IQ Magazine has revealed the LGBTIQ+ List 2025 – the fifth annual celebration of queer professionals who make an immense impact in the international live music business.

The list is once again the centrepiece of IQ’s annual Pride edition, sponsored by Ticketmaster, which is now available to read online and in print for subscribers.

The 20 individuals comprising the LGBTIQ+ List 2025 – as nominated by our readers and verified by our esteemed steering committee – are individuals who have gone above and beyond to wave the flag for an industry that we can all be proud of.

The fifth instalment comprises agents, promoters, assistants, bookers, festival organisers, comms executives, DEI experts, marketers and ticketers from across the world.

In alphabetical order, the LGBTIQ+ List 2025 is:

Allie Galyon, WME (US)
Amy Hylands, CAA (UK)
Anouk Ganpatsing, Friendly Fire (NL)
Ben Tipple, Co-op Live (UK)
Chris Jammer, PriOr1ty Ai (UK)
Christopher Tweed-Kent, Ticketmaster (US)
Dean Reynolds, Ginger Owl Productions (UK)
Glyn Fussell, Mighty Hoopla (UK)
Jane Chen, Live Nation (US)
John Shortell, Musicians’ Union (UK)
Judith Ritz, FKP Scorpio (DE)
Katie Cavanagh, AEG Presents (UK)
Kiana Rodriguez, The Zoo XYZ (US)
Melissa Ferrick, Paladin Artists (US)
Mika Christoffersen, Roskilde Festival (DK)
Nicki MacLeod, DF Concerts & Events (UK)
Oliver McGillick, Rock For People (CZ)
Paul Kemp, Brighton Pride (UK)
Ryan Cameron, Wasserman Music (UK)
Shaq Milli, UTA (US)

From tomorrow (17 June), IQ will be publishing full-length interviews with each person on the LGBTIQ+ List 2025.

However, subscribers can read the full Pride edition now. Click here to subscribe to IQ – or see what you’re missing out on with the limited preview below.

Check out previous Pride lists from 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021.

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Live Nation has sold more than 100 million tickets in 2025 to date – exceeding the number it shifted in the entirety of the last pre-pandemic year, the company’s president/CFO Joe Berchtold has revealed.

Berchtold highlighted the firm’s progress in an interview at JP Morgan’s Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference in Boston, US, yesterday.

“We’re at 100 million tickets now,” he said. “Just for context, in 2019 we sold 98m tickets in the full year, so we’re sitting here now in mid May and we’ve already surpassed that.

“The majority of growth has come from international over the past several years and the majority of growth will come from international this year. We keep reminding ourselves it’s a big world out there, but we are continuing to see strength throughout.”

Live Nation EMEA president John Reid spoke to IQ earlier this week about the “phenomenal demand” for Bad Bunny’s 2026 Debí Tirar Más Fotos Tour, and Berchtold was similarly glowing in his assessment of the Puerto Rican rapper’s appeal.

“You’re seeing artists that would have historically been regional, are now themselves going global,” he said. “So in the past couple of days, Bad Bunny has put 30 stadiums on sale in Asia and Europe. This is a Latin artist who’s very successful at touring the US over the last few years, but has now put 30 stadiums on sale and sold over a million tickets, 98% sell through in the first two days.

“We’re blessed. We have that global demand, and our job now is to figure out… how do we help bring that supply globally, working with our regional partners to identify what artists can go where. And that’s a multi-year runway just to continue doing that.”

“Every owner of a major sports team is not just building a [venue] anymore, they’re building an entertainment district around it”

Turning to Live Nation’s venues segment, Berchtold declared the renovated GNP Seguros Stadium in Mexico City as a “home run” (“It might be the largest music-driven venue in the world – over two million fans this year attending shows,” he said), adding that LN had also reopened the Jones Beach Theater in New York in 2024 and would be opening several amphitheatres this year.

He also referenced its additional projects in Finland, Portugal and Columbia, as well as a 5,000-cap venue as part of a stadium district in downtown Atlanta. Berchtold said schemes such as the latter were an increasing area of interest for the company.

“We’re not slowing down at all, continuing to look for more opportunities,” he said. “Every owner of a major sports team is not just building a building anymore, they’re building an entertainment district around it, and we are now getting the call immediately. We’re having the conversation early to figure out what is the right venue for that market.

“That’s probably the biggest set of opportunities in the US – to work with these owners on these sports districts and build a portfolio of large theatres around the country that we’ll be able to tour through.”

With next year’s North American stadium circuit set to be impacted by the US, Canada and Mexico’s joint hosting of the FIFA World Cup, said LN could look to focus on more greenfield sites, pointing to its new open-air, seasonal stadium in Toronto, which opens this summer.

“We didn’t have the availability in Toronto for the volume of stadium shows – Coldplay, Oasis and others that we knew were coming through, so we built a temporary stadium there,” he said. “We’ll do 15 shows, 700,000 fans. That’s an opportunity for us. Next year, we’re already looking where in the US can we do that?

“We’ll probably see more semi-residencies, even at the stadium level, similar to what Beyoncé is doing: pick a few cities, do a large number of [dates], so we’ll see some more of that activity. Every year, it throws us a different curve ball. It was the Olympics last year, next year, it’s World Cup. So it’s our job to be planning now to figure out, how do we continue to drive the volume of shows on a on a global basis?”

“We have to recognise [tickets] were underpriced for a long time, and like everything else in society, that evolves and that corrects itself”

Meanwhile, Ticketmaster officially launched all-in pricing in the US this week, displaying the full price of tickets, including all fees. The move came as the Federal Trade Commission’s ban on “junk fees” came into effect on 12 May, although Live Nation had already deployed all-in pricing at its own venues over the past 12 months.

“We’ve advocated for a lot of reforms,” said Berchtold, who preached the value of “transparency” in ticketing. The executive said Ticketmaster was continuing to make improvements to its on-sale process in that regard.

“It’s a lot better now than it was a year, a year and a half ago,” he said. “You come to a high demand on-sale, we’re going to tell you where you are in the queue. And it may suck to be 60,000th, but it’s better than me not telling you and making you wait three hours and then you find out. We’re telling you what’s the range of prices that you’re going to pay while you’re in the queue so you’re not surprised.

“More and more, we’re focused on, ‘Let’s try to give the fans as good of an experience as possible,’ recognising the inherent limits on how many tickets there are, and the fact that those tickets are going to be priced to represent the value they have.

“I don’t think anybody’s defensive about that. We have to recognise they were underpriced for a long time, and like everything else in society, that evolves and that corrects itself. But if we can provide the right transparency, that hopefully at least it gets the point of it’s just seen as a utility, as a service that is provided efficiently and doesn’t have an agenda and is not trying to do anything nefarious.”

Last week, the US DOJ and FTC jointly opened a public inquiry to identify “unfair and anticompetitive practices and conduct” in the concert and ticketing industry. The findings will be used in their preparation of the report and recommendations directed by president Donald Trump’s executive order, signed on 31 March, which claims to bring “common sense” changes to live event ticketing.

“That executive order is really targeted at the secondary market,” said Berchtold. “This is the White House saying, ‘Let us understand what’s really going on in the secondary, what are all the deceptive practices? How do we put an end to that?'”

Live Nation’s share price has risen 6% over the past five days to US$143.05, giving the firm a $33.5 billion market cap.

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UK Oasis fans have lost an estimated £2 million to ticket scammers since tickets for the historic reunion tour went on sale last year, according to new research.

Analysing over 1,000 reports from its customers, Lloyds Bank found a surge in fraud cases around the sold-out run, with 56% of all reported concert ticket scams being for the Mancunian rockers.

“The Oasis tour is the latest target for ticket scammers, with millions of pounds of fans’ money stolen before the gigs even kick off,” says Liz Ziegler, Lloyds’ fraud prevention director.

Victims have lost an average of £436 each, with the largest amount lost at over £1,700, the banking group found. Combined with its own clientele, Lloyds gauged roughly 5,000 individuals have been targeted, resulting in over £2m lost to fraudsters.

Ticket swindles for the sold-out run are surging across social media platforms, with a reported 90% of incidents starting on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Fake adverts and unofficial resale groups are prime deceivers for fans looking to score tickets.

“The fact that so many cases start with fake listings on social media, often in violation of the platforms’ own rules, underscores the importance of these companies taking stronger action to tackle scams,” Ziegler says. “It’s vital that consumers feel empowered to shop safely online. Buying directly from reputable, authorised retailers is the only way to guarantee you’re paying for a genuine ticket.”

Oasis’s 2025 tour onsale rocketed to become the biggest-ever concert launch in the UK and Ireland

These new findings are the latest chapter in the ongoing saga around Oasis’ ticket sales, which sent the nation into frenzy during the onsale last August. It rocketed to become the biggest-ever concert launch in the UK and Ireland, with more than 10 million fans from 158 countries attempting to buy tickets for the group’s first shows since 2009.

With the blockbuster demand and swift sell-outs came reports of dynamic pricing, prompting government and watchdog investigations into the tour. In February, a new twist came as ticketing platforms Ticketmaster and See Tickets cancelled an unspecified number of tickets bought by those believed to have broken the terms and conditions.

Predatory cons are seemingly unavoidable with high-profile tours of this magnitude. Similar reports emerged last year around Taylor Swift’s record-shattering Eras Tour run, with UK fans losing over £1m in addition to scams in Australia and Singapore.

All of this comes ahead of the legendary British rock group’s return to touring this summer. The Oasis Live 2025 tour, promoted by Live Nation, MCD Productions, SJM Concerts and DF Concerts, will see the group relaunch at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium (cap. 74,500) from 4-5 July before continuing onto Manchester’s Heaton Park (11-12, 16, 19-20 July), London’s Wembley Stadium (25-26, 30 July, 2-3 August & 27-28 September), Edinburgh’s Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium (8-9, 12 August), and Dublin’s Croke Park (16-17 August).

The reunion tour will then see the group play stadiums across North America, Asia, Australia, and South America before the year is out.

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The UK live music industry has come out strongly in favour of a price cap on resale tickets as the government’s consultation into the secondary market draws to a close.

But ahead of Friday’s deadline (4 April) IQ understands there is no consensus on the acceptable level of resale uplift the UK business will recommend. The government previously indicated it would be looking to cap resale at 10% above face value, but sought views on levels ranging from no uplift at all to 30%.

The long-anticipated consultation was initiated back in January, with the government vowing to “tackle greedy touts and give power back to fans”. Interested parties including fans, ticketing platforms and the wider live events sector were invited to submit responses.

Jonathan Brown, CEO of the Society of Ticket Retailers (STAR), says the organisation supports a “consumer-first approach” to resale.

“We back a capped resale model that already operates effectively in the UK, enabling genuine fans to resell tickets they can’t use, while preventing the kind of speculative profiteering that distorts the market,” he says. “A mandated price cap will help remove the incentive for touts to purchase tickets at scale for resale and therefore reduce bot attacks, protect consumers, and ensure fairer access to events.

“However, any new legislation needs to be backed with agile, responsive and effective enforcement, including against offshore resellers and platforms seeking to ignore UK law.”

“Ticketmaster welcomes any action to protect fans and support the live industry”

Speaking to IQ, Ticketmaster UK MD Andrew Parsons says the company is committed to making ticketing “simple and transparent”.

“Since 2018, our resale service has been capped at the original price paid, providing fans a safe place to sell tickets they can’t use right up to the event date,” he says. “This ensures as many people as possible can go and, as we all know, packed venues benefit not just performers, and the venues themselves, but also the local economy.

“We support proposals to introduce an industry-wide resale price cap, backed by a strong regulatory regime and enforcement. Ticketmaster welcomes any action to protect fans and support the live industry.”

AXS UK MD Chris Lipscomb stresses that the firm “supports any effort that helps get tickets into the hands of real fans at fair prices”. “To that end, we limit resale in the UK to 10% above price paid,” he notes.

Richard Davies, founder of ethical resale business Twickets, says the company “strongly supports” a cap on resale ticket prices.

“We’ve consistently upheld a strict policy of reselling tickets only at face value plus original booking fee to counteract exploitative practices prevalent in the secondary market,” says Davies. “We see no validity in allowing any mark up on the original price paid by the customer.

“The new legal obligations placed on resale platforms will mean a step toward protecting genuine fans and fostering fairness within the ticketing ecosystem. While inflated resale prices are undeniably problematic, the excessive booking fees charged by secondary platforms compound the issue further.”

“As ever, there are details to be hammered out, but we are right behind the broad thrust”

Jon Collins, CEO of UK trade body LIVE, points out that research carried out for the group by market research agency Opinium showed that just 12% of the 2,000 members of public surveyed opposed the idea of a cap.

“LIVE fully supports government action in this space to remove touts from our sector, end ticket harvesting and see tickets in the hands of genuine fans,” he says. “As ever, there are details to be hammered out, but we are right behind the broad thrust. We are pleased to see government delivering on its manifesto commitment in this area, bringing forward measures which permit responsible and fair fan-to-fan resale, while eliminating third-party profiteering.”

O2, which sells over 1.5 million tickets per year to its customers via Priority Tickets, has been vocal in calling for a 10% price cap on resale. The firm’s Fight for Fairer Ticketing campaign partnered with Bastille singer Dan Smith last week to launch Stamp It Tout – an online hub designed to help fans navigate the ticket resale market safely.

UK watchdog the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) added its backing to a price cap last month. It stopped short of recommending a specific limit, warning of “unintended consequences, such as creating a point of price coordination for sellers”. However, it noted that proceeding with a “no uplift” option on resale would be consistent with existing legislation in Ireland and New South Wales, Australia.

According to CMA analysis, typical mark-ups on tickets sold on the secondary market are often more than 50 per cent and investigations by Trading Standards have uncovered evidence of tickets being resold for up to six times their original cost.

“The resale price should be capped at the price paid – including booking fee – with a small fixed admin fee”

Face-value European Alliance for Ticketing (FEAT) director Sam Shemtob notes that talk of a UK price cap was mooted as far back as 2011 by Labour MP Sharon Hodgson, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Ticket Abuse.

“She’s kept ticket resale as an issue throughout the years of being in opposition, and it’s fantastic that the UK could be close to a historic change in the law in this respect,” says Shemtob. “Our position is in our name – that’s to say the resale price should be capped at the price paid – including booking fee – with a small fixed admin fee chargeable on top for the platform handling the transaction.”

Other plans being considered by the government include limiting the number of tickets resellers can list to the maximum they are allowed to purchase on the primary market.

In addition, there are proposals to increase the accountability of ticket resale websites and apps, creating new legal obligations so that they can be held responsible by Trading Standards and the Competition and Market Authority for the accuracy of information they provide to fans. The government also plans to review existing legislation to strengthen consumer protection, including stronger fines and a new licensing regime for resale platforms.

Adam Webb, campaign manager for anti-touting pressure group FanFair Alliance, says the solution should be “simple, palatable and effective”. He also warns of the need to close off “all potential loopholes, and ensure offshore ‘uncapped’ ticket touting websites cannot circumvent the rules”.

“Promisingly, it feels the Competition & Markets Authority are thinking along very similar lines here, and we remain optimistic this consultation will lead to some genuinely positive outcomes,” he finishes.

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The UK’s consumer watchdog says Ticketmaster may have breached consumer protection law during last year’s Oasis ticket sale.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation following widespread complaints about last August’s sale for the band’s first shows since 2009.

The onsale was infamously marred by a “dynamic ticketing” row after ticket buyers who had queued for several hours were offered tickets for more than twice the advertised face value.

Setting out its concerns, the CMA – which says it is now consulting Ticketmaster on changes – highlights potential breaches by the firm. These include “labelling certain seated tickets as ‘platinum’ and selling them for near 2.5 times the price of equivalent standard tickets, without sufficiently explaining that they did not offer additional benefits and were often located in the same area of the stadium”.

“This risked giving consumers the misleading impression that platinum tickets were better,” it adds.

Nevertheless, the CMA said it found “no evidence” that Ticketmaster had used an algorithmic pricing model, such as dynamic pricing, during the sale.

“Instead, Ticketmaster released a number of standing tickets at a lower price and, once they had sold out, then released the remaining standing tickets at a much higher price,” it says.

The body has flagged that consumers were not informed there were two categories of standing tickets at different prices, “with all of the cheaper standing tickets sold first before the more expensive standing tickets were released, resulting in many fans waiting in a lengthy queue without understanding what they would be paying and then having to decide whether to pay a higher price than they expected”.

“We now expect Ticketmaster to work with us to address these concerns”

“Fans reported problems when buying Oasis tickets from Ticketmaster and we decided those concerns warranted investigation,” says Hayley Fletcher, interim senior director of consumer protection. “We’re concerned that Oasis fans didn’t get the information they needed or may have been misled into buying tickets they thought were better than they were. We now expect Ticketmaster to work with us to address these concerns so, in future, fans can make well-informed decisions when buying tickets.”

The regulator acknowledges that Ticketmaster has made changes to its ticket sales process since the opening of its investigation, but it “does not currently consider these changes are sufficient”.

It has provided Ticketmaster with details of further steps required, and is seeking changes to its processes including to the information it provides to customers, when it provides that information, and how it labels some of its tickets. The CMA declined to give more details of changes required from Ticketmaster when asked by IQ.

“All ticketing websites should check they are complying with the law and treating their customers fairly,” continues Fletcher. “When businesses get it right, consumers benefit – and that’s the best outcome for everyone.”

A Ticketmaster spokesperson says the company welcomes the input.

“At Ticketmaster, we strive to provide the best ticketing platform through a simple, transparent and consumer-friendly experience,” says a statement to IQ. “We welcome the CMA’s input in helping make the industry even better for fans.”

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Ticketmaster has issued a warning over fraudulent ticket sellers falsely claiming to represent the company.

It said a Dublin-based fake ticket seller is promising fans advance tickets and/or tickets for last-minute collection from the venue on show night that do not exist.

“Unfortunately, some fans have already lost large sums of money to this individual,” the company said in a statement, also signed by 3Arena, Aviva Stadium, Croke Park, FAI, IRFU, MCD Production and Festival Republic.

Ticketmaster is calling on “all concert, sporting, theatre and festival goers to be extra vigilant for fraudulent ticket sellers falsely claiming to represent the authorised ticket agent (Ticketmaster)”.

It says it’s working with An Garda Siochána (the national police and security service of Ireland), adding that enhanced security and ticket verification arrangements are being implemented for all forthcoming events.

The statement has also been signed by 3Arena, Aviva Stadium, Croke Park, FAI, IRFU, MCD Production and Festival Republic

Anyone who has bought fake tickets as a result of the situation or who has any information about it is encouraged to report it to Gardaí.

A similar warning about ticket fraud was issued earlier this year by The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

The police said that individuals had lost hundreds of pounds after paying for what they believed to be genuine Oasis and Coldplay tickets from third-party retailers.

PSNI described ticket fraud as “a continuing problem” and that “fraudsters will try everything to lure people into falling for their scams”.

Almost £300,000 was lost to ticket fraud in Northern Ireland in 2023. Data from Action Fraud showed £6.7m was lost to ticket fraud across the UK in the same year.

In an effort to discourage people from buying tickets listed on secondary platforms, Oasis announced that thousands of tickets sold on resale websites will be cancelled ahead of their upcoming reunion tour.

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Live Nation president/CFO Joe Berchtold says the company’s talks with streaming services highlights the “critical” importance of tickets in the modern business.

LN boss Michael Rapino recently confirmed discussions with Spotify, as well as Apple and Amazon, amid reports that Spotify is considering adding access to presale tickets as a tenet of its rumoured super-premium subscription tier.

In addition, Ticketmaster announced a partnership with SoundCloud that will enable artists to list and manage their live events on the streaming platform.

Speaking yesterday (5 March) in a fireside chat at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in California, Berchtold suggested the fact the services were targeting ticketing served as validation of how “critically important the ticket is”.

“That’s a pretty strong statement in today’s world that very diverse technology media companies are focused on the value of the ticket,” he said. “When people say, ‘We want tickets,’ we say, ‘That’s great, we’d love to talk to you.'”

“The conversations now are over an entire cycle… It’s a much more strategic, long-term discussion”

The 40-minute interview also saw Berchtold share his thoughts on the growth of the live industry and the complexities of plotting world tours.

“We have a business that has no barriers,” he said. “The big transformation that we’ve talked about over the last 10, 15, 20 years is the artist is now making all their money on the road. So they need to tour, married with the fact that these digital platforms mean that – through TikTok, through Instagram – every fan, every 15-year-old girl in the world is listening to Beyoncé at the same time. So we have global latent demand.”

He continued: “Coming out of Covid, we invested much more in a central team that is responsible for working with the artists and saying, ‘We can talk about the 40 shows in North America, but really, let’s talk about the three-year plan, because we have the North America run, the Latin America run, the Asia run and the Europe run, the festival run in the US, the festival run in Europe…

“‘Let’s map out the next three years. When do you want to work? Do you have kids [and] want to take summers off? How do we sequence it? When are you releasing new music? How do we integrate that in?’ The conversations now are over an entire cycle… So it’s a much more strategic, long-term discussion, because we built that organisation centrally that has that capability.”

Ticket prices were another area of concern, with Berchtold addressing the thought process when it comes to pricing the house.

“Almost every artist says the same thing: ‘I want any fan to be able to afford to get into the building,'” he said. “That doesn’t mean that they can afford to buy the front row, but it means they can buy a ticket and get in. So the increased sophistication on pricing is letting us start with, ‘What does that artist want to make?’ And then, ‘Okay, so now how are we going to price the back of the house?'”

“We are now positioned to do things we couldn’t have done 15 years ago”

By pricing the best seats higher, Berchtold said artists could both combat the secondary market while subsidising an increased number of lower priced tickets. He noted that over 4,000 tickets per date for Beyoncé’s tour were priced $75, with 14,000 tickets costing $110 or less.

“[Artists are thinking], ‘how do I scale the rest of the house so I achieve my objective of what I want to make, knowing that those tickets are still giving good value to the fans?'” he continue. “They’re saying, ‘I can sell [a fifth row ticket] for $300 and know that the scalpers are just going to figure out how to get that ticket… [So] I can price it at $1,000 because that will let me have another couple of hundred tickets at $75.’

“They’re not looking at it and just saying, ‘How do I get the most?’ They’re saying, ‘How do I balance all the pieces to get what I need, while still serving a lot of fans in terms of making it accessible to them?'”

Berchtold praised Live Nation’s Latin America business as a “big contributor” to its growth, noting that its acquisition of Ocesa, which was completed in 2021, “fundamentally changed our position in those markets”.

“We are now positioned to do things we couldn’t have done 15 years ago,” he said.

“We want to go where the demand exists, but buildings don’t exist”

On the flipside, Berchtold pointed out that employing a “hyperlocal” strategy in the US had been key to growing its fanbase in its traditional heartland.

“We’re expanding the market and building that fanbase in more local areas,” he said. “It’s the same underlying dynamic. It means we can go to Buenos Aires with Coldplay… and we can go with the new alt rock band and play in six spots between San Diego to LA.”

Referencing its new 20-year agreement to operate Finland’s Helsinki Halli, as well as other venue projects in Europe and South America, Berchtold outlined Live Nation’s venue strategy.

“We want to go to where the market isn’t,” he stressed. “We’re not going to go compete in the US and try to build an arena and compete against billionaire NBA owners. We want to go where the demand exists, but buildings don’t exist.”

And in the wake of “live music’s biggest year yet”, Berchtold added: “We’ve now sold over 70 million tickets for shows this year and expectation of double digit AOI growth continues, even with the currency fluctuation. So we’re feeling very good overall.”

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Ticketmaster and SoundCloud have announced a new partnership that will enable artists to list and manage their live events on the streaming platform.

The partnership creates a holistic platform where artists can share their shows, connect with fans, and drive ticket sales with the help of Ticketmaster and its self-serve event ticketing and marketing platform, Universe.

Artists with SoundCloud’s top-tier Pro subscription can now take control of Ticketmaster and Universe events displayed on their SoundCloud profile without third-party tools.

They will be able to create events, share their shows directly from the SoundCloud platform and leverage Universe’s ticketing capabilities to manage and track ticket sales.

SoundCloud also said that it will promote these events through a concert discovery widget on the home page, powered by Ticketmaster data.

“At Ticketmaster, we’re passionate about helping artists reach more fans by meeting them where they are”

SoundCloud listeners, meanwhile, can now discover and buy tickets with just a few clicks to their favourite artists’ shows directly on the platform through Ticketmaster and Universe.

“At Ticketmaster, we’re passionate about helping artists reach more fans by meeting them where they are,” says Michael Chua, VP, global business development & strategic partnerships at Ticketmaster.

“It’s why we’re thrilled to partner with SoundCloud to provide event management, discovery, and promotional support on SoundCloud, powered by Ticketmaster and Universe. SoundCloud is a leader in lowering barriers to entry for music creators – now, Ticketmaster and Universe will enhance that mission by giving artists more control over their live events across more fan touchpoints.”

Ticketmaster has secured similar integrations with Shazam, TikTok, Snapchat, Pandora and Spotify.

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Live Nation has reported record revenue and profitability from concerts in 2024 as Michael Rapino hailed “live music’s biggest year yet”.

LN, whose stock price hit a new all-time high of $155.10 earlier this week, posted $23.16 billion in overall revenue for 2024 – up 2% on the previous 12 months. Operating income was $825 million, with AOI of $2.15bn.

Concert attendance rose 4% to 151 million fans, while current ticket sales for 2025 of 65 million tickets for Live Nation concerts are up double-digits year-on-year. Ticketmaster revenue of $3bn represented a 1% increase on 2023.

“2024 was live music’s biggest year yet, as artists toured the world and fans turned out in record numbers,” said Rapino, the firm’s president and CEO. “2025 is shaping up to be even bigger thanks to a deep global concert pipeline, with more stadium shows on the books than ever before.”

The company plans to add 20 large venues globally through 2026, including stadium projects in Bogotá, Colombia and Toronto, Canada.

“To help artists perform to fans everywhere, we remain focused on building new music-centric venues, which make more live music memories possible and help drive our double-digit operating income and AOI growth in 2025, and compound at this level for years to come,” added Rapino. “At the same time, we’re investing back into the industry for those who create the music, as our investments in artists have more than doubled in the last five years, and we will continue to find new ways to support them while enhancing the fan experience.”

“[The] question is, over the course of this year, is there a path towards a resolution with the DOJ that doesn’t lead to the trial?”

Rapino and president/CFO Joe Berchtold fielded questions from investors on subjects such as ticket prices, partnerships with streaming platforms and the DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit during the company’s earnings call.

On the latter, Berchtold said there was “nothing really substantively new” to report since the recent administration change.

“The trial process continues to move apace as it has, targeting early next year for a trial date,” said Berchtold. “So [the] question is, over the course of this year, is there a path towards a resolution with the DOJ that doesn’t lead to the trial? We’ve said in the last administration, there was really no interest in any discussion on settlement.

“We’re hoping that this DOJ returns to a more traditional approach… but we haven’t had any discussions yet. The person that you would discuss it with has not been approved yet, not been appointed. So until that happens, there’s nothing we can do. And we’ll see how that plays out in the coming months.”

With ticket prices for major shows attracting headlines in recent weeks, Rapino suggested artists were becoming more adept at combatting the excesses of the secondary market, adding that the current level of sales for stadium gigs indicated the price of entry was set “at almost perfection”.

“We think these artists on their stadium pricing are priced at almost perfection”

“I think you’re seeing, with artists in general, every cycle is a little more educated on, ‘What’s the best way to price my ticket, how do I keep it accessible to my fans, but make sure scalpers don’t run away with the front of the house?’ So we love seeing these stadiums sitting somewhere around 95% sold out right now,” he said. “The ‘instantly sold out at 10am’, means we’ve transferred a lot of wealth to the scalpers.

“If you see any of those tickets, any tickets you’re talking about are going to be the high-end tickets sitting on the market. Those will flush out between now and show date. So, we think these artists on their stadium pricing are priced at almost perfection.”

He continued: “They’re helping consumers get to more shows at a good price, but also making sure that that’s priced closer to market, which means you’ll have a few high-end tickets sit around the rim until we get closer to show date. So, that’s the perfect on-sale and land the plane on show date model.

“Any inventory you see, we could sell that out in a minute if we drop the price, right? So, [it’s about] finding that right combination where you’re making sure demand and supply kind of march along on the way to the show date versus the 10am buyer sale.”

Despite the volume of huge tours currently on sale – with the stadium show pipeline up 60% year-on-year – Rapino said there had been “no slowdown at all” in demand.

“We are seeing continued strong demand,” he said. “We’re seeing consumers buying up those stadium dates faster than ever, up year-over-year or any comparable base, so no slowdown at all. Lots of inventory, but equally great demand selling most of these stadiums out or close to being sold out by the time we get to the show dates.”

“Spotify and Apple and Amazon, they’ve approached us all. We’ve talked to them all, about ideas on if they wanted inventory”

He added: “Overall, our festival business globally is stronger than ever. Our club and theatre business is stronger than ever. And obviously our stadium business is on fire. So whether it’s geographical, whether it’s venue type or whether it’s festival, we’re still seeing strong, strong consumer [activity] across the board in terms of buying tickets for the ’25 season.”

Amid reports that Spotify was considering adding access to presale tickets as a tenet of its rumoured Music Pro new subscription tier, Rapino confirmed LN had been in talks with the streaming giant, as well as Apple and Amazon, over potential link-ups.

“They’ve approached us all,” he said. “We’ve talked to them all about ideas if they wanted inventory. There’s a cost to that and we would entertain and look at that option if it made sense for us in comparison to other options we have for that presale, which is a very valuable asset.

“We do deals for the artists, but ultimately the artist has control of it and that artist’s job is to maximise the revenue from it. They’re not giving that away to anyone for free. So whether we partnered with them and found sponsors, or we paid for it, it’s valuable.

“It’s always the easy go-to, ‘Let’s give them presale access.’ The hard part about presale is just scaling it. Everybody wants Beyoncé presale and that’s hard to scale. So we’ve been working with all three of them, trying to find a model that may work for us and them and I assume that they’re talking to others also.”

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The controversy over Oasis’ UK reunion shows has taken another twist after a number of customers complained of having their tickets cancelled by Ticketmaster and See Tickets after being identified as bots.

The ticket agents began emailing and refunding those believed to have broken the terms and conditions imposed for the 2025 stadium run last Friday (7 February), only for several fans to claim they bought their tickets legitimately.

An appeals process is in place for those who feel they have been wrongfully targeted.

“Anyone who has been contacted and believes a refund was made in error has been sent a form to fill in for the tour’s promoters to review,” says a Ticketmaster spokesperson.

Promoters Live Nation and SJM said last October they would cancel up to 50,000 tickets deemed to have breached the rules in an effort to clamp down on unofficial resale sites.

“All ticket sales data will be manually forensically examined and any use of bots, multiple identities, false identities, or other fraudulent means of acquiring tickets may be reported,” read the T&Cs.

“These terms and conditions were successfully put in place to take action against the reselling of tickets through unauthorised secondary ticketing companies”

IQ understands that tickets will only be cancelled if the promoter and band management are completely convinced that the buyer is not a genuine customer, with multiple layers of checks before people were contacted. Internally, there is confidence the crackdown has been carried out correctly.

“These terms and conditions were successfully put in place to take action against the reselling of tickets through unauthorised secondary ticketing companies at grossly inflated prices for huge profit,” says a post on Ticketmaster and See Tickets’ websites. “The examination of ticket sales is ongoing and the results will be passed to relevant law enforcement once complete where appropriate.

“Refunded tickets will be made available again at face value in due course from the official ticket agent Ticketmaster.”

It continues: “Expert Abuse and Fraud teams have reviewed all sales and identified any made by bots. We cannot go into more detail, as we do not want bot-using touts to have any further information on the process.”

Oasis Live ’25 was the biggest concert launch ever seen in the UK and Ireland when it went on sale last August as more than 10 million fans from 158 countries attempted to buy the 1.4 million tickets available for the group’s first shows since 2009. The on-sale became infamously marred by a dynamic ticketing row that triggered multiple inquiries in the UK and Ireland.

Strict anti-touting measures were put in place in a bid to ensure tickets are resold for no more than face value, with Twickets selected as the tour’s official ticket resale platform.

However, despite the use of unauthorised resellers being against the ticket terms and conditions, there has been no word from the tour as to whether they will seek to cancel all tickets currently listed on secondary sites, many at inflated prices.

In a previous high-profile case, organisers of Ed Sheeran’s 2018 ÷ Tour stadium run cancelled around 10,000 tickets after Viagogo refused a request from Sheeran’s team not to list the tickets for resale.

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