Live Nation: UK concert promoter has lost over £150m since last profit
Losses have surged at the UK concert promotion division of Live Nation as its turnover was also cut during its latest financial year.
The arm of the US giant has reported a pre-tax loss of £10.7m for 2024, according to new accounts filed with Companies House.
The latest figure comes after Live Nation (Music) UK posted a pre-tax loss of £1.9m in 2023.
The new results also confirm that the company’s turnover fell over the same period from £453.8m to £415.2m.
The Live Nation division has not made a pre-tax profit since the £4.3m it achieved in 2012.
Since then, its losses have totalled more than £150m.
The company said the decline in its turnover in 2024 was mainly due to a fall in admissions while its pre-tax loss was because of additional staff costs.
The accounts show that its staff costs jumped from £59.3m to £82.9m in the year.
The biggest driver was the increase in wages and salaries from £51.6m to £73.1m as the average number of people it employed rose from 946 to 1,133.
The number of shows the Live National arm promoted in the year jumped by almost 21 per cent to 3,249 but the number of admissions fell by nearly two per cent to 7.2m.
During 2024, concerts featuring the likes of Doja Cat, Shania Twain, Charli XCX, Glass Animals, IDLES and Tiesto were promoted by Live Nation in the UK.
Other artists who performed in the UK in 2024, with Live Nation involved in promotion, included Limp Bizkit, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Tom Jones.
Live Nation partner Ticketmaster rapped
The figures for the division of Live Nation are separate to those of Ticketmaster UK, which forms part of the same US-headquartered group.
Its accounts for 2024 are due to be filed by the end of September.
For 2023, Ticketmaster UK’s turnover rose from £136.6m to £153.5m while it went from a pre-tax loss of £12m to a profit of £19.7m.
This week, Ticketmaster was forced to introduce new transparency measures following a probe into the way it sold tickets for Oasis’s highly anticipated reunion tour.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the ticketing giant will now have to give fans clearer information about prices and ticket types, following widespread complaints during last year’s ‘Live ’25’ sale.
When tickets for the Britpop icons went on sale, demand far outstripped supply, with around 14m people reportedly competing for 1.4m seats.
Many fans complained they were left stuck in long online queues, while others found themselves priced out by tickets costing several times the original face value.