During an interview with MSNBC, Live Nation's Michael Rapino discussed the signs of strength in this summer's concert season. Matching the tone set during the company's Q2 earnings call, Rapino stated that globally, things are shaping up to be a "strong year" with both Ticketmaster and Live Nation tracking year over growth of 5%. However, he was careful to add the qualifier 'global' into his remarks several times when referring to this perceived strength.
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Rapino went on to report that Live Nation's amphitheatre business is up by 15%, festivals by 30% and electronic music is up by a whopping 70%. Rapino noted that Europe's live music sector has been a particularly strong performer, showing a 20% improvement over last year.
Rapino also took the opportunity to demonstrate his continued enthusiasm for social media as a driver for ticket sales. "The 30 percent of consumers said that 'I would have went to the show but I didn't know about' - We're finding now that they're finding out about it from their friends and that is going to change the business," Rapino said.
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