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Country Profile: USA

The world’s leading promoters & the 55 top markets they operate in.
Click the interactive map below to explore the top 55 global markets.

The largest music market in the world by revenue has long been an attractive goal for international artists – cracking the USA often leads to significant rewards. Yet it’s a complicated market, and its size means making it there isn’t straightforward.

Live Nation, headquartered in Beverly Hills, dominates both the US and world markets, grossing $4bn and taking the top promoter spot in Pollstar’s 2023 Q3 global rankings.

In descending order, other major US-based promoters ranked by Pollstar include AEG Presents (2), Messina Touring Group (4), Cárdenas Marketing Network (8), Outback Presents (12), MSG Entertainment (13), Feld Entertainment (14), Another Planet Entertainment (21), Nederlander Concerts (26), Loud And Live (27), and the Black Promoters Collective (28).

National Promoters
Because the US landscape is varied and vast, national promoters often have stakes in more localised, regional companies.

Live Nation has a variety of subsidiary companies, including Texas-based C3 Presents, which produces events including Austin City Limits Music Festival and Lollapalooza’s flagship event; Alabama’s Red Mountain Entertainment, covering the southern region; venue operator House of Blues; and OCESA, Mexico’s largest promoter, which brings Latin content to the US and beyond.

CEO and president Michael Rapino told a Q2 investors call: “I think everyone thought ’22 was the record year, and we were headed into an air pocket, and we’ve blown the doors off in ’23. We believe for the next multiple years that this industry, in general, is going to have a growth surge on a global basis.” The company also has its ticketing arm, Ticketmaster, which has a significant market share.

“I think everyone thought ’22 was the record year, and we were headed into an air pocket, and we’ve blown the doors off in ’23. We believe for the next multiple years that this industry, in general, is going to have a growth surge on a global basis.”

Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) has a variety of ventures, including AEG Presents, Los Angeles-based Concerts West, East Coast-focused The Bowery Presents, Coachella Music Festival organisers Goldenvoice, Taylor Swift’s exclusive promoter Messina Touring Group, and global firm Marshall Arts, among others.

AEG also has a ticketing arm in AXS and a stake in venues giant ASM Global, which operates LA’s Crypto.com Arena, Las Vegas’s Allegiant Stadium, and Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, to name a few.

Operating in multiple spaces is how some companies rise to the top of the promoter chain. That strategy has worked well for the Black Promoters Collective (BPC), a coalition of six of the leading US concert promoters and event producers.

Officially formed in 2021, the BPC grew out of pandemic lockdowns, with the founders realising that “there’s a synergistic factor at play: we’re stronger together, we’re better together, we have complementary skills together; some overlap but some are distinct,” says Shahida Mausi, CSO and SVP of BPC and president and CEO of Detroit-based The Right Productions.

“there’s a synergistic factor at play: we’re stronger together, we’re better together, we have complementary skills together; some overlap but some are distinct”

“We’re doing shows all across the country, from arena shows to small clubs, to help fill the talent pool that will fuel the next rounds of theatre and arena tours,” she says.

Along with bolstering the grassroots movement across the US, the cooperative has put on shows with Mary J. Blige, Anita Baker, and Maxwell over the past year. Their members operate across the country, from “Oakland to New York, Texas to Michigan,” the latter of which includes Mausi’s 5,000-cap Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre waterfront venue in Detroit.

“We have our hands in a lot of different communities,” says Mausi. “Music connects cultures, it reflects the values of people and reinforces them. What we put on stage is important; we’re responsible for what we put on the stage and make sure that it is quality. And it’s a contribution to the places in which we play.”

“People didn’t really see us coming. We made some significant moves and did some major tours. And I think we demonstrated that, as promoters, we’ve got chops across this country”

Ranking 28th on Pollstar’s Q3 global rankings, the BPC has made massive strides in the two years it has been in operation.

“People didn’t really see us coming. We made some significant moves and did some major tours. And I think we demonstrated that, as promoters, we’ve got chops across this country,” Mausi says. “In the next 20 years, I see a thriving, dynamic, sophisticated business operation that serves artists and communities with integrity and respect.”

Genres
Some promoters are capitalising on the rising popularity of genres such as Latin, K-pop, and country.

“Artists from outside of North America make up a large percentage of tours out there,” says Rich Schaefer, president of global touring at AEG Presents. “K-pop has exploded, and we have multiple tours going out or in the planning stages, [along with] tours from Spanish-speaking artists. Country music continues to be super strong, and there are more stadium acts in country than ever before.”

AEG Presents was behind Blackpink’s two-year Born Pink World Tour, during which the group headlined Coachella, BST Hyde Park, and sold over 1.5m tickets.

“K-pop has exploded, and we have multiple tours going out or in the planning stages, [along with] tours from Spanish-speaking artists. Country music continues to be super strong, and there are more stadium acts in country than ever before.”

The country genre is picking up steam worldwide, with singer-songwriter Luke Combs playing arenas across Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Canada, and stadiums in the US during his 2023 world tour. Other artists like Jon Pardi, Darius Rucker, and Morgan Wallen will venture into Europe and the UK within the next year, while Shania Twain and Carrie Underwood are both gearing up for Las Vegas residencies in 2024.

In the South, Loud And Live is launching Miami’s first premiere country music festival. Country Bay Music Festival will host Thomas Rhett, Sam Hunt, and Chris Young, among others.

“Although traditionally known for its association with American culture, we saw that country music has surprisingly found resonance within the Hispanic communities in Miami. This can be attributed to the growing influence of second- and third-generation Latin-Americans who have embraced country music, creating a surge in its consumption and popularity in the region,” Gilbert Paz, VP of live entertainment business operations, told IQ.

In 2019, Loud And Live joined forces with MOVE Concerts, the biggest independent concert promoter in Latin America, which has a US headquarters in Miami. Both have since been major promoters of the Latin genre across the US and Puerto Rico.

“Although traditionally known for its association with American culture, we saw that country music has surprisingly found resonance within the Hispanic communities in Miami. This can be attributed to the growing influence of second- and third-generation Latin-Americans who have embraced country music, creating a surge in its consumption and popularity in the region”

In the past year, MOVE focussed on bringing Brazilian artists north, and Fabiano De Queiroz, VP of talent and tours, reports that new audiences of the Latin genre are being built in the US.

“It is an exciting time for a vibrant and extensive catalogue of amazing talent,” De Queiroz says. “We now promote artists from all over the world – Asia, Europe, UK, USA, LatAm – so there’s a need for sensitivity to cultural nuances.”

MOVE has promoted shows for Bad Bunny, Karol G, and Eladio Carrion across both its primary LatAm market and in the US. Latin audiences are certainly driving trends, with Bad Bunny’s World’s Hottest Tour topping Pollstar’s North American rankings for 2022. The Cardenas Marketing Network (CMN) and Live Nation-promoted stadium tour grossed $356m with over 1.65m tickets sold over 43 shows.

“This demonstrates the strength of our music and the power of Hispanic entrepreneurship,” Alex Cardenas, CMN’s director of touring, said in a statement. CMN focuses primarily on Latin entertainment, promoting tours by Daddy Yankee, Marc Anthony, and Ana Gabriel within the past year.

“It is huge for Latin music, and unprecedented, and a remarkable accomplishment on its own, regardless of genre, to see an artist of his age reaching those heights is just something that makes it very promising for us, of what the future holds”

“It is huge for Latin music, and unprecedented, and a remarkable accomplishment on its own, regardless of genre, to see an artist of his age reaching those heights is just something that makes it very promising for us, of what the future holds,” Live Nation’s SVP of global touring, Hans Schafer, told Pollstar.

Grassroots
With the national promoter landscape difficult to challenge, many US promoters operate on a more regional level – while maintaining operations in many different ventures.

In Wichita, Kansas, two individuals are taking a more localised approach to building audiences and artists themselves.

Beyond their efforts through Hartke Presents, Jessie and Adam Hartke are also founding partners of D-Tour, a network of independent venues and promoters; operators of two Wichita venues; and are leading members of Midtopia, a local artist development initiative.

“Promotion is just one part of the overall ecosystem, and we’re trying to bolster our local music ecosystem right now,” Jessie says. “We’re trying to take into account as many variables as we can to help ensure that we’re creating a healthy economy for venues, artists, and music workers to thrive.”

“We’re trying to take into account as many variables as we can to help ensure that we’re creating a healthy economy for venues, artists, and music workers to thrive.”

She explains that their construction of independent networks came after they witnessed a lack of infrastructure and resources for emerging artists and music workers in tertiary markets.

“Culture doesn’t need to come from a primary market; culture and art can come from anywhere, regardless of the size of your city.

“As we’re seeing this boom in the creative class, we are also trying to allow for more freedom of thought. It’s become evident that when you have arts and music coming out of only a few areas, that art tends to be homogenised, and we’re trying to allow the voices from across the country to thrive.”

Challenges
The post-pandemic period has been a rollercoaster, with the industry “yet to find a new normal,” says Jessie. Domestic and international artists alike are having an increasingly challenging time touring the US post-pandemic. Concerts West COO Kelly DiStefano says a challenge her team is facing is the lead times for processing visas and permits.

In July, plans to hike visa costs by over 250% were paused, though rates could still rise as soon as March 2024. Apart from the core band members, visas are integral to getting crew and tour personnel into the US. For metal band Machine Head, issues with work visas are what led to the cancellation of their spring tour (half the band and a number of key crew live outside the US, the band said in a statement).

Beyond visas themselves, the costs of touring the US are becoming increasingly unsustainable. Within the last year, Little Simz, Santigold, Metronomy, and Easy Life have all cancelled planned North American tours, with the latter saying, “the world seems to cost 10x as much as it used to right now.”

Ticket costs are another topic in the spotlight for the US market, with companies going all-in on reform to better serve their consumers. With dynamic primary ticket pricing; unregulated secondary ticketing; scalping and bot activity; plus added fees, ticket buying has never been as tumultuous as it is today.

“Customers think that price gouging in the secondary markets are real prices that artists, venues, and promoters are driving, and that’s not the case. It’s impacting the ability of promoters, venues, and artists to get fans in seats,” BPC’s Mausi says.

“Customers think that price gouging in the secondary markets are real prices that artists, venues, and promoters are driving, and that’s not the case. It’s impacting the ability of promoters, venues, and artists to get fans in seats”

Legislation and company-wide changes are being enacted across the country, with all-in pricing being a popular point of reform for primary and secondary sellers.

Another change to concert promotion is the influence of social media marketing. “The means of marketing a show has moved almost entirely from traditional press to social media,” De Queiroz says.

Livestreams and bite-sized viral clips are a prominent feature of some of 2023’s hottest tours, including Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour, and Harry Styles’ Love on Tour, among others.

“I think authenticity from artists is what I’ve noticed that fans are looking for. I think audiences are becoming a little oversaturated with those trying to just get those viral hits, when they’re not seeing truly driven art,” Jessie Hartke says.

Saturation will remain a prominent element of the US market, but new tours and companies will continue to emerge in the hotbed of activity that is the world’s leading music market.

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