Live Nation clubs drop merch fees, add $1500 cash in On The Road Again initiative

Live Nation today launched “On The Road Again,” a Willie Nelson-inspired intiative designed to help developing artists with the increasingly high cost of touring.

All Live Nation-owned and operated clubs will now give $1,500 in gas and travel cash at the end of the show to both the headliner and support act, on top of performance compensation. 

These same clubs are also dropping all merch fees, so artists now keep 100% of merch profits. 

Live Nation is also pledging cash bonuses to local promoters, tour reps, and venue crew members who worked over 500 hours in 2023 and donating $5 million to Crew Nation to support crews across the industry facing unforeseen hardships.

“Touring is a crucial part of an artist’s livelihood, and we understand travel costs take one of the biggest bites out of artists’ nightly profits,” Live Nation said in a statement.

“Touring is important to artists so whatever we can do to help other artists, I think we should do it. This program will impact thousands of artists this year and help make touring a little bit easier,” said Willie Nelson, who provided his hit song On the Road Again as the anthem for the program. 

“The live music industry is continuing to grow, and as it does, we want to do everything we can to support artists at all levels on their touring journey, especially the developing artists in clubs,” said Michael Rapino, President and CEO of Live Nation Entertainment. “Like Willie says, this is all about making it a little easier for thousands of artists to continue doing what they love: going out and playing for their fans.”

Can Competitors Afford To Match Live Nation?

Artists have already been calling for an end to high merch fees, but now the pressure will mount for all promoters and venues to match Live Nation’s offering.

All benefits from On the Road Again are being provided “directly from the venue’s existing earnings,” with no increases to fans, according to Live Nation. So while AEG and and a handful of independent promoters and venues may be able to offer additional compensation, most of the thousands of others will not.

While no US current stats are available, a new study showed that at least 10% of UK live music venues are expected to go out of business by the end of 2023 due to rising costs.

So while “On The Road Again” offers a laudable boost to club level acts performing in Live Nation clubs, its also makes it harder for others to compete.

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a Berklee College Of Music professor.