Live Nation Entertainment generated revenue of $7.7 billion in Q2 (the three months to June 30), up 9% YoY.
The growth was led by Live Nation‘s Concerts division, which drew 49 million fans in Q2, up 10% YoY.
That’s according to the company’s latest quarterly results, published on Thursday (July 30).
The company’s operating income rose 7% YoY to $522 million in the quarter, while adjusted operating income (AOI), the metric Live Nation uses to measure its operating segments, grew 2% to $817 million.
“In a world of endless screens and AI-generated everything, the one thing that can’t be copied is being there,” said Michael Rapino, Live Nation‘s President and CEO.
“More artists are on the road than ever – and fans keep choosing to be in the room with them, driving the strongest concert ticket sales we’ve ever seen. More than 143 million tickets have sold through mid-July, over 14 million ahead of last year’s pace, with mid-teens ticket sales growth across all large venue types: stadiums, arenas, and amphitheaters.”
Credit: Live Nation/press
“More artists are on the road than ever – and fans keep choosing to be in the room with them, driving the strongest concert ticket sales we’ve ever seen.”
Michael Rapino, Live Nation
“This was a quarter of milestones: nearly 49 million fans attended our shows, Ticketmaster grew adjusted operating income14%, and all-time-high deferred revenue points to a strong second half.”
Live Nation‘s Concerts division generated revenue of $6.4 billion in the quarter, up 8% YoY.
Concerts AOI fell 14% YoY to $309.6 million, which the company attributed to the timing of stadium shows, venue pre-opening costs, and new international festivals.
At Ticketmaster, revenue rose 15% YoY to $852 million, with AOI up 14% to $331 million and 90 million fee-bearing tickets sold, up 8%.
Ticketmaster‘s AOI of $331 million came in above the $309.6 million posted by the Concerts division, which generated more than seven times the revenue.
Reported fee-bearing gross transaction value (GTV) climbed 15%to over $10 billion, with concerts accounting for 90% of the growth, according to the company.
Live Nation‘s Sponsorship and Advertising revenue grew 12% YoY to $383 million, with AOI up 13%to $257 million.
On the company’s earnings call, Rapino said Live Nation had seen “no consumer issues to date,” adding: “Numbers are up across the board, whether it’s international, America, clubs, amphitheaters, stadiums, all genres, all venues, and all geographies right now.”
Rapino said cancellation rates were running at 1.1%, below a historical average of 1.6%.
Event-related deferred revenue ended the quarter at a record $6.4 billion, up 25% YoY, which Live Nation said points to accelerating stadium and amphitheater activity in the second half.
The results landed against the backdrop of the antitrust case that has shadowed Live Nation since May 2024, when the US Department of Justice, joined by attorneys general from dozens of states and the District of Columbia, sued the company over its 2010 merger with Ticketmaster.
The charge drove Live Nation to a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $94.7 million for the six months to June 30, against a $266.6 million profit a year earlier.
H1 operating income fell 75% YoYto $151.4 million, even as first-half revenue rose 10% to $11.5 billion.
Live Nation reached a settlement with the DOJ in March that allowed it to keep Ticketmaster, but a coalition of 33 states and the District of Columbia pressed the case to trial.
The DOJ settlement set aside a $280 million fund for state damages claims, required the divestiture of 13 amphitheater booking agreements, and extended the company’s consent decree by eight years, as reported by MBW.
Live Nation is seeking to overturn the jury verdict or win a new trial, while the states are pushing for a divestiture of Ticketmaster.
Judge Arun Subramanian is scheduled to hear arguments on the company’s motions on Friday (July 31), while the DOJ settlement remains subject to Tunney Act review, with a public comment period running until September 4.
Among the quarter’s developments, Live Nation pointed to a new ticket-access partnership with Spotify‘s Reserved program, which uses Ticketmaster‘s platform to hold tickets for an artist’s most engaged fans.
The feature launched in the US in June under a multi-year deal, with indie-pop artist Role Model the first act on the program.
On the call, Rapino framed the arrangement as a monetization of presale inventory, comparing it to Live Nation‘s deals with brands such as Verizon and Citi.
“If Spotify was willing to compensate us properly for access to some presale tickets, we think it’s a great win-win for both sides,” Rapino said. “It’s a very small allocation on a global basis…”
Live Nation also said it had completed three arena acquisitions so far in 2026 – the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Forum di Milano in Milan, and the Movistar Arena in Buenos Aires.
“We’ve completed the acquisition of three arenas so far this year,” Live Nation President and CFO Joe Berchtold said on the call, adding that the company expects “four or five” more before the end of 2027.
Live Nation said it now expects full-year fan attendance to grow 10%, and reiterated that it remains on track for double-digit AOI growth in 2026, with the majority of the improvement falling in Q4.
The company ended the quarter with free cash of approximately $2 billion, up from $1.7 billion at the end of the prior quarter.Music Business Worldwide
