Amongst the many industries severely impacted by the current Covid-19 pandemic, live music and entertainment, is perhaps one that will continue to be badly affected for some time to come. Even as some lockdowns ease, live music events and festivals appear to be held to ransom by the virus with no long-term solution in sight for venues to re-open. As well as being crippling financially for many musicians and DJs, any company involved in the running of live music have also been hit hard too.
Across North American venues and its TicketMaster divisions, Live Nation began a second-round of staff layoffs earlier this month in an effort to cut costs further.
According to Pollstar, "Live Nation reported a loss of $567.5 million for Q2 of 2020 on Aug. 5 in its quarterly earnings report as its business was dramatically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company’s posted revenue was $74.1 million, down from Q2 2019's revenue of 3.15 billion, or 98% from a year ago."
Live Nation have been seeking to reduce costs since April 2020 including, "hiring freezes, reduction in the use of contractors, rent re-negotiations, furloughs, and reduction or elimination of other discretionary spending, including, among other things, travel and entertainment, repairs and maintenance, and marketing.”
Since this plan, Live Nationfurloughed 25% of its North American employees in April. In May a further 20% of emplyees were furloughed and CEO, Michael Rapino "gave up his salary, and execs took up to 50% pay cuts."
As would be expected, Live Nation's revenue was down dramatically, reporting a loss of $567.5 million for Q2 of 2020, and revenue was down from over $3 billion from Q2 in 2019 to $74 million in Q2 2020.
Via: Pollstar
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