Some of the top agents in the international live music business have revealed the emerging market they’re most excited about in 2025.

In the new year straw poll conducted by IQ, four different territories emerged, with Africa topping the list.

Africa
Africa’s potential for growth is perhaps best signalled by the number of live entertainment giants that expanded in the market in the past 12 months.

Last summer, Ticketmaster enhanced its presence in Africa by acquiring its leading ticketing platform Quicket, with the firm’s president Mark Yovich declaring “a new era of unparalleled growth for African entertainment”.

Meanwhile, parent company Live Nation announced two major venue projects in the territory including South Africa’s largest dedicated live entertainment space, The Dome (cap. 10,500), which is set to open in Johannesburg this month and a new 12,000-cap arena, opening in Lagos, Nigeria, in late 2025 with the help of Oak View Group.

These venues will fill critical gaps in their respective markets – where infrastructure has been sorely lacking – making touring a more viable prospect.

“I think the new arena in Lagos is a game changer that will result in more opportunities throughout the continent,” WME’s Tony Goldring tells IQ. “I’m most excited about the potential for artists to tour Africa.”

One Fiinix Live’s Jon Ollier is equally excited about the long-term development of Africa’s live music market.

“It is my belief that this market will really mature over the next 10 years and with such a huge population and emerging middle class the opportunities could be endless,” he tells IQ. “The influence that this market has on global recorded music and culture is already profound, so think of the impact it could have on live music!”

UTA’s Jules de Lattre echoes these thoughts, adding: “We are seeing significant recorded music growth fuelled by a rise in paid streaming subscribers. There is huge potential for growth in the region which should in turn impact the development of live infrastructures in major Sub-Saharan countries. I’m excited about all developments in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

“I think the new arena in Lagos is a game changer that will result in more opportunities throughout the continent”

India
India has successfully staked its claim as a global entertainment hub in the past 12 months, enticing a growing number of international stars and festival brands to the country.

Thanks to growing access to the internet and rapidly increasing demand for large-scale events, India’s meteoric growth looks set to continue.

“A few years ago there were hardly any international artists playing shows there…” says WME’s Josh Javor. “Within 12 months you now have Lollapalooza festival, Bandland festival, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Bryan Adams, Cigarettes After Sex and Dua Lipa all with successful shows.”

This year, Coldplay are set to play their biggest-ever shows at the 100,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad while Ed Sheeran will embark on his biggest-ever run in India – underscoring the country’s thirst for A-list artists.

“The record-breaking shows by Coldplay and the development of festival properties like Lollapalooza India, and the growth of the domestic music scene, are a few of the results of the continued investment and development of the live music infrastructure and music industry,” UTA’s Carlos Abreu tells IQ. “I feel that India is a market which we’re going to see growing tremendously in 2025 and beyond.”

“I hope Ukraine will be an emerging market again, that would excite me most if it happened”

Ukraine
“I hope Ukraine will be an emerging market again, that would excite me most if it happened,” Wasserman Music’s Alex Hardee tells IQ.

Amid curfews, bomb threats and a lack of infrastructure due to Russia’s ongoing invasion, Ukraine’s music industry has been defiant in adapting to the unprecedented circumstances.

In August 2023, Atlas programmer Vladyslav Yaremchuk told IQ: “Concerts are happening everywhere, even in frontline cities in shelters, even in trenches.”

The following year, Atlas festival took place for the first time since the Russian invasion in Kyiv’s Blockbuster Mall, with the underground car park to be used as a shelter in the event of an air siren.

On a larger scale, local pop artist Artem Pivovarov performed three sold-out shows at Kyiv Sports Palace, drawing 10,000 attendees each night.

Music Export Ukraine’s Dartsya Tarkovska called his most recent run “a great success story to note in these wild times”.

But while Ukraine rebuilds its domestic business, execs such as YOUROPE’s Christof Huber have encouraged the international live music industry not to forget about the ongoing war.

Central Asia
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, live music executives from the former country have migrated to neighbouring countries leading to an increase in live music activities in Central Asia.

Solo’s Charly Beedell-Tuck tells IQ she’s particularly excited about the growth in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

“Music trends are changing there due to the rapidly growing younger population in these countries (unlike most of Central Europe),” says Tuck.

“Increased migration to these countries is also changing the music patterns in these territories and making it a really exciting place to look at servicing with more shows and live music.”

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The live music industry’s staffing shortage, returning customer confidence and no-shows at concerts were high on the agenda in IQ’s latest Recovery Sessions event.

Chaired by the European Arenas Association Olivier Toth, the webinar explored the recovery of the arena market with the help of a heavyweight line-up of executives, including Coralie Berael (Forest National Arena), Tony Goldring (WME), Steve Homer, (AEG Presents), Hans Dhondt (Rock Werchter) and Paul Twomey (Bio Security Systems).

A key issue of debate was the loss of seasoned backstage workers to other industries during the pandemic.

“All venues and festivals are going to come together at some point and try to find their usual people, but a lot of them have left that pool,” said Berael. “We’re going to have to replace people and they’ll need training. They don’t have the necessary experience.

“The loss of talent is quite a concern. I’m not only worried about the quantity of staff, but especially the quality of staff and we are having to start a lot more upfront in finding the right people. Usually, even a week before, you can make a miracle and find the right people, but now you might need to start a lot earlier… It’s a real risk to business continuity and it’s one of the challenges that we’re facing at the moment.”

Homer suggested the issue had been exacerbated in the UK by Brexit.

“We had some issue trying to secure catering companies because they were struggling with staffing,” he said. “We’ve got a double whammy here with Brexit having an influence on people leaving the UK as well.

“There was a severe level of burnout, because we went from literally nothing in venues to almost 80/90%. People had been working for supermarkets or courier services, and then all of a sudden they’re thrown back into working full time in venues, operating as security, or stewarding, or local crew. So it’s been a tough baptism, shall we say, to come back.

“Luckily, the people that are in the industry are determined to make it successful, so a lot of people have gone the extra yard, or the extra mile in a lot of cases, to make sure that events have been happening.”

We’re quite confident for the next few months, but it will take time

Berael reported that, after a slow summer, ticket sales for shows were on the rise, with younger people especially keen to return to live events.

“Since there are a few mass events happening, we can see that the trust is growing again,” she said. “We see that in the curve of the ticket sales. It’s like people were waiting to see whether it went well, and whether there were long queues, etc. So we’re quite confident for the next few months, but it will take time.”

She added: “We communicated probably 500% more with our audience than we used to, just to make sure, in the first instance, that they knew the show was going to happen, to reassure them in a way.

“All the emails about how [the entry system was going to work] came afterwards… explaining to them and educating them about how it was going to work, so that they could already imagine the journey.”

As revealed by IQ last month, promoters have reported the rate of no-shows by ticket-holders at concerts has been far higher than usual.

“At the start of September, we were experiencing quite high levels of no shows – anything between 25% and 35% in some markets,” said Homer. “It does seem to have settled down a bit better this month. The no-show rate is dropping to between 10% and 15%.

“I’ve often equated this whole experience to the feeling of if you go to an outdoor swimming pool. There’s always someone that will go in first, and when that person surfaces, everyone on the side goes, ‘what was it like?’ And I think there’s an element of that that comes along with shows as well.

“It’s all about confidence, and I think the longer we go on without any further restrictions imposed or anything like that, the more comfortable people will be going to shows, going into those indoor environments, with mass audiences.”

With shows that have been announced more recently, you would expect the no-show numbers to be a lot less

Goldring shared an alternative theory for the high no-show level.

“I think we have different situations,” he said. “With a tour that went on sale in 2019 and has been rescheduled a number of times, some people just kind of forget about it, or maybe they’ve lost interest. So I think you’re going to have that scenario.

“With shows that have been announced more recently, you would expect the no-show numbers to be a lot less.”

He continued: “The thing that’s really put a smile on my face is that artists have just loved performing again. They’ve been stuck at home like all of us and, suddenly, they’ve had that interaction with the audience that they haven’t had for so long, and they’ve loved it. So that’s very positive for all of us.”

The Recovery Sessions, supported by ASM Global and Goodtill, is a series of fortnightly webinars designed to keep the live music industry updated about the international roadmap to reopening. All Recovery Sessions events are free to access for IQ subscribers.

To subscribe to IQ for just £5.99 a month, click here.

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The line-up has been finalised for the next must-see Recovery Sessions event, which takes place tomorrow (21 October) at 16.00 BST and is free to watch.

Joining chair Olivier Toth (chair of EAA) are Coralie Berael (Forest National Arena), Tony Goldring (William Morris Endeavour), Steve Homer, (AEG Presents) and Paul Twomey (Bio Security Systems), who will be exploring the recovery of the arena market.

Recovery Sessions: Arenas Working Together will look at how these principal touring grounds are working collectively to reignite the live music sector – from new developments in mitigation measures and strategies, to new and more collaborative actions across the venue space.

Beyond Covid-19, with sustainability now a must-tackle issue, and the ongoing race to provide the perfect customer experience, these industry heads will discuss what lies ahead for the arena sector.

The Recovery Sessions, supported by ASM Global and Goodtill, is a series of fortnightly webinars designed to keep the live music industry updated about the international roadmap to reopening. All Recovery Sessions events are free to access for IQ subscribers.

With sustainability now a must-tackle issue, these industry heads will discuss what lies ahead for the arena sector

The first Recovery Sessions event took place on 13 May, hosting high-level discussions on the issues around vaccine passports, the takeaways from this year’s major pilot events, and the road to recovery from the points of view of industry leaders.

The second edition took place on 17 June, hosting topical debates and discussions on the issues around insurance, the top mitigation measures and the importance of political relationships will be in a post-Covid world.

And the third took place on 22 July, quizzing HR heads about the various challenges they face as key markets reopen for business, as well as the opportunities to ‘build back better’ by spreading the recruitment net as wide as possible to help the industry become more diverse, equal and equitable.

To watch the Recovery Sessions: Arenas Working Together panel live on Thursday (21 October), simply head to the dedicated Recovery Sessions page on the website or IQ‘s Facebook page for 16.00 BST/17.00 CEST.

As with the first three events, the session will be available to watch back on demand for IQ subscribers.

To subscribe to IQ for just £5.99 a month, click here.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.