New figures from Pollstar about the Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) live music sector show it is experiencing such growth that the magazine’s editors hailed it as “one of the healthiest live sectors in the world.”
Many of the senior ANZ executives interviewed for the 20-page inset reported that business was healthy and diverse, despite challenges, during Pollstar’s reporting period for the last 12 months (August 2023 to July 31, 2023).
The magazine was particularly impressed by the growth of audiences, sparked by promoters offering A-list headliners, savvy understanding of marketing to a changing audience, state-of-the-art productions, immersive experiences and multi-act packages to offset the impact of cost-of-living.
40% of those at Taylor Swift’s seven shows attended a concert for the first time in February. P!nk sold 975,000 tickets, up from the 635,000 on her last visit.
“I’ve seen some sales double the population or double the disposable or both,” Live Nation ANZ president Michael Coppel told the magazine. “We’ve seen phenomenal ticket sales and a great deal of excitement among fans for the tours that we and our competitors are doing.”
More touring acts in different career stages successfully played larger venues, noted Dion Brant, CEO of Frontier Touring, which notched up 112 tours in the last financial year.
“Things accelerated for those acts who connected to the crowds, made them feel part of the show and had got into the pathway building their catalogues. It was fantastic to see when it happened.”
The collapse of long-time festivals such as Splendour, Falls and Groovin’ The Moo was dismissed as a cyclical change as audience tastes changed, similar to the end of the run ten years ago for the once-indestructible multi-city mega-events Big Day Out (whose collective attendance hit 337,000 in 2010) and Soundwave.
Promoters
TEG was the top performer on the Top 25 Promoters list, which grossed US$151.8 million from selling 1.77 million tickets in this region.
At #2 were Frontier Touring ($97.9 million from just over 1 million tickets) and Live Nation, whose sales of 857, 261 generated $88.5 million.
Impressive listings on the list were by relative young guns Destroy All Lines, Untitled Group and Handsome Tours in the 4th, 5th and 6th place.
Destroy All Lines posted a 250% rise in business from 2023 to $57 million. It sold 705,507 tickets and clocked 65 tours this year, including Simple Plan, James Blunt, Bring Me The Horizon, and Maria Bamford.
Its hard rock festivals, Good Things and Knotfest, each shifted 110,000 over three cities. DAL’s Managing Director Chris O’Brien told Pollstar that its high strike rate was “the way we work differently in our approach to marketing and programming.”
Festival, club and tour promoting Untitled Group’s $49.9 million gross came from 492,276 sales after it also “experienced tremendous growth over the past 12 months,” said General Manager Andrew White.
He added: “The term ‘innovation’ is often misunderstood. In reality, it’s the sum total of our efforts to adapt and change the way we do things, the way we collaborate with community and culture, the way talent connects with their fans, and the new ways we deliver unforgettable experiences to Australian audiences.”
Handsome Tours had another strong year, its box office score reaching $26.1 million from 801,869 sales.
Of course, its biggest success was with Fred again..’s tour, which it presented with Laneway Presents, TEG Live, and Astral People. Managing Director Mark Dodds confirmed that it made $18.4 million from 224,091 tickets for an estimated 17 shows—for which not one marketing dollar was spent.
For Dodds, it reflected how Australian music fans are up-to-date with the latest global trends and can be fervent and loyal. “Fans are forming tight bonds with the acts who invest in coming out early.
“Even putting aside the unicorn moment that was Fred again.., we were blown away by the response to rising acts like Chappell Roan, Raye, Black Country New Road, d4vd, Masego and Snoh Aalegra.”
According to Pollstar, the biggest tour here between August 2023 and July 31 2024, was Paul McCartney, whose 220,471 tickets over seven Got Back shows grossed $37.6 million.
Many promoters were in the inaugural ANZ Impact List for varying reasons, including their contribution to the local industry, use of technology to heighten customer experience, global profile, involvement in government and corporate bodies to lobby over various issues, success in breaking new acts and executives, and use of their profile to give the industry a united front.
Top of the list was Michael Chugg, who got a front cover and three-page spread about his extraordinary career as he celebrates his 60th anniversary in the business this year.
Other Australian leaders included, alphabetically, were Dion Brant (Frontier), Michael Coppel (Live Nation), Geoff Jones (TEG), Jeremy Furze (whose Applejack Music managed the Teskey Brothers), Peter Noble (Bluesfest), Stephen Wade (Select Music) and Andrew White (Untitled).
Promoter Brent Eccles and L.O.O.P. manager Michael Tucker, both from New Zealand, have track records of involvement in trade bodies.
Venues
Larger venues, too, had had a strong year, as indicated by the turnover of the biggest performers in their respective categories.
These were Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena in the Top 15 Arenas ($65.2 million from 725,668 tickets), the Enmore in the Top 15 Theatres ($5.1 million gross from 94,781 sales), and the Brisbane Showgrounds in the Top 20 Stadiums ($16.9 million from 121,902 tickets).
The Forum Melbourne topped the Top 20 Clubs ($12.5 million from 242,880 sales), while the Myer Music Bowl was #1 of the Top 5 Amphitheatres, making $12.4 million from 175,183 customers.
A deep dive into ASM Global‘s success revealed that the major venue operator was so buoyant in the live sector that it intended to double its buildings to 70 in the next five years.
Its Australian venues include Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, RAC Arena in Perth, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Newcastle Entertainment Centre, and Cairns Arena.
A look at mid-sized venues—in this case, Enmore Theatre in Sydney, Forum in Melbourne, and Tivoli in Brisbane—provided insight into how their diverse programming and commitment to new talent kept drawing audiences.
At the same time, the business also suggested ways, including an arena tax, less red tape, tax offsets, more underage gigs and cultural passes, to help grassroots live music venues struggling with operational costs and changing consumer behaviour.
Some had already spoken to governments about changing their funding criteria to a greater emphasis on grassroots venues.
Rebooting the regional touring circuits was also seen as imperative, with more than one recommending that artists who got funding having to include regional venues on their tours.
Future
Given the current buoyancy, Pollstar predicted that Australia and New Zealand would continue to supply the global live music industry with artists and executives.
The report included BIGSOUND’s continued plans to bring in global delegates and showcase acts, a look at which acts were touring abroad, a case study of how Royel Otis was making waves internationally, and the introduction of a NextGen list of five emerging executives to watch.
Chosen for their ambitious, global thinking, tech-savvy and passionate ways, they were Ela Rutherford, Promoter/Tour Agent at Untitled Group; Louis Schlaghecke, Promoter at Frontier Touring; Steph Wong, Project Manager at TEG Live; Brinley Stanovsek, Promoter at Handsome Tours; and Desiree Venuto, Senior Booking Agent at Lonely Lands Agency.
