Pollstar’s 2024 Year End Executive Survey (Part 2)

For many in the live business, but not all, 2024 was another gangbuster year. For some segments, there were more tours playing more shows in more territories than ever before. Pollstar Boxoffice reports for the Top 100 tours for 2024 showed a greater volume of shows along with higher average ticket prices offsetting lower average attendances – which for many meant increased revenues, but more work. It wasn’t that way, however, for every segment of the industry. The market was softer, though inflation thankfully slowed, but interest rates remained relatively high and many businesses faced lower margins while some consumers felt more economically strapped. There were also more tours and festival cancellations than ever before for a variety of reasons, including softer ticket sales, severe weather conditions and health and well-being.

Participants

Ethan Berlin
Agent, Arrival Artists

Bruce Kalmick
Founder & CEO, WHY&HOW

Lewis Kunstler
Managing Partner, 2 + 2 Management

Lesley Olenik
SVP Global Touring, Live Nation

Eric Silver
Manager, Red Light Management

Cheryl Paglierani
Music Agent, CAA

Tom Windish
EVP Business Development, Wasserman Music

Josh Wyatt
CEO, Avant Gardner

What tour, festival or show meant the most to you this year and why?
Berlin: Khruangbin at Bonnaroo. Bonnaroo is the ultimate American festival experience. Though I did not go until 2008, those early Bonnaroo lineups were a dream. So, as a fan of the festival itself and knowing what that show has done for acts over the years, Khruangbin’s penultimate slot on the Main Stage was a dream booking come true. They had an incredible year, and after nine years of building, it was so special to see them on that big stage in front of a massive audience. [Plus,] Goose at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium.

Kalmick: Definitely Cattle Country Music Festival, and not just because I am a co-founder of the festival. With 2024 being its inaugural year, it was really all hands on deck. I was the talent buyer for the festival, I brought in sponsors, worked with our vendors, you name it. To see it all come together so successfully, and launch a first-year camping festival in a remote destination with over 12k ticket sales was really gratifying. The cherry on top was having so many WHY&HOW clients on the lineup. Everyone really came together.

Kunstler: Burningman. It’s always the most groundbreaking on so many levels. Also TOKiMONSTA b2b Diplo was unreal and HOLLY and Sao Miguel all had stand out sets!

Olenik: 2024 has been full of amazing tours, but a few that really stand out for me are Charli xcx and Troye Sivan’s “Sweat Tour,” Billie Eilish’s “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR” and Gracie Abrams’ “The Secret Of Us Tour.” The energy of Charli and Troye’s sold-out Sweat tour was unparalleled and became a cultural phenomenon. Billie keeps raising the bar with each tour — this is her first time performing in the round, her production has hit new levels, and she’s touring more markets than ever before. Gracie sold out her entire theater tour instantly and is already moving to arenas next year, showing her impressive growth as an artist and connection with her fans. Both Billie and Gracie’s sold-out tours will continue into 2025 with global legs, including Gracie’s first-time touring Asia, and Charli has already sold out a run of 2025 headline arena dates including 4 nights at Barclays Center.

Silver: In 2024 the touring business for us represented the overall economy as a whole: our biggest artists had their best year ever; our middle artists maintained or saw a slight decrease in revenue; and our developing artists struggled to make ends meet on the road.

Paglierani: Jessie Murph recently played her first arena show in her hometown of Huntsville, Alabama. Having worked with her from the beginning of her career, seeing her growth into playing an arena was truly a special moment & she killed it!

Windish: I was really impressed by the Camp Flog Gnaw festival at Dodger Stadium this year, where we had Daniel Caesar, Kaytranada, Omar Apollo, RAYE, among others. The diverse cultivation of the lineup and the energy from that audience gave me so much confidence in the future of this business and the unique power of music to cross borders, backgrounds, and genres in general.

What were your business’s greatest successes in 2024?
Berlin: Arrival had the best year of our five year existence. We grew to a company of 40 with offices across the country. Khruangbin, Goose and Mt. Joy grew into festival / shed / arena headliners, breaking all of their previous headline records. We also oversaw the incredible rise of many new artists including Mk.gee, Royel Otis, LA LOM, Cory Wong, John Vincent III, etc. Arrival also built a festival department helmed by Jeremy Shpizner.

Silver: We found success with artist-curated hard ticket plays such as Subtronics’ Cyclops Dome – over 30,000 tickets sold for three days at the Tacoma Dome with Subtronics headlining – a very strong lineup, including RL Grime, Alison Wonderland, Dimension b2b NGHTMRE, Tape B, and more, and cutting edge production – basically a festival providing more value for your dollar for the consumer.

Paglierani: 21 Savage headlined his first amphitheater tour this summer selling over 410K tickets across North America. He also headlined festivals across Europe for the first time including Wireless, Roskilde, Splash! and Frauenfeld. Post Malone played his first Stagecoach followed by his first country tour that included sold out shows at legendary venues like Fenway Park & Nissan stadium.

Windish: So many this year for me, personally. Offhand: South Korean rapper DPR breaking barriers and selling out Mexico City’s Sports Palace (20,000 tix), Stephen Sanchez’s blockbuster fall tour, Arooj Aftab headlining Central Park Summerstage, KOKOROKO’s performance at Coachella and so much more.

Wyatt: We were able to expand our programming from electronic into other genres that have a simpatico relationship to electronic. Seeing J Balvin on the stage at Mirage dropping his new song with Hugel was an electric moment and one that symbolizes our goal to support and nurture these cross-pollinated moments.

What were the greatest challenges you faced?
Kalmick: Meeting the moment of WHY&HOW’s incredible growth has been a challenge. While this growth comes with a lot of positives, we’ve also had to learn how to delegate better, work more efficiently, and foster growth for our younger managers. We’ve also had to expand our team to meet this growth, while also maintaining the tight knit family-first culture on which I founded the company.

Silver: The biggest challenges for 2024 were the cost of goods and supply chain for our merch business – people have less money and now is a bad time to be raising prices on goods – so we saw an overall decrease in sales in terms of sheer numbers and profitability. Merch is an important component for non-mainstream electronic music artists like our roster who don’t have the streaming income of more commercial artists, so after strategic touring, we really focus on creating merch that (hopefully) connects with our audience.

Paglierani: One of my biggest challenges this year was transitioning to a new company with my move to CAA. Moving to a new organization meant adjusting to a new setting, new colleagues, as well as new systems, processes, and a new culture. While it was initially challenging to make such a big life change, it has also been an incredibly rewarding experience. The opportunity to work alongside such talented and driven people has been inspiring and I’m excited about the successes we’ll achieve together moving forward.

How did your company adjust and/or innovate to market conditions, that included some softer ticket sales, consumer price resistance, relatively high prices and interest rates which in many instances meant lower margins?
Berlin: We’ve had a few clients opt to explore multiple nights in smaller rooms instead of one-offs in more expensive venues. This helped offset ticket prices and be conservative in room size, while pulling the same if not more money out of a market and giving the body and mind some additional rest staying in the same city for a few nights. I expect this to be a trend the industry sees more often across all levels of the industry.

Kunstler: We emphasized digital-first marketing, leveraging AI-driven audience insights and targeted campaigns. Lower-margin shows were supplemented with innovative sponsorships, content collaborations like pop-ups with Lights Down Low, Brownies and Lemonade and Midnight lovers, and expanded merchandise offerings to offset costs.

Silver: With a tighter economy and more options than ever for people, we had to think smarter – packaging artists for tours, providing new/unexpected production for the live experience and releasing music and content at a near constant pace for mind share.

2024 was the year where more (for less) was better. There were many show, tour and festival cancellations this year – how did you deal with them and how did they impact your business?
Kunstler: Cancellations were addressed through agile pivots, rescheduling tours with strategic announcements, and leveraging downtime for content creation to maintain audience engagement. These efforts minimized revenue losses while retaining fan loyalty.

Paglierani: Fortunately, my business was not personally significantly impacted by any cancellations this year. In fact, I saw quite the opposite. Artists like Post Malone, 21 Savage and Jessie Murph had some of their biggest years yet in touring. By strategically crafting the right plan for each artist & thinking through markets, venues and ticket pricing we were able to mitigate risks and set ourselves up for success.

Windish: I’ve been navigating curveballs and landmines in the live business since my first day – I think everyone in this industry has – and they can take many forms. In general, we need to always be prepared to pivot with the changing tides and lead realistic conversations with our clients and our promoter partners about the best way forward when challenges inevitably occur. If this business was easy our clients wouldn’t need us!

Wyatt: The past few years has seen inflationary impact for everyone, which has led some venues or companies to cut back on the customer/concertgoer experience. Economics can be a big buzzkill in our line of work. We just want to produce the best, most enthralling moments for people. With pricing and macro headwind pressure, we had to find other ways to generate income such as thinking much bigger about sponsorships, working closely with vendors to find savings, and rethinking how our venue operates.

The globalization of the live business these days is seeming more important than ever. How did that impact your business in terms of your operations, exporting US shows and or having international acts here?
Kalmick: When it comes to live shows, we’ve continued to up the ante in the UK, Europe and are now charting new ground in Australia. Tyler Braden had a great swing in Australia this past spring and Chase Rice will be set to play there in the new year as well. Streaming has allowed for a more global audience, and the moment a song is released, we treat that release as worldwide every time. As much as we dial in on small markets in the U.S., we also see the value in meeting the global audience where they are at where it makes sense.

Olenik: With offices around the world and boots on the ground in major markets, we’re well-equipped to navigate the complexities of global touring. Our infrastructure allows us to manage operations, introducing new artists to the U.S., and expanding U.S. artists into new markets worldwide.

Paglierani: Booking globally has always been a key part of my artist development strategy. Timing is everything – determining when and where to tour overseas early on is crucial to expanding an artist’s reach & building a loyal fanbase globally. This could mean starting with a few small shows in key markets or, if the demand is there, expanding further worldwide. The right plan will be different for each artist, but the goal is always to grow their touring business globally from the start.

Windish: I love the ongoing globalization of music. I’ve been leading the charge to view things globally since early in my career, especially because what that means continues to evolve. For me, it means booking great artists from every nook and cranny of the globe and booking more great artists to tour those places in turn. I earned more frequent flier miles this year than ever, and I’ve booked more shows internationally than ever.

Wyatt: The world is becoming extremely connected, and the talent buying market is becoming more and more sophisticated given the international touring paradigms and the emergence of places like Las Vegas, Ibiza and other spots of almost year around touring venues. The Mirage, through a lot of vision and hard work, has created a touring destination in NYC that gives international acts a friendly and supportive venue, with top level sound, lighting and stage production in house, making things very easy for DJs and bands to book their stop in NYC.

We are increasingly a data-driven business, with AI becoming ubiquitous. How have you seen data evolve this year and how has it impacted your decision making?
Kunstler: Data evolved into a cornerstone of strategy, with AI tools offering actionable insights for market trends, fan behavior, and campaign optimization. This helped refine targeting, predict ticketing patterns, and improve ROI across projects. I’m working deeply with Oliver Luckett and a few others on how we can streamline artist management via AI and hope to have some new tools in 2025.

Paglierani: How we collect and consume data is in a constant state of evolution. Be it advances in AI, machine learning or analytics there is now a tool that can help us track audience behavior in almost any area of an artist’s career. I find this to be a gift and a curse. While on one hand, I love being able to use these tools to determine when and where an artist should tour, it also feels at times like our business is becoming solely reliant on following data and less about discovering and developing raw talent. For that reason, I try not to let data influence my decision making when it comes to signing artists in the ways that labels and A&Rs do and use it more as a pitch tool when selling artists and building touring plans.

If you had to sum up your 2024 in 24 words, what would you say?
Berlin: 2024 was a banner year for myself, my clients and Arrival as a whole. The year feels like a major milestone for the company.

Kalmick: Keep innovating and refreshing your live strategy. The same theory I employed 20 years ago remains the same – a robust live strategy is always key.

Kunstler: A year of resilience, creativity, and personal growth, leveraging AI and innovation to connect artists with fans amidst economic challenges and shifting market dynamics.

Olenik: 2024 has been a huge year for many artists, especially female and developing acts, achieving major milestones and exciting firsts both locally and globally.

Paglierani: An exciting year full of big life changes, personal growth, incredible shows & fun travels. Blessed to do what I love with people I love.

Looking ahead to 2025, what are your predictions for the live industry in the year ahead?
Kalmick: I think the live industry will continue to level out back to pre-COVID touring numbers. And I think this is a good thing. We saw this massive ramp up of touring post COVID, and I think that contributed to inflated pricing, softer ticket sales, etc. That said, once we get back to the normal pace, those who haven’t invested in a good live strategy will be left behind. The major labels, especially, who are newly investing in country, Americana and folk artists can’t undervalue the power of a live strategy. Instead of investing heavily into a terrestrial radio play, they need to put that effort into a live strategy if they want to remain valuable to those acts.

Kunstler: Expect increased hybrid experiences, broader integration of AI in ticketing and marketing, a rebound in international touring, and heightened focus on environmental sustainability in events.

Olenik: We’ll continue to see artists exploring new markets, as well as more growth from female artists with incredible women-led teams. We’ve already announced a huge slate of tours for next year, and many of the artists I work with are set to launch legs in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe/UK, as well as North America. Billie Eilish, Gracie Abrams and NIKI will all be touring internationally, Charli xcx is playing arenas and festivals, FINNEAS’ headline world tour kicks off in January – and much more to come in the new year.

Paglierani: I expect over the next year our industry will continue balancing innovation with tradition, enhancing both in-person and virtual fan engagement making live shows even more of a unique and memorable experience.

Windish: More artists, less festival slots.

Wyatt: Customers, artists and brands will rush to authentically managed venues/brands, and the larger top tier monopolistic players, who operate from a position of commodity based thinking, will struggle to find footing while at the same time fighting for a fixed market. Thinking about lifting all boats, or expanding the pie, will be a winning strategy versus the more traditional zero sum thinking.