we would also like to take the opportunity to thank our subscribers and readers for their continued support over the last 12 months and wish all of you a prosperous and happy year in 2024.”
