Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino sat down with CNBC’s Power Lunch and says Live Nation is “on track for back-to-back record years”.
When asked, Rapino said the company was not seeing any recessionary trends regarding ticket sales.
“We’re not, we’ve had such pent-up demand, in Europe, America, Australia and we’re headed for a record year right now. “I checked all our latest data and people are showing up – 90% rates – our ticket sales are double digits over 2019.”
“One factor we like to see is what are they spending on site, and those are up 25% since 2019, which was a record year. We’re seeing record levels of fans are coming to have fun and drink and enjoy the night.”
When speaking about the forecast for next year, he noted that 2023 is shaping up for another record year for Live Nation.
“We’re looking at 2023 right now, with about 85 tours booked, and that would put us on course for another record year,” he said. “Overall, historically, concerts are an 8-9% growth business and we think that’s going to continue. We think we’re going to be back to a continual growth business as we have for the last 30 years.”
He also responded to the question of high ticket prices in the market.
“The top-end ticket always gets the press, but a concert ticket is still really affordable – the average ticket price is $35,” he said. “You can’t have a dinner for that, you certainly can’t go to a Lakers game. So of all entertainment options, it’s affordable.
“Now, ticket prices at the top have gone up. But that’s to make sure that the artist starts to participate in some of that pricing dynamic versus the secondary market. You look today and the market is still hot on the secondary business, which would indicate pricing still is below market. But we still believe that the artist should gather more of the upfront costs. We also think making it affordable is right.”
