Pollstar Live! 2026: The Encore Economy – Converting Live Concerts Into Cinematic Events To Maximize Revenue And Fan Engagement

The COVID-19 shutdown was a difficult period for artists in the music industry. Not being able to go on the road to sell tickets underscores the importance of developing not only additional revenue streams but also ways to connect with your fans. Many are starting to explore another art form to strengthen their relationship with their audience, and it’s proven to be a useful tool.

The concert film has gained more traction over the years, especially with the emergence of streaming platforms seeking content to expand their libraries. Pollstar Live!, the largest gathering of live industry professionals, explored the topic April 13 in a panel titled “The Encore Economy – Converting Live Concerts into Cinematic Events to Maximize Revenue and Fan Engagement” that featured film director Sam Wrench, who worked on Taylor Swifts “Eras Tour” movie, Trafalgar Releasing’s Kymberli Frueh and Tommy Nast, Ghost manager Kristen Mulderig and Chris Woltman of Element1 Music.

Four months into the new year, and the film and music industries have already seen how influential and beneficial concert movies can be. EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert grossed $23.4 million worldwide, making it a hit for distributor Neon, and soon we’re going to be getting Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft The Tour (Live In 3D), which she co-directed with legendary filmmaker James Cameron.

Frueh, executive vice president of content acquisitions and programming at Trafalgar, said that while the goal is always to recoup one’s investment, a concert film lives on forever and continues to accrue value.

“You’re sitting on an asset, an asset that you’re going to have for years and years,” she said during Pollstar Live! at Loews Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles. “Something happens—say an anniversary—you can bring it back. There are so many ways to monetize it once you have that tangible asset.”

Nast, who moderated the panel, noted that Trafalgar celebrated the 60^th anniversary of the Grateful Dead with a rerelease of The Grateful Dead Movie, and it was a hit with fans. Indie movie company A24 did something similar with the Talking Heads movie Stop Making Sense, which grossed over $5 million in theaters and became a viral hit on social media with videos showing fans dancing in the aisles.

Woltman, who managed Twenty One Pilots, and Mulderig have seen firsthand how such a venture can positively impact artists and their fans.

With Twenty One Pilots visiting Mexico’s iconic Estadio GNP Seguros, a stadium designed for live music, the band wanted to capture a special performance in front of 60,000-plus fans.

“We thought we should capture it to memorialize this moment of going into stadiums and having 65,000 people,” Woltman said. “As we inched closer to it, we started to realize we really tackle this in a way that it’s going to bring the live experience to life and to capture it and make it a moment that fans around the world would be able to experience with us. And what that meant to the band’s career, being a band that’s never skipped steps on the live side. To wake up and to be walking into a sold-out stadium in Mexico City, about as far away from Columbus, Ohio, where the guys started 15 years ago, in front of 65,000 people, was a moment we thought would be special.”

To be able to share that moment with fans all over the world was what made the effort worthwhile to Woltman. In Mulderig’s case with Ghost, it not only recorded a momentous occasion for the band at the iconic Kia Forum but also served as a bridge between cycles.

“We actually used it as a marketing tool to get us from one end of the cycle to another,” she said. “We actually did very well and felt that we wanted to reward the fans and give them something.”

They recorded two shows at the Forum and went so far as to ban cellphones at the venue, a move that gave fans who couldn’t afford a ticket to one of the concerts access via their local movie theater.

“[We could] bring some fans up to speed on the lore and really knock the socks off those who were on the fence, not knowing if they liked them or who they were.”

Wrench is accustomed to knocking the socks off fans, having directed concert films for Taylor Swift, BTS, Lizzo, Billie Eilish and Laufey. He says his approach to making such movies depends on the artist’s goals, whether they want to translate a certain experience or expand their creative reach.

While box office success is nice, Wrench says such projects are truly a labor of love, and he just wants to come out of them with pride.

“Director-wise, you want to be proud of it,” he says. “You want the artist to be proud of it, and you want to get your money back.”

It’s also about making something the fans can be proud of.

“I saw so many posts of the fans celebrating in theaters all around the world,” Woltman said. “To look at 300 kids in Prague or in Perth who are experiencing this movie from this band that has developed over a decade and a half playing the show in Mexico City, there’s a magic in that. It has nothing to do with money or all these other things that are kind of the engine that makes it all work.”