How did mega concerts and tours become a money-printing machine?
Taylor Swift's 'The Era' mega concert has grossed over $2 billion in two years, performing in 189 venues.
K-pop artists have adopted new strategies to connect with fans and make concert tours successful by using social media and technology.
As album sales have declined due to the development of digital technology, artists have made concert tours their main source of income.
Taylor Swift's mega concert 'The Era' ended in December 2024. A mega concert is a concert held in multiple venues under one banner. Taylor performed in 189 venues around the world for two years.
The tour also became the highest-grossing music event of all time. During that period, the tour grossed over $2 billion. No previous mega tour had grossed even half of that.
Nine months later, pop band Coldplay wrapped up their ‘Music of the Spheres’ world tour. Coldplay’s mega tour grossed over $1.5 billion.
This raises the question of how music’s mega concerts and tours are becoming a platform for generating more revenue.
Large fan base
How do musicians grow their fan base? How do they keep their fan base growing? We can look to K-pop artists to understand this.
K-pop is a blend of Korean and Western music styles. Their melodies and lyrics have energetic and swinging beats. And with that, dancing is also included. Not only that, K-pop artists are using social media and technology to connect with their fans.
Regarding their success, Kevin Kim, Asia head of Seoul-based music distribution company Root Notes, says, “One of the big differences between Western artists and Korean artists is that Korean K-pop artists are always online. They have a strong presence on YouTube. Many artists also chat directly with their fans through the ‘Bubble’ app.”
‘Bubble’ is a South Korean social networking platform. Through it, fans can communicate directly with their music stars.
Similarly, through the same app, K-pop artists also know how many fans they have. And, based on that, they plan their concert tours.
K-pop fans are also very emotional about the artists. Because some fans travel to distant cities and even other countries just to see an artist’s concert.
Concerts are often a new experience for K-pop fans. At the concert, fans carry a ‘light stick’, the color of which indicates which region they are from. Also, the organizers of the concert control the light of the light stick during the event. So that its color changes with different melodies of the music.
According to Kevin Kim, the light stick is made of very advanced technology. This makes the musical atmosphere at the concert different.
This makes the concert experience for fans very ‘dynamic’. They feel like they are part of the music. However, K-pop artists sell not only light sticks, but also other goods.
‘Korean artists sell many things such as posters, T-shirts and key chains with their pictures. T-shirts and key chains with new pictures are made and released for each concert,’ says Kevin Kim, ‘Their fans buy these things with great interest. And, collect them.’
These strategies have made concert tours more profitable than ever. But, the question arises, how was such a huge success possible? How did the old ways of making money by selling albums or CDs change?
Digital change
According to Serona Elton, a professor at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami in the US, pop music bands used to use concert tours to promote their new music albums or CDs. However, now these music bands are making a direct profit from concert tours.
According to her, one of the main reasons for this is the change in digital technology in the last 20 years. Earlier, people used to go to music stores to buy an artist's album. However, now their songs can be easily downloaded from the Internet.
'Earlier, young people used to buy most music records or CDs. Now they use digital technology. This has changed the equation of the music industry, says Serena Elton, “When artists saw their music record sales gradually decreasing, they also started to make money through concert tours.”
During such concert tours, the internet streaming of artists’ music also increases. Because as soon as the concert is announced, fans start buying albums online. Although it does not benefit much. The main focus of artists is to perform grand concerts and sell all the tickets as much as possible. Again, to perform a grandiose concert requires a corresponding investment.
The grandeur of the concert
Often, such concerts are held in huge stadiums, where thousands of fans come. Fans sitting two or three rows behind the stage do not see the artists performing on the stage clearly. In such a case, large video screens must be installed in the stadium. So that the artists can be seen clearly and up close.
Similarly, the light and sound are also of the same level. And the same time and manpower are required to build the stage, dismantle it and move it to a new place. That's why it is essential to make a profit when doing such a big mega concert.
Social media also plays an equal role in making a concert tour successful. Usually, when performing at any place, the ratio of fans and purchasing power are considered a lot.
The economics of the tour
According to Adam Behr, head of the music department at Newcastle University in the UK, the work of pop music artists was not like it is now. They used to go to the studio. They would record an album. Then they would start promoting it. Music labels would help organize the tour. But in the digital age, this equation has changed.
'There is no limit to the online streaming of albums. But tickets for tour concerts are limited. The fun of live music is different. It makes the experience special,' says Adam Behr, 'that's why tour concerts are a hugely profitable business.'
According to Poppy Reid, music journalist and founder of Sydney-based 'Curious Media', concert tours are not for all artists. Only artists with millions of fans can do such a concert.
According to him, even if there is money in this business, the profit margin is low. Because the investment is high. However, it is not enough for the organizers of such mega concerts. The local community is also benefiting equally.
Because the number of days these artists stay in a city, they stay with great enthusiasm. That is why some governments appeal to bands like Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Coldplay to come to their cities.
The then Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, President of Brazil, Lula, and the heads of state of Chile and Thailand had requested Taylor Swift to tour their countries. This shows how important this mega tour is economically.
In the case of some artists, they earn income even after the mega concert. Taylor is an example of this. Taylor made a 6-part documentary in collaboration with Disney Plus on her ‘The Era’ tour.
According to Poppy Reed, organizing such tours involves huge expenses, which artists have no choice but to recover and make a profit. However, the bigger the concert, the more money it brings in. On the other hand, fans themselves believe that this is the reason why mega tours are so successful.
