A series of tour cancellations and changes by prominent musicians has raised questions about whether the post-pandemic boom in live music is beginning to wane as consumer spending fatigue coincides with elevated ticket prices.
Singer Jennifer Lopez announced on Friday that she is canceling her entire 2024 tour, citing a desire to spend more time with her family. Meanwhile, the Black Keys revealed they were scrapping their stadium tour plans in favor of performing at smaller venues.
Both tours had recently garnered social media attention, particularly screenshots showing empty seats at several tour dates.
Some evidence of a slowdown in the live music industry remains anecdotal. Ticket resale platform SeatGeek noted via email that the average resale ticket price for summer concerts has decreased to $213 from $257 around the same time last year, NBC News reported.
Official government data indicates a potential return to more typical levels of live music event sales following the post-pandemic surge. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last month that movie and concert admission prices increased by only 3.4 percent year over year through April. This is the lowest rate since 2021 and marks the second consecutive month of slowing growth.
The editor of Ticket News, Dave Clark, which monitors the live entertainment industry, suggested that the rapid growth in live music following pandemic reopenings might be viewed in retrospect as an anomaly.
“The days where there was enough demand to sell out arenas at top dollar just isn’t there in this live events economy — outside of people like Taylor Swift who can sell whatever they want wherever they want,” he told NBC.
But Mr. Clark also said the flagging economy has left Americans low on cash, so “people are seeing some of the prices they’re asking and just saying, ‘Hard pass.’”
