(CelebrityAccess) — 2024 was a year of extremes for the live entertainment industry: historic earnings from tours like Taylor Swift’s Eras and Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres were met with the closure of key music festivals and growing scrutiny of industry giants. From groundbreaking tech developments to legal battles, this year has shaped the future of live music in unexpected ways.
2024 saw record-breaking tours by artists such as Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, which grossed more than $2 billion, becoming the highest-grossing tour in history, and Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres World Tour, which grossed more than a billion and included sold-out shows at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico and Lyon’s Groupama Stadium.
Other major tours in 2024 included Bruce Springsteen’s Trustfall Tour and Madonna’s Celebrations Tour, which wrapped in May after grossing more than $225 million.
Live Nation continued its market dominance in 2024, but profit margins narrowed across much of the industry as the year wore on. Additionally, the independent sector faced turmoil in key market segments such as festivals, where numerous events around the world were forced to pause planning or came to an end amid a sharp increase in costs and slowing ticket sales.
Some of the festivals that fell by the wayside in 2024 include Electric Zoo, Desert Daze, Lollapalooza’s Stockholm and Paris expansions, Nocturnal Wonderland, Primavera Sound’s South American expansions, Rebels & Renegades, and the Suwannee Roots Revival, among numerous others. Still more events announced that 2024 would be their final year, including Melt! and the Sideways Festival, among others.
Live Nation also faced renewed legislative scrutiny in 2024. In May of this year, the U.S. Department of Justice and attorneys general from 29 states and the District of Columbia filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment. The suit claims that Live Nation exercises monopoly power over the North American concert industry, leveraging its position through anticompetitive behavior, leading to higher prices and reduced service quality for consumers, artists, and venues.
Over the next few months, additional state attorneys general joined the suit, which seeks to potentially dismantle the company. The lawsuit remains active, but with President-elect Donald Trump set to resume office in January, it remains unclear how the regulatory landscape will change in the coming months.
The music publishing business continued to be one of the bright spots for the industry, and the trend of high-profile catalog sales continued in 2024. Major catalog deals in 2024 include Sony’s acquisition of Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson’s catalog for a reported $600 million and $400 million, respectively while Sony was reportedly in talks to acquire the catalog of legendary British rock band Queen in a deal worth $1 billion.
The music world also saw the sale of the music IP investment vehicle, the Hipgnosis Songs Fund, to private equity giant Blackstone for $1.6 billion following years of behind the scenes turmoil. The bid surpassed a previous $1.4 from rival Concord.
Hipgnosis founder Merck Mercuriadis subsequently accused his former partner, Blackstone, of misappropriating funds from Hipgnosis and alleged fraud in the deal, according to The Guardian.
2024 was also a transformative year for the music industry on the technology front, with large language models and generative AI exploding onto the scene. Major labels such as Universal Music Group were quick to adopt the technology, but concerns across the industry were raised about the impact of the technology on human creators and the use of copyrighted material in training these A.I. systems.
At the same time, terrestrial radio, long a key distribution platform for music, continued its struggle to remain relevant in the world of digital delivery. Last month, iHeartRadio, a major broadcasting conglomerate, announced a round of layoffs that impacted both behind-the-scenes and on-air staff in markets around the country. Radio listenership has declined, and station revenue has been on a steady decline as well, only partially reversing the falloff during the pandemic, according to data compiled by Pew Research.
2024 also saw the retirement of multiple music legends, including Aerosmith, who hung up their spurs this year. On the country front, Alan Jackson, Lee Greenwood, and John Michael Montgomery all stepped away from the stage, as did the Oak Ridge Boys, who retired from touring after the departure of several members, including Joe Bonsall, who died in July after a battle with ALS.
This year also saw rap feuds spill over into court after rapper Drake launched a lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify, alleging that they conspired to use inflated streaming numbers to boost Kendrick Lamar’s diss track, “Not Like Us.” Drake’s company, Frozen Moments LLC, also filed pre-action petitions accusing UMG of a criminal conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, alleging the use of payments and bots to increase the track’s visibility.
Finally, 2024 saw the passing of numerous artists and industry legends, including Slim Dunlop, Quincy Jones, Zakir Hussein, Toby Keith, Liam Payne, Kris Kristofferson, Phil Lesh, Jim Beard, Peter Morgan, David Farrell, Paul Roper, Roy Haynes, Steve Morse, Paul Di’Anno, Johnny Neel, Cissy Houston, J.D. Souther, Frankie Beverly, Herbie Flowers, Rich Homie Quan, Sergio Mendes, Jack Long, Tom Campbell, Fatman Scoop, Theresa Chambers, Maxie Solters, Jody Frisch, Greg Kihn, Eric Gardner, Chris York, Don Buchwald, Abdul “Duke” Fakir, Jerry Fuller, Eddie Rosenblatt, Bob Newhart, John Mayall, Larry Vallon, Joe Egan, Mary Martin, James Chance, Jeremy Tepper, Doug Ingle, Charlie Collin, Steve Albini, Duane Eddy, Joe Bonsall, David Sanborn, Jean-Pierre Ferlin, Sir Andrew Davis, Horst Franz, Garry Von Egmond, Michael McMartin, Frank Pestello, Pegi Cicconi, Steve Harley, Bo$$, Eric Carmen, Karl Wallinger, Britt Turner, Steve Lawrence, Eleanor Collin, Richard Lewis, Roni Stoneman, Jimmy Van Eaton, Seiji Ozawa, Mojo Nixon, Aston Barrett, Wayne Kramer, Larry Wanagas, Dick Waterman, Frank Farian, Mary Weiss, Gary Dean Smith, Mike Hinc, Jo-El Sonnier, Annie Nightingale, and Les McCann, among others.
