Live Nation starts 2025 strong: ‘No pullback’ on fan demand

Live Nation starts 2025 strong, reporting a reasonable solid Q1, after markets closed Thursday. The concert giant claims its on track for a record year despite global economic uncertainty.

Live Nation reported $3.3 billion in revenue for the quarter, an 11% drop from the record Q1 that the company had last year.

But Michael Rapino, Live Nation President and CEO pointed to other stats to predict a strong 2025 ahead.

“2025 is shaping up to be a historic year for live music, with a strong start having us on track to deliver double-digit growth in operating income and AOI this year, said Rapino. “As more artists tour the world, fan demand is reaching new heights across ticket sales, show attendance, and on-site spending. Ticket sales are pacing well ahead of last year, with deferred revenue for both concerts and ticketing at record levels.”

Live Nation starts 2025 strong with ‘no pullback’ on fan demand

Highlights

• No pullback on consumer demand – number of shows is up for the year, concert ticket sales are ahead of last year, and onsite spending up as well. Pulled out the core stats from release below for easy access here:
  • 95 million concert tickets already sold – up double digits from last year 
  • Onsite spend globally across our theaters and clubs at or above prior year levels (these venues are where most Q1 shows play off – larger amphitheater, festival etc more into Q2 and Q3)
  • 2025 global stadium pipeline up 60%

• Biggest ever lineup of events to come this year – Q1 is typically our lightest quarter when it comes to shows actually playing, which is why the event deferred revenue is the core metric telling you what’s to come in the year (We don’t realize revenue until the show takes place, so deferred revenue represents everything that is already sold and just waiting to play).
  • Deferred revenue for this year is currently sitting at $5.4 billion – thats up 24% since last year – which is huge
  • And for context on longer term growth, 2019 it was $1.9 billion, which also just shows you how much growth the industry is having given more global touring

• Concerts see resilient consumer demand in all economic times historically – We are naturally getting a lot of questions about overall economic outlook and if we expect consumer behavior to change / pull back. Again all stats above show no pull back – 2025 on pace for record year. And in general we see concerts are something people are so passionate about that events don’t see pullback that some other parts of experience economy may see:
  • Reminder even in covid times 80%+ of fans chose to hold onto their tickets rather than taking a refund
  • Most fans only go to 1 show a year, and its a big lifetime memory moment 
  • Also concerts have a lot more pricing optionality than other experiences, from $40 entry level seat to bucket list front row, so  people can choose what works for their budget.
  • Plus the secondary resale market pricing (which is avg 2x the artist’s original price) is also a big buffer which other industries don’t have, as that margin would get eaten into before sales on the artist’s original lower price.  “Resale is obviously very robust as you see StubHub getting ready to IPO etc”

Find Live Nation’s full Q1 2025 report here.

We will add analysis on Friday that will include Thursday evening’s investor call.

Bruce Houghton