The Biz: Live Nation Yearly Earnings; TikTok Exec Moves To Apple; K-Pop’s NewJeans Turmoil; WNBA Expansion

Live Nation Books Another Record Revenue Year, Looks Toward An Even Rosier 2025

Live Nation Entertainment reported record revenues of more than $23.1 billion in 2024, a 2% edge over 2023.

In its year-end earnings report, released after markets closed Thursday, the live giant reported quarterly earnings of $5.68 billion, down 2% from the same quarter in 2023. Still, that’s a beat over analyst expectations for the quarter, with the consensus set at $5.54 billion. On the bottom line for the quarter, LN booked a loss per share of $0.56, a big surprise beat, as analysts had grown bearish in recent weeks, predicting losses in the $1.19 per share range. For the year, LN finished with operating income of $824.5 million.

In line with the top number, growth was modest for the year across all sectors. Concert revenue checked in at $19 billion, up 2% against 2023, with the fourth quarter number of $4.58 billion down 6% against the same time in 2023. Year-long ticketing revenues of $2.99 billion were in line with 2023’s number, boosted by a 14% jump in the fourth quarter. It was a record three months for Ticketmaster with $841 million in revenue. Sponsorship continues to be a growth segment for LN. After finishing 2023 with more than $1 billion in sponsorship revenue for the first time, the company added another $100 million this year for a 9% year-on-year improvement.

“2024 was live music’s biggest year yet, as artists toured the world and fans turned out in record numbers. 2025 is shaping up to be even bigger thanks to a deep global concert pipeline, with more stadium shows on the books than ever before. To help artists perform to fans everywhere, we remain focused on building new music-centric venues, which make more live music memories possible and help drive our double-digit operating income and AOI growth in 2025, and compound at this level for years to come,” Michael Rapino, president and CEO, said in a statement. “At the same time, we’re investing back into the industry for those who create the music, as our investments in artists have more than doubled in the last five years, and we will continue to find new ways to support them while enhancing the fan experience.”

Despite slower stadium traffic — a talking point all year for the concert industry in general and Live Nation specifically, which saw a 30% in stadium shows — fan count hit 151 million for the year, driven by increases at arenas and amphitheaters.

Looking forward, Live Nation expects a return to stadiums in ’25, with the pipeline pacing 60% ahead of 2024. The increased stadium business plus growth in international markets has driven future ticket sales north of 65 million, up double digits from the same time in 2024, with deferred revenue of $3.3 billion, an 11% jump on last year. First week on-sales are selling through at a higher rate than last year and recently touring artists — those who toured between 2022 and 2024 — are seeing double digit growth for 2025.

The company predicts stadium shows in the middle two quarters of 2025 to drive its growth for the year. There are Q1 concerns in the Latin American market as most currencies are expected to fall against the dollar during the time when the LatAm market is typically busiest.

Transacted tickets from Ticketmaster are at 106 million for 2025, largely driven by the concert business. And in line with the trend on sponsorships, more than 75% of the contracts are filled, up double digits from last year.

On the venue side, Live Nation expects to add 20 “large venues” through 2026, including stadium projects in Bogota and Toronto. Fan count at operated venues is expected to grow by 5 million. Capital expenditures will be north of $900 million, with the possibility of hitting $1 billion.

TikTok’s Top Music Exec Moves To Apple

Ole Obermann, who has been Global Head of Music Business Development at TikTok parent ByteDance for more than five years, is leaving the company.

In an internal memo obtained by Music Business Worldwide, Obermann wrote,  “I am proud to have played a role in bringing so many people the joy of music while at TikTok … We have an amazing team and leadership and music will continue to thrive and evolve on TikTok.”

Obermann is widely credited with turning what was a popular short-form video social media site into a force in music discovery. He’ll be replaced by Tracy Gardner who joined ByteDance in November 2019 as Head of Label Licensing. Prior to that, she was Warner Music’s Senior Vice President of Global Business Development and Strategy.

Sources tell MBW Obermann is staying in the online music space in a business development role at Apple Music.

Obermann shepherded TikTok through the loss — and eventual return — of Universal Music Group’s catalog to TikTok and inked the first-of-its-kind deal with Taylor Swift to feature her catalog concomitant with the launch of the “Eras Tour” and release of The Tortured Poets Department.

Industry Groups Say NewJeans Move Could Break K-pop

A coalition of five trade groups is urging the Korean government to take steps to stop “tampering” in the wake of NewJeans split with label ADOR and subsequent rebranding as NJZ.

The Korea Management Federation, the Korea Entertainment Producer’s Association, the Record Label Industry Association of Korea, the Recording Industry Association of Korea, and the Korea Music Content Association wrote in the Korea Times that if the government doesn’t do more to prevent attempts to lure artists away from exclusive contracts, the entire business model of K-pop could collapse, particularly if foreign capital gets involved.

The groups’ statement didn’t mention NJZ explicitly, though it did reference former ADOR CEO Min Hee-Jinn who allegedly was behind the effort to get NewJeans out from ADOR. Just ahead of their rebranding, the members of NewJeans held a press conference alleging that ADOR had “neither the ability nor the will to protect” NewJeans.

The dispute between NewJeans and ADOR is playing out in court with the latter saying the group doesn’t have the ability to unilaterally terminate their deal and seeking an injunction to prevent performances.

Last April, K-pop giant and ADOR parent company HYBE said Min had attempted to take the label out of the HYBE umbrella. He was replaced as CEO months later with indications that NewJeans sided with him rather than HYBE.

WNBA Likely To Flee To The Cleve, But More Expansion Is Likely

The latest round of expansion announcements for the WNBA is close to completion. The Golden State Valkyries will begin play this year with the Toronto Tempo and an as-yet-unnamed franchise in Portland, Oregon, joining in 2026. League commissioner Cathy Engelbert has made it clear she wants to be at 16 teams by 2028 and it seems all but certain that the last slot will go to Cleveland.

That leaves other bids out in the cold. There’s been interest from groups in Boston, Miami, Philadelphia, Detroit, Houston and Nashville, all of whom were seen as possibilities for that 16th team. Because of the interest and solidity of the putative ownership groups — and because interest in the WNBA is at an all-time high — there is speculation that the league will expand to 18 teams instead.