A Concert Business Legend Sizes Up a Legendary Year
Note: This article is an extension of the VIP+ special report “State of the Live Music Business,” for subscribers only.
When someone like Dennis Arfa says “nothing compares” to the surge the live music business is seeing in 2023, that’s truly saying something.
Few can match Arfa’s historical perspective on the industry, as he has been working with marquee talent from going back to the 1970s, when he ran his own touring business representing artists including Billy Joel, the Beach Boys and Phoebe Snow.
“There’s never been as many stadium shows selling out, ever,” said Arfa of the state of the concert biz. “With all the ancillary incomes, dynamic pricing and platinum pricing, it’s a financial windfall.”
The data noted in Variety Intelligence Platform’s recent special report on the live music business, “Peak Performance,” certainly backs up Arfa’s observations. The global ticket gross for the top 100 tours as of Q3 2023 reached $5.7 billion, up 50 percent over the same period the prior year, according to Pollstar. And that $5.7 billion figure is already well ahead of year-end totals for the pre-pandemic years of 2019 and 2018 and should finish ahead of the healthy $6.2 billion racked up in 2022.
Today Arfa is chairman of the music division at Independent Artist Group, the talent agency formed in June by the merger of Artist Group International, which Arfa founded in 1986, with top independent talent agency APA.
On its own, AGI was one of the top-grossing touring agencies in the industry, sporting a who’s who of rock clients: Metallica, Def Leppard, Rod Stewart, Mötley Crüe, Linkin Park and Smashing Pumpkins, to name just a few.
The name on everyone’s lips this summer was hands down Taylor Swift, an artist who Arfa thinks may have changed audience expectations. “I wonder if there is a rising tide where Taylor raises the bar for other acts,” he said of performers taking the stage in the years ahead.
“When they see how she went all out and did this amazing show, [they’ll learn] it’s not enough to just sort of sing their songs — they’ve got to put on this amazing spectacle,” he added.
Swift isn’t the only artist that has dominated the concert scene, though. Seasoned artists like Beyoncé and Harry Styles saw success this year, but so have newer acts that span across various emerging genres.
“As a baby boomer, when I grew up, we used to all go see the same artists: Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Elton John, Billy Joel,” said Arfa. “Now you have artists like Bad Bunny and Morgan Wallen selling out multiple nights, there is truly something for everyone.”
Today’s music industry is seeing no shortage of talent. “I remember 10-15 years ago it was, like, who was going to replace Billy Joel, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones?” Arfa said. “But [those artists] never went away, and now you’ve got Swift, Harry Styles, Bruno Mars and Pink on top of all that.”
There are barriers that threaten the concert business, of course, including surging ticket prices, but he believes the rising prices are justified by the experience music lovers are paying for.
“At the end of the day, even at perhaps exorbitant prices, the fans get the bang for the buck,” he said. “Despite all the friction points, as long as qualitatively it’s on point, that’s what wins out.”
And today’s tour shows are often over-the-top spectacles, in the best way. “I think the business doesn’t get enough credit for how good the presentations are [and] how satisfied the customers are. I think most people are coming back because they were blown away by what they saw.”
Now dig into the VIP+ subscriber report, with updated data ...
