Live Nation reveals 2024 as ‘biggest year’ for live music

Live Nation Entertainment has revealed that 2024 “was live music’s biggest year yet, as artists toured the world and fans turned out in record numbers”.

Revealing its full year and fourth quarter 2024 results saw total revenue of $23 billion, operating income of $825 million and adjusted operating income of $2.15 billion.

According to the report, the 2024 year-end earnings and increases showed had moderate year-over-year growth, with the $23 billion figure only representing a small increase over the previous year’s $22.7 billion, which was up 36% from 2022.

Key figures (versus prior year, reported FX)
• Operating income of US$825 million
• Adjusted operating income of US$2.15 billion
• Adjusted operating income for concerts at a record high, up 65% to US$530 million with margins of 2.8%
• Concert attendance up 4%, with 151 million fans attending over 50k Live Nation events, up 9%
• Sponsorship adjusted operating income of US$764 million, up 13%

Concerts delivers record revenue and profitability for 2024 (vs FY 2023) 
• Revenue of US$19 billion, up 2%
• AOI of US$530 million, up 65%
• Record AOI margin of 2.8%
• Arena and amphitheatre activity drove fan count to 151 million, despite 30% fewer stadium shows

2024 investments at Venue Nation (VS FY 2023)
• 60 million fans attended shows in our operated venues, up double-digits, with North America and Latin America driving almost all growth
• Built and refurbished three major venues hosting a combined two million fans in 2024, delivering IRRs at or above planned levels 
• Revenue from premium offerings in amphitheatres up over 20%
• Ancillary per fan spend at major festivals of 100k fans or more grew double-digits, driven by VIP ticket upgrades and increased food and beverage sales

Global venue expansion
• Expect to add 20 large venues (e.g., stadiums, arenas, amphitheatres, and large theatres) globally through 2026, delivering run-rate of six to seven million incremental fans
◦ Major projects include stadiums in Bogotá and Toronto, seven amphitheatres, and nine large theatres 
• At least five million more fans expected to attend shows in our operated venues in 2025, benefiting from the addition of new venues in 2024 and 2025

Ticketmaster 
• Q4 revenue of US$841 million, up 14% year-on-year, for full year revenue of US$3 billion
• Q4 AOI of US$311 million, up 32% year-on-year, for full year AOI of US$1.1 billion
• Full-year AOI margin in the high 30s, consistent with prior years
• 23 million net new enterprise tickets signed in 2024, with two-thirds from international markets

Global sponsorship growth 
• Revenue of US$1.2 billion, up 9%
• AOI of US$764 million, up 13%
• Full-year AOI margin in the low 60s, consistent with prior years
• International markets up double-digits driven by festivals in Latin America, including Rock in Rio, along with growth in European festivals
• Festivals generating measurable results for our brand partners: fans were 8x more likely to purchase a brand in the future if they visited an onsite activation1
• The number of new strategic clients increased 20% while we continued to deepen and add to our portfolio of 1,500 brand partners and expanded relationships with several partners including Cisco, Bacardi, Coca-Cola, and Hulu

Looking forward, Live Nation Entertainment President and Chief Executive, Michael Rapino stated “2025 is shaping up to be even bigger thanks to a deep global concert pipeline, with more stadium shows on the books than ever before. 

“To help artists perform to fans everywhere, we remain focused on building new music-centric venues, which make more live music memories possible and help drive our double-digit operating income and AOI growth in 2025, and compound at this level for years to come. 

“At the same time, we’re investing back into the industry for those who create the music, as our investments in artists have more than doubled in the last five years, and we will continue to find new ways to support them while enhancing the fan experience.” 

Live Nation looks for antitrust settlement 
Live Nation is reported to be hoping the incoming representatives of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) will be open to potential settlement discussions surrounding its antitrust lawsuit.

The comments came from Joe Berchtold, Live Nation’s Chief Financial Officer, during the earnings call for 2024 after the company.

During the call, Rapino also revealed that the company had held talks with demand-side platforms (DSP) Amazon, Apple and Spotify over the possibility of opening up ticketing presale access for premium subscribers.

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