Live Nation Unveil Record Profits as Ticket Prices Spike

As concert tickets continue to become less affordable for the average music fan, Live Nation (the live event giant and parent company of Ticketmaster) have just unveiled record quarterly earnings for summer 2022.

Live Nation made an absolute killing from July-September 2022, reporting revenue of $6.3 billion — a 63 percent increase from their numbers in 2019. Here’s the expanded financial overview reported by Live Nation themselves:

– Reported Revenue Up 63% to $6.2 Billion
– Reported Operating Income Up 95% to $506 Million
– Reported AOI Up 45% to $621 Million and Up 51% to $645 Million On A Constant Currency Basis
– Year-To-Date Operating Cash Flow Is $928 Million
– Year-To-Date Free Cash Flow – Adjusted Is $996 Million, Up 88%

Part of Live Nation’s massive quarter was record attendance for ticketed events. Across 11,000 events, Live Nation report over 44 million fans came out this summer. Ticketmaster also delivered an all-time high “reported fee-bearing gross transacted value” of $7.3 billion — up 62 percent in total.

Along with their financial report, Live Nation commented on “recent press regarding ticketing fees,” which potentially include President Biden’s recently announced effort to “crack down” on “hidden junk” fees for ticket buyers.

“Finally on Ticketmaster, a point on some recent press regarding ticketing fees,” the report begins. “We will continue to advocate for fee transparency in live event ticketing.  We advocated for the all-in pricing mandate passed in New York earlier this year, which requires face-value prices and fees to be shown upfront – and we support the FTC mandating this nationally.  We operate ticketing marketplaces in more than 30 countries around the world and have seen all-in pricing adopted successfully in many countries when mandated across the board.  This only works if all ticketing marketplaces adopt together, so that consumers truly can accurately compare as they shop for tickets.”

Live Nation’s full press release, along with financial statements of their record quarterly profits, can be found here.