Live Nation Claims ‘Live Music’s Biggest Year Yet’ with Record $23B Earnings in 2024

Live Nation has continued to highlight its stranglehold of the industry with its 2024 full-year earnings report, revealing a record $23.1 billion in revenue, dubbed “live music’s biggest year yet.”

According to the promoter, 151 million people attended nearly 55,000 Live Nation events in 2024, showcasing an increase of 4% year-over-year. Additionally, the company said 60 million fans attended shows at venues operated by its venue operating division Venue Nation, marking an increase by double digits from the previous year.

There was a 3% year-over-year increase in revenue to a total of $23.16 billion and adjusted operating income grew 14% year-over-year to $2.15 billion. Revenue specifically from concerts totaled $19.02 billion last year — an increase of 2% year-over-year. In the last quarter of 2024, concert revenue totaled $4.58 billion, which is down 6% year-over-year.

Live Nation’s ticketing subsidiary Ticketmaster sold 637 million tickets in 2024, an increase by 2.7%, with ticketing revenue coming in at $2.99 billion. In Q4, Ticketmaster sold 176 million tickets.

Find Live Nation’s key metrics below, versus the prior year:

• Operating income of $825 million
• Adjusted operating income of $2.15 billion
• Adjusted operating income for concerts at a record high, up 65% to $530 million with margins of 2.8%
• Concert attendance up 4%, with 151 million fans attending over 50k Live Nation events, up 9%
• Sponsorship adjusted operating income of $764 million, up 13%

“2024 was live music’s biggest year yet, as artists toured the world and fans turned out in record numbers,” Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino said in a statement.

Live Nation and Ticketmaster have freely acted as venue owners, operators, ticket sellers, and promoters simultaneously since its merger in 2010 — eliminating further competition — and their numbers fall in-line. The company plans to add 20 large venues to its catalog through 2026.

Over the past year, Live Nation has acquired venues like The Paramount in Huntington and Toronto’s Rogers Stadium, though with each acquisition, they’ve received backlash from fans. Portland, Oregon — one of the last larger cities in the U.S. that doesn’t have a venue owned by Live Nation — saw complaints from music fans across the city that the conglomerate would ruin Portland’s vibrant indie music scene.

Fans also lashed out at the National Capital Commission after announcing it signed an offer to lease an agreement with Live Nation Canada to operate a new live music venue in downtown Ottawa. A similar situation ensued when Live Nation quietly bought Brooklyn’s Bell House and after news broke that Live Nation would be involved in the return of Vans Warped Tour.

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Despite its record earnings, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have been targeted in an antitrust lawsuit, brought forth by the Department of Justice and 39 states, as well as the District of Columbia. The suit aims to break-up the pair, citing anticompetitive and monopolistic practices.

CFO Joe Berchtold noted on an earnings call Thursday that while the company hopes for a change of approach to antitrust action with the new federal administration, “the person that you would discuss it with has not been approved yet, not been appointed,” so until then, “there’s nothing we can do.” While a trial date is set for 2026, Berchtold said questioned, “is there a path towards a resolution with the DOJ that doesn’t lead to a trial?”

| READ: Live Nation Execs Hope Trump Win Spells Doom for Antitrust Case | 

“We’ve said in the last administration, there was really no interest in any discussion on settlement,” Berchtold said. “So we’re hoping that this DOJ returns to a more traditional approach.”

In 2025, Live Nation has already sold 65 million tickets to its own concerts, while Ticketmaster has transacted 106 million tickets so far. Rapino said that artists touring this year who toured during 2022 to 2024 “are averaging double-digit growth in tickets sold per show and gross revenue per show.”

“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,” Rapino said. “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.”