Arena Market: Japan
While Japan may be the world’s fourth-largest economy by GDP, its live music scene is dominated by domestic talent, meaning that anecdotally, just 10% of concert ticket sales are from outside the country.
Nonetheless, “Japan has always been a priority for US agents given the importance of the market,” Kaori Hayashi of leading Japanese promoter Hayashi International Promotion, told IQ last year.
“The anchor dates for an Asian tour are the Japanese ones, and post-Covid, this remains the same.”
And there’s a surprising lack of venues at arena level in most cities. Although this is being addressed.
Among the most famous currently is Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan – the go-to venue for international acts. In 1966, The Beatles were the first overseas artists to take the stage there, and in the not-too-distant past, the 14,471-capacity venue has seen performances by Norah Jones, Megadeth, Eric Clapton, Janet Jackson, Nickelback, and Bryan Adams. However, recent years have seen the Budokan…
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