WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 31: US President Donald Trump listens as entertainer Kid Rock speaks during an executive order signing event in the Oval Office of the White House on March 31, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump signed an executive order against ticket cuts and reforming the live entertainment ticketing industry. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
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Why is Live Nation such a prosperous company? The question itself is sure to elicit haughty, eye-rolling responses.
The answer is that simple, right? Live Nation resides at or near the top of the concert and ticketing sectors of the entertainment industry because, in its words Washington Posthe is, among other things, a “concert manager, artist manager, venue owner, and ticket seller and reseller.”
Except the answer is completely inadequate, and worse than that, completely wrong. From humble beginnings and evidenced by Live Nation’s gradual expansion into myriad aspects of the concert industry, what Live Nation has become was no simple, obvious feat. If it were, as it is evident that being a “concert promoter, artist manager, venue owner, and ticket seller and reseller” was the path to growth that left the competition in the dust, then Live Nation wouldn’t be Living Nation as you read this, and you certainly won’t be enduring Senate hearings, antitrust lawsuits from the Department of Justice (DOJ), and attacks from Kid Rock. Why is this?
The answer is simple: if Live Nation’s path to remarkable success was completely certain, then it could not have expanded as it has. The cost would be very significant. Which is a stretch to say that Live Nation is thriving at least in part because its executives uniquely saw a future in the concert space that its competitors didn’t. And that is far from the whole story.
It’s easily forgotten that another big reason Live Nation is so prosperous today has to do with the fact that its executives didn’t panic at a time when the company wasn’t so prosperous. Consider the spread of the novel coronavirus in 2020 and the resulting panic not only in the political class, but also in the US population.
The virus was supposed to change everything. There was even speculation that the days of the handshake were in the rearview mirror, due to the growing belief that the very people who had long driven all progress by working closely together were suddenly a mortal threat to each other. If so, handshakes would not be the only victim of the virus.
Stop and think about what that meant for Live Nation, a once-thriving commercial entity that found commercial success through—yes— live broadcasts whose enthusiasm and success had its roots in the great, packaged crowds that would watch them. To say that Live Nation stock plummeted amid the 2020 panic is an understatement, but it also calls for attention from the DOJ, Kid Rock, and Live Nation’s various political critics.
They lament its short-lived reign, while also glossing over how close Live Nation came to obsolescence thanks to what happened just six years ago. Fortunately for Live Nation and its shareholders, company executives didn’t panic and specifically didn’t sell valuable assets that weren’t that valuable a long time ago.
This answers the questions the DOJ should be asking, but doesn’t, and casts serious doubt on the same DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation. She thrives today not because she gained dominance, but because she saw a future that no one else did and stuck to her guns when everyone around them was losing their heads. Instead of facing attacks from the DOJ, US Senators, and Kid Rock, as you read this all three should be showering Live Nation with bouquets considering its success in some of the steepest odds.
