Touring or not to tour: artists second -less who are on their way to the road as touring becomes more difficult – nationally

At first glance, the global tour industry seems to be doing well.

Live NationThe largest concert promoter and ticketing company, reported earlier this month that it had a great year. So far, more than 100 million tickets have been sold for events in 2025. Compare that with 2019, the last large year before COVID-19, when Live Nation had the turnover of 98 million tickets for the entire 12 months.

Economic delay? Rate -related problems? Rebellies of the fan at the high costs of tickets? None of those terrible predictions seems to come true. Live music has a banner year!

Well, maybe for some.

Coachella is not sold out for the second year in a row, and more than half of those who went, financed their ticket purchases.

Other festivals have been canceled. According to tracker Music Festival Wizard44 events have disappeared from the global concert calendar this year this year. In the UK, promoters were shaken by the 72 Festival Annulations last year for more problems. A few Australian festivals will not happen due to rising costs. Four-day general admission tickets for Lollapalooza are sold out within an hour, although one and two-day tickets and VIP passes are still available. This week a festival company called Wannasee dropped more than 10 events in Great Britain. The company has perished.

The current American administration does not help things. After unilaterally raising the price of Visa for foreign actions, there are all the stories about issues of domestic safety on the border. Who wants to run the risk of setting up an expensive American tour when a border patrol agent can refuse access because … well, for whatever reason. Something on your social media feed on your phone that they don’t like? You don’t get in. You can even be held for a while before you are deported.

If you are a top artist, you may be immune to such small worries, but even Beyoncé had problems with her Cowboy Carter-Tour, with thousands of tickets not sold, even when the opening evening approached. That date of April 28 in Los Angeles had difficulty selling the remaining 3,200 tickets. She even had to lower the prices to fill seats in other markets, annoying fans who bought tickets early. Star Power, it seems, is not always enough.

There are a few clear places – Lorde’s autumn tour through Noord -America and Europe has become clean and all the tickets for the Oasis reunion of 2025 disappeared last year – but they seem to be the exception. Many artists choose to stay at home.

According to How Music GraficsThere was a steady decrease in the number of artists on tour between 2022 and 2024.

Although not covered, it is tempting to extrapolate those figures with emerging artists. For them, the costs have risen in such a way that many have reduced their tour plans, while others have chosen to stay completely at home. Transport, accommodation, rental of equipment, Roadies-Ze have all risen dramatically in price since COVID-19. Those who take the risk believe that margins are extremely small and the difference between making a slight profit and many losses can depend on one or two poorly visited performances.

Another problem is low ticket sales. Small acts often survive on ticket and merch sales, while the location earns its money at the bar. Covid-19 seems to create a shift in which young people are not on their way to see live music in a club like previous generations did. And those who are going to drink not that much. In the past year I had several conversations with bar and club owners about this.

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A hypothesis is that at least two cohorts from young concert visitors who have missed coming-of-age period in which they could finally see live music in a recognized establishment. Combine that with the costs of drinks, the availability of cheap and legal cannabis and dating apps, and there are millions of young people who prefer to stay than go out.

Bottom Line? The entire global ecosystem is evolving to meet these new economic realities. And there have been some developments.

Live Nation is a leader in this, who makes things with his annual $ 30 ticket offer That includes hundreds of actions. Artists actually like this plan because it has no influence on their operating results. As soon as they have protected a guaranteed reimbursement per performance, it is up to Live Nation to make a profit. Because the company has so many amphitheaters and has so much location -deals, live nation income gets out of dinner and drink (especially alcohol, which is not cheap), parking and the usual reduction of merch sales. Artists get their entire payment day and play for more people than usual than usual.

In the UK, the government has the VK Live Trust. A surcharge of one pound is added to the price of a ticket that is sold for a stadium or arena show (any location with a capacity of 5,000 or more), which is then re-assigned to smaller locations throughout the country. Mumford & Sons, Pulp and Diana Ross are among the artists to support the initiative. So far, more than 500,000 pounds have been raised this year, Manna to small clubs of Lizard Point in the south to stack on the Shetland Islands in the North. This in addition to independent MP Jeremy Corbyn’s A summer to save music Concert series.

Here in Canada we only get a budget and it is still to see whether the Carney liberals will listen to the plea of ​​the art community. I think we will discover it in the fall.

Musicians will always like to play live and there are target groups that love it. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to make that connection. The good news is that you can help. Do yourself and your local small location and emerging artist a pleasure and bring a night out with live music. If you really want to help, go to a show on a Tuesday or Wednesday when foot traffic is slow. And whatever you do, buy some merches and vinyl on the way out. It will make a world of difference.

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