Pollstar 2023 Year-End Executive Survey (Part 4)

The past year saw live music pushed even further into the stratosphere with Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen, Ed Sheeran, P!NK and Elton John all out on the road. Not to mention U2’s residency at Sphere in Las Vegas. Throughout 2023 the industry experienced massive highs including Taylor and Beyoncé grossing more at SoFi Stadium than most music festivals do over a single weekend, along with challenges like severe weather stranding thousands in the desert as well as inflation, ticketing and a glut of tours.

Pollstar reached out to many of the industry’s top executives, with promoters, agents, managers and venue execs taking stock of 2023’s successes and failures. This is the final installment of the annual Year-End Executive Survey. Parts one, two and three are now available.

Participants

Howard Handler
President, 313 Presents

Ali Hedrick
Agent, Arrival Artists

Jbeau Lewis
Partner & Agent, United Talent Agency

Mike Marquis
Agent, Creative Artists Agency

Jeff Nickler
SVP, Oak View Group and GM at Moody Center

Cheryl Paglierani
Partner & Agent, United Talent Agency

Drew Simmons
Partner & Manager, Foundations Artist Management

Kyle Wilensky
Artist Manager & VP Of Touring, Range Media Partners

What were you and your company’s greatest successes in 2023?
Howard Handler: It’s been a tremendous year for 313 Presents with our roster of 300+ concerts and events. We hosted Little Caesars Arena’s inaugural boxing event featuring Flint, Michigan’s own G.W.O.A.T. Claressa Shields – bringing championship boxing back in a major way to the city.

Ali Hedrick: Personally, my greatest success has been having a positive attitude about the music industry. Regarding Arrival, I’m very proud of the fact that we launched a branding company (companyX), added a festival agent, and are currently humming along at 35 people total at the company. Also, the fact that we’re 60% women / 40% men makes me extremely proud.

Jbeau Lewis: It is remarkable to witness and continue to play a part in our clients’ ability to move culture. Music has never been more culturally significant, and as our clients engage across global touring, brand partnerships, film, television and more, that has never been more apparent.

Mike Marquis: It was an incredible year for CAA, arguably one of the biggest years ever for live music, and a year of expansion for our agency with many new amazing people and clients. In particular, MUNA had a breakout year, coming to a close recently with two nights at the Greek in LA.

Jeff Nickler: When we were building Moody Center, we knew the major artists would all choose to play the venue. What we never expected though were so many multi-night performances in Austin.

Drew Simmons: Noah Kahan’s breakout album Stick Season, Best New Artist Grammy nomination and graduating from theatres to arenas along with two sold-out Fenway Park and two sold-out MSG shows. Laufey’s Best Traditional Jazz Grammy nomination coming off the biggest jazz album debut in modern history for her album Bewitched and an immediately sold-out theatre tour.

Kyle Wilensky: Breaking Paul Russell, Dylan Gossett, Hailey Whitters, and Range/Virgin label client TALK. Launch of our publishing division, Signing Saweetie, Pentatonix, Alec Benjamin and Russell Dickerson.

What were the greatest challenges this year and what strategies did you implement in response?
Handler: From a sheer volume perspective, we work hard to make sure our team is fresh and ready to go. We are a small company, so we try to focus on providing balance to our team. From an event perspective, the amphitheater season had, what seemed to be, more than normal amount of challenges related to weather.

Hedrick: Routing tours around festivals before the festival is ready to send offers has been a challenge. In the past, festival offers came in first as an anchor, allowing you to route dates around them. Due to COVID, many bands are on the same touring cycle which makes clearing dates more difficult. All of which pushes you to get out there and grab dates before you want to. In the end, it likely means a lot of shifting the routing around, the possibility of more days off on a tour than you would like, and just a lot of extra work than ever before.

Marquis: The issue of climate continues to be an unknown variable in the world of live music. The number of weather-related issues on shows taking place, both indoors and outdoors, seems to increase every year. All you can do is be present, plan contingencies, and surround yourself with talented professionals who can make smart decisions in challenging situations.

Nickler: Managing the record-breaking level of volume has been a challenge, particularly with navigating traffic and holds in the calendar.

Simmons: The entire ecosystem is stretched thin, demand is pushing costs up across the board. Navigating evolving consumer behavior and ticket pricing, trying to meet demand while fighting off the secondary market, and trying to get fairly priced tickets into fans’ hands without interference from 3rd parties.

Wilensky: From a touring standpoint, if you’re in a bus/trucking situation, it was incredibly difficult to find buses, crew and gear on short notice. Having an 18 – 24-month plan with our clients is critical to properly set up a run.

How did the glut of tours and events in the marketplace impact your business?
Handler: We love a full calendar and with six world-class venues in our portfolio, we are fortunate to offer every range of artist and tour production an opportunity to play Detroit.

Hedrick: Certainly, too many acts competing for the same dollar is difficult but I feel more than ever that people crave live music, luckily for us.

Lewis: While we are happy that so many clients want to work, it has also never been more critical to focus on creating moments that help clients’ tours stand out from the crowd.
Marquis: The traffic and market conditions are the busiest I have ever seen. A thoughtful and well-executed onsale campaign is more important than ever. It can be hard to keep momentum through the noise, so the better start you have can exponentially affect the final results. Tours also need to have a central theme and unique X-factor to cut through. Just going on tour may not be enough for the middle class of working artists.

Nickler: It’s obvious that 2023 was a record year for arena-touring content across the country, and Austin was no exception. Throw in one of the largest music festivals in the world with Austin City Limits, multiple amphitheaters in the market and varying other venues and events and the outside perspective might be that the market is oversaturated with content… but Austin is known as the Live Music Capital of the World for a reason and it’s because the community here supports live music in a big way.

Simmons: Touring volume is up, venue options appear to be expanding and consumer interest feels to be high. Aside from rising costs and the above-mentioned challenges, business was not negatively impacted – we found fans engaged and willing to come to headline dates and festivals alike.

Wilensky: Again, it goes back to having a two-year plan for a client and getting ahead of touring plans including festivals. We like to look at festival buyers as essential partners with our clients and try to include them in strategy and planning on client projects.

Ticketing was a hot-button topic with the issues of transparency, access, pricing and secondary market widely discussed and legislated. Did any of this impact your business?
Hedrick: Yes, I have been highly disappointed by the drop count numbers in 2023. Shows that sell out quickly are seeing the highest number of no-shows. Partly because we are putting up tours farther and farther in advance, but mainly because brokers are gobbling up tickets and selling them for outrageous prices. This affects the artist in a huge way as most count on those per-head merch sales to turn a profit on tour.

Lewis: The dramatic evolution in ticketing technology demands that those of us who represent artists maintain clear communication with our clients about that evolution and the options each client has when it comes to pricing – especially for artists who have not toured in the past couple of years.

Marquis: Yes, without question. It’s a very challenging and evolving environment to try to diagnose, let alone solve. What could be a problem today may not be the same tomorrow. Our job as artist representatives is to stay at the forefront of information and make the best decision for every artist, and their audience.

Nickler: It seems no arena is immune to the challenges we all face in ticketing these days, particularly in the secondary market where fans are forced to pay exorbitant prices for oftentimes fake or invalid tickets. It has been great to see the industry come together on these issues and help put fans and artists first.

Simmons: We are constantly fighting for artists to retain as much control and gain as much transparency as possible and there is still a lot of progress to be made. Ticketing is messy with different legislation from state to state and from one country to the next. On a positive note, presale data is now highly informative for determining venue upgrades/changes as well as assessing venue scaling that accurately reflects consumer demand.

Wilensky: Absolutely. In amphitheaters and arena shows, it requires constant attention to make sure our clients are participating in secondary market revenue. I also think some of the new ticketing companies like TIXR are amazing disruptors and extremely artist-friendly. It will be very interesting to watch how this continues to play out.

Inflation dropped to 3.6% this year, but was still felt acutely by many. How did that impact your business strategies?
Handler: We certainly continue to keep an eye on the economy in our market and across the nation given the potential impact upon the consumer as well as our team members.

Hedrick: I tried to be conscious of putting together the stronger packages possible to give the ticket buyers a bang for their buck. I also added the first of three artists more than in years past to help make the shows that much stronger.

Lewis: We understand that times are tough for many, so providing the opportunity for fans at every price level to gain access to shows is critical.

Marquis: By and large, ticket prices for live music are very low when compared to sports, theme parks, and other large-scale entertainment. The shows our artists deliver are always worth the prices they charge, and then some. Beyond that, most artists are making a hairline margin and investing a lot of capital into their shows, and treating the entire process with a lot of integrity.

Nickler: Our box office history from 2023 is a testament to the continued strength of the Austin economy. Fans here continue to prioritize the live experience, despite broader economic challenges.

Wilensky: Some of our clients were still making up rescheduled tours from COVID this year. We had to completely rework budgets due to inflation and run multiple different scenarios to find what was most cost-effective.

What tour, festival and/or show meant the most to you this year?
Handler: P!NK at Comerica Park, in the heart of the city of Detroit was the highest attended reserved seat concert in Comerica Parks’ history and shortly thereafter Dave Chappelle smashed the all-time attendance record at Little Caesars Arena – to have both in the same year was really special.

Hedrick: Seeing Mt. Joy at Red Rocks for two nights with my family, friends and Arrival colleagues was a huge highlight.

Lewis: Watching Karol G ascend to stadiums globally, barely two years after her first-ever headline dates, was simply stunning.

Marquis: It has been amazing to see emo have such a huge revival. It is the genre through which I began my career, and many of the artists I’ve worked with for more than 15 years are having their most successful years ever.

Nickler: We had the privilege of hosting the CMT Music Awards this past April in Austin. It was the first time in the show’s 22-year history that the event was held outside of Nashville. Thanks to a sold-out crowd and record ratings for the worldwide telecast, Paramount has already announced the awards show will return to Moody Center in 2024 and likely for many more years beyond.

Paglierani: 21 Savage’s sold-out homecoming show in London at The O2 arena was a very special one. Seeing him return home for the first time after battling years of immigration issues was truly heartwarming and a moment I was extremely proud to be a part of.

Simmons: Noah Kahan returning to headline Red Rocks after being the opener just eight months prior. Also, his SNL performance.

Wilensky: Stagecoach, Dreamy Draw, Bourbon and Beyond, and Under the Big Sky festivals. These festivals can be amazing moments for our clients. The buyers truly understand our artists and want to be active participants in shaping their careers; this applies to the headliners all the way down to our new developing acts.

What business or tech innovation helped you the most this year?
Hedrick: Airtable is a great way to keep track of pitches, festivals and outstanding offers. Really enjoyed using it this year.

Lewis: Talk to text on my iPhone. My fingers are tired.

Marquis: AirPods?

Simmons: Verified fan (until it was disassembled), Seated and Laylo. TikTok (still).

Wilensky: A.I.

Looking ahead to 2024, what are your predictions for the live industry in the year ahead?
Handler: We are looking forward to another banner year in Detroit – we’ve got a number of ballpark shows including Green Day with The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid and The Linda Lindas. Continuing to offer our guests a variety of programming from world-class artists of all genres to the 2024 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament Regionals.

Hedrick: More dynamic ticket pricing and lowered merch rates across the board at all venues big and small.

Lewis: Mañana será bonito.

Marquis: As an agent, I’ve learned not to be in the prediction business. I guess if I had to identify a trend, it is that audiences want a real show and recognize a great performance, and talented musicians more than ever.

Nickler: Our calendar is already packed for the first six months of the new year, particularly in the spring with a record April and May expected. Looking into the second half of 2024, there are dozens of concerts already on the radar that are likely to be confirmed. While I don’t see next year’s total volume surpassing 2023, it is clear already that it will be another significant year for the touring industry.

Wilensky: Heavy touring traffic and extremely competitive festival slots. With this recession, sensitivity to ticket pricing will be a necessity.

What are you most looking forward to?
Handler: We’ve leveraged a new partnership with Jack Trice Stadium in Iowa and The Messina Group to bring country music’s best – George Strait and Chris Stapleton with Little Big Town – to that stadium. To extend our expertise and reach into another market is something that we are excited about.

Hedrick: Going to Mexico with my family for the holidays.

Lewis: Reading a book on the beach.

Marquis: I look forward to going to our office every day and working together with all my friends. Having a great work environment is truly a privilege I do not take for granted.

Nickler: As with 2023, it looks like Latin content will continue to surge and sell a record number of tickets in 2024. Already looking forward to sold-out engagements in Austin with Bad Bunny, Luis Miguel, Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Pitbull, J-Lo, and more.

Simmons: Continued appreciation for vulnerable and emotive songwriting. The evolution of accessible and relatable superstars. Sub genres of country music maturing and continuing to challenge the status quo. More female writers and producers. More female touring personnel and creatives. The music business awkwardly trying to grapple with AI.

Wilensky: Continuing to work with the amazing team we have assembled at Range on behalf of our incredible clients to break talent and help all of our artists reach their full global potential.