Most musicians make the bulk of their income from shows and tours. The recent cancellations of concerts across the country threatens the livelihoods of most acts as well as the venues that showcase their work.
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The Taylor Swifts, Lady Gagas and Rolling Stones often do, but for mid- and entry-level acts it’s far more challenging given the overhead costs of performing live. Artists not only need to pay musicians who support them onstage but split their nightly takes among members of their road crews, sound engineers, stage and lighting designers, booking agents, managers, merchandise suppliers and vendors and myriad others who are indispensable parts of the touring profession.
It’s a comparable situation for the promoters and venues that put on these shows. The giants are considered capable of weathering the coronavirus storm, but it may represent an existential threat to some independent promoters and grass-roots level clubs and theaters. Of the nearly $22 billion in ticket revenue sold globally for live music events in 2019, Live Nation promoted about 60% of those shows, AEG handled roughly 30% and the other 10% were organized by indie promotion firms.
“This throws a huge wrench in the business at a bad time,” said Ray Waddell, who covered the concert industry for nearly 30 years for Billboard and is now president of Oak View Group, which owns Pollstar, the concert tracking publication. “The ripples are massive. There’s a whole economy built around this, a massive machine for every tour that gets rolling. You hate to see it ground to a halt. It hasn’t ground to a halt yet, but there is a huge cloud hovering over it.
Thursday’s announcement brought a dizzying cascade of tour and concert cancellations or postponements, including the debut tour of 18-year-old phenom Billie Eilish, rock band Pearl Jam, veteran pop stars Celine Dion and Cher, English rock band the Who, New York rockers the Strokes, country superstars Kenny Chesney and Reba McEntire and adult pop vocalist Michael Buble, as well as high-profile music world events such as...
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