Live Nation CEO says tours and festivals will make a comeback this summer
Live Nation’s CEO Michael Rapino says there are unannounced global arena and stadium tours that are slated to start later this year and run into 2022.
As more Americans continue to get vaccinated and COVID-19 cases dwindle, more concerts will be announced this summer, according to Live Nation Entertainment President and CEO Michael Rapino.
In a recent conference call discussing the entertainment company’s financial results for the first quarter of 2021, Rapino mentioned Live Nation has had conversations with artists about scheduling tour dates safely, Deadline reports. Some acts are comfortable with performing this summer, while others prefer to wait until 2022.
“Artists are patient and smart,” he said. “We’re not looking to cram three years into one. Spread [the postponed tours] over two years and you find enough weekends.”
Rapino also mentioned there are unannounced global arena and stadium tours that are slated to start later this year and run into 2022. The pandemic ravaged the live music industry significantly. Artists, tour crews, security guards, venue workers and many more were affected by cancellations and global shutdowns. Live Nation’s quarterly revenues were decimated by 98% over the summer and 95% in the fall.
But Rapino is hopeful. He’s aware that many fans are anxious to go outside and attend concerts. Festivals like Bonnaroo, Electric Daisy Carnival and Rolling Loud sold out in record times. Many of the concert promoting company’s European festivals have also sold out.
Although concert revenue is increasing for the company and safety restrictions are slowly loosening, Live Nation will have to adapt to an increasingly virtual landscape. Rapino said he’s “very confident that the next couple of years” will include new models for subscription and ad-business ideas as well as NFTs becoming a big attraction.
The pandemic not only allowed Live Nation to think about how it can run more efficiently, but also think about what other new products will help the company think differently about the fan and the artist, Rapino mentioned.
Fabolous, Usher, Benny The Butcher, Machine Gun Kelly, Tech N9ne, Alicia Keys, and Lil Tjay are among the artists with concerts currently scheduled for dates this year.