Arthur Fogel: ‘Business has never been healthier’

Live Nation’s president, global touring and chairman of concerts Arthur Fogel has discussed ticket pricing, fresh headliners and U2’s Sphere residency in a new interview.

Fogel, who tours superstars such as Beyoncé, U2, Madonna and Lady Gaga, defended the price of concert ticket prices, arguing the business has always been “underpriced”.

Speaking to The Globe and Mail, the Canadian promoter said: “There’s no question some tickets are very high, but also some tickets are very cheap and affordable, and as with anything in life, you can make that choice.

“I have always believed we are underpriced as an industry. You want anybody to be able to afford a ticket, but artists deserve to make a living and a profit. These productions are incredibly expensive to mount and operate on a weekly basis. There’s this perception that a high ticket price means outrageous profit margins, and the truth is, it doesn’t.

“The aim of the pricing model is to satisfy the range of buyers. The top-price ticket always gets the headline, right? But that $15 ticket—I can’t imagine what it cost to run that show back then, but probably not very much.”

“There are incredible big-picture advantages to a global deal for artists”

Fogel, who was named International Promoter of the Year at this month’s Pollstar Awards, worked on the Rolling Stones’ groundbreaking 1989 Steel Wheels Tour while at Canada’s CPI with Michael Cohl, and pointed out the globalisation of the music business has evolved “unbelievably” since the early days of his career.

“When we started, there were 15 to 20 countries in play on an itinerary for an artist, and now there’s 70-plus,” he said. “The development that you’ve seen in Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, has really opened up what a global tour is in 2024.

“There are incredible big-picture advantages to a global deal for artists. Everything from the financial stability and the ability for us to make artists more money, but also from a marketing, profile-raising perspective with the great assets that we have. They look to us to provide a consistency and an execution on a global basis, as opposed to having to go to different people a hundred times over the course of a tour.”

He continued: “There’s a younger generation of headline artists that fill arenas and stadiums, different genres – the Latin world, comedy, country, K-pop – that have developed and exploded. The audience has expanded. And if you look at any of these legendary artists, whether it’s the Stones or U2, they have also regenerated their audience. If you go to an AC/DC show, I guarantee you’re going to see a lot of kids there. So the business has never been healthier.”

Referencing U2’s groundbreaking U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere residency in Las Vegas, Fogel suggested the live sector still needed to up its game on green matters.

“As an industry, I think we need to do a better job with sustainability”

“As an industry, I think we need to do a better job with sustainability,” he said. “The mass of a show – more trucks, more planes, more this, more that – is part of what creates the issue. That’s why Sphere in Las Vegas, and the venue concept, is so exciting. Because it’s about the venue and how the venue is constructed technologically, as opposed to bringing tons of shit to create the experience. The U2 show is brilliant. But on that level, it’s exciting because it really changes the dynamic of show presentation in a responsible way.”

Fogel was also quick to defend Live Nation against monopoly accusations.

“I think the facts clearly support that’s not true in the slightest,” he said. “There’s no question we’re a big company, and we’re successful. But we’re really good at what we do. Maybe others need to get better at what they do, to come at us better. It’s not something I spend a lot of time thinking about.

“I think we created a business model that is very attractive to artists and their managers and representatives. We’re really good at maximising ticket sales and artists’ revenue, and catering to their needs and supporting them when they need it.”

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