Live Performance Australia Slams Four Corners Live Nation Report

Live Performance Australia (LPA) has slammed last night’s Four Corners report on Live Nation, alleging that it was missing “facts”. Debate has taken hold of the industry since the airing of the report, with the Australian Live Music Business Council (ALMBC) also making a statement.

In a statement, Evelyn Richardson, the Chief Executive of Live Performance Australia, said, “Any discussion about the state of Australia’s live music industry needs to be focused on the facts – something regrettably missing from the ABC Four Corners program last night.”

Richardson alleged that LPA wasn’t approached for comment or data, “which could have led to a more informed story.” They say the ABC's alleged lack of communication is “disappointing”.

“There’s no doubt some parts of the music industry are under real pressure, but to blame all of those problems on a single company is nonsensical and counter-productive to addressing the real issues at stake,” Richardson continued. “Many of the challenges facing the Australian industry are being experienced globally.”

Richardson then laid out some “facts” about the Australian music industry.

Starting by explaining that Australia’s live music industry is “highly competitive”, Richardson said that “no single company dominates the market”, despite what was laid out in Four Corners last night.

According to Richardson, the country’s three most prominent promoters – Live Nation, AEG/Mushroom, and TEG – are all “fiercely competing” for artists and audiences in Australia. Richardson added, “LPA’s own analysis of ticket attendance and revenue for contemporary music concerts and festivals shows no single promoter had a dominant market share. This is also readily obvious from a scan of the promoter’s own websites, which show past and current tours.”

Richardson also shared that the Australian live music industry meets our competition and consumer laws and that any allegations of a promoter “misusing their market power” “should be backed up with hard evidence”.

Linking to the “conspiratorially labelled” “secret” and “hidden” fees described as the “inside charge” on Four Corners last night, Richardson claimed that said fees are “an established practice under Australia’s consumer law which requires an ‘all-in’ pricing approach where all of the elements related to different costs built into the ticket are included in the single price”.

Richardson added that Australia’s major promoters “provide valuable opportunities to showcase Australian talent” in local and global markets – Live Nation has its Ones To Watch program that’s all about new artists – and “over 85 per cent of international tours to Australia have local support acts even though it’s ultimately a decision for the headline artist”.

Lastly, Richardson explained that despite the allegations of Live Nation pricing out the live music market, “average ticket prices for contemporary music have only grown by 2.7% CAGR from 2004 to 2023.”

Adding that “there will always be variability” year to year on average prices “depending on a range of factors including international touring schedules and exchange rates”, the difference in price figures between 2022 and 2023 “reflects a post-pandemic return to global touring and a shift towards bigger stadium level concerts by some major international artists”.

After outlining those facts, Richardson said that there are “structural challenges and transitions affecting all levels of the live music industry”, such as “huge increases” in production and touring costs, new ways of music discovery for an audience, and changing audience preferences regarding the live music experience they’re after.

Richardson continued, “Four Corners could have looked at some of these issues in a more thoughtful way instead of the misleading reporting we saw last night.

“Moreover, the industry needs to lift the conversation to a much more strategic and collaborative mindset to drive industry growth, providing more opportunities for artists to build their careers and for audiences to discover, experience and enjoy more live music.”

When approached by The Music, a representative for the ALMBC said, “The ALMBC is focussed on supporting our thousands of members and hundreds of financial members who are sole traders, micro-businesses, and small businesses—those in the grass roots of the music industry and the most impacted when major festivals, etc. are cancelled.”

For some years, the ALMBC added that they’ve “successfully advocated” for ticketing transparency, removing government funding for multinationals like Live Nation, introducing an Arena Ticket Levy, and more.

Their statement continued, “We certainly believe that multinationals have a great role to play in the local industry. However, we must ensure that they act responsibly and not in ways that reduce or destroy the local industry.”