Live Nation Shares COVID Best Practices: Artists To Determine Concert Entry Requirements


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Live Nation has shared details of an internal memo outlining some of its best practices in relation to COVID, with artists to determine whether shows should require attendees to prove vaccination or negative tests. The company’s U.S. employees will be required to be vaccinated to enter shows, venues or offices, effective Oct. 4, “with limited exceptions as may be required by law.”  

The memo, titled “CEO NOTE TO EMPLOYEES” and signed by Live Nation President/CEO Michael Rapino, notes that vaccination and COVID test requirements are subject to local laws, which illustrates one of the prime difficulties for touring during the pandemic in a country with varying policies from state to state, county to county and even city to city. Multiple states have moved to ban mandates requiring either masks or proof of vaccination, while New York recently announced all indoor concerts (as well as other indoor activities) must prove vaccination. Furthermore, many venues are publicly owned or operated, further muddying the waters. 
An Aug. 3 earnings call noted the success of Chicago’s Lollapalooza, with Live Nation President & CFO Joe Berchtold saying more than 90% of attendees were fully vaccinated.
The news comes as U.S. COVID cases continue to increase, with schools opening and children under 12 unable to get vaccinated. Meanwhile, some tours or shows have been affected, such as Fall Out Boy missing three shows on the “Hella Mega Tour” also featuring Green Day and Weezer, Limp Bizkit’s post-Lollapalooza gigs being canceled, and New Orleans Jazz Fest postponing to next spring as Delta cases climb in the South. 
However, many major tours have kicked off and festivals have successfully concluded, such as Rolling Loud Miami attracting up to 75,000 per day in late July, and tours by everyone from Guns N’ Roses to Dave Matthews Band.  In the company’s Aug. 3 earnings report, Live Nation noted that Ticketmaster scored the fourth-best month in its history in June for ticket volume and June saw its U.S. concerts division put the highest number of shows on sale ever during a single month. 
 

CEO NOTE TO EMPLOYEES:
Subject: U.S. Vaccination Update 
 
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It has been great to see events make such a strong return across the U.S., with demand for concerts and festivals continuing to outpace our expectations. 
 
LIVE NATION SHOWS
We are working to ensure we are reopening in the best way possible for staff, artists, crew, fans, and communities at large. Our teams have worked together to put new processes in place so that artists doing shows with Live Nation in the U.S. can require all attendees and staff to be fully vaccinated or show a negative test result for entry, where permitted by law. We believe this is a great model, and we have already implemented this successfully at many major shows including Lollapalooza. We know people are eager to return to live events and we hope these measures encourage even more people to get vaccinated. That is the number one thing anyone can do to take care of those around them and we are encouraging as many shows as possible to adopt this model.
 
EMPLOYEE VAX REQUIREMENT
In support of this model and to continue leading by example, we will be requiring that all employees in the U.S. be vaccinated to enter one of our events, venues or offices – with limited exceptions as may be required by law. This requirement will go into effect October 4, when our offices are set to reopen their doors for flex work, and to allow on-site staff a few weeks to get vaccinated if they haven’t already. HR will share more details on this soon. As a reminder we are providing an extra paid day off for every dose so you can schedule appointments easily. We’ve seen great vaccination enthusiasm among our staff so far, and we want to ensure we’re taking every step possible to keep you all safe.
 
Our business and our industry is about uniting people and vaccines are one of the greatest tools for making sure that everyone can continue to enjoy live music together. We’ve gone through a lot this past year and it’s remarkable to see how far we’ve come. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to your HR partner. And thank you for continuing to play a role in our continued success. 
 
– Michael