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ABSTRACT
The music industry, and in particular the recording and publishing sectors, has historically been controlled by a handful of large firms. In recent years, this tendency towards concentration appears to have spread to the promotion sector as well. Using a Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) together with other North American tour industry figures, this study investigates the impacts of rising concentration in music promotion between 2010 and 2019. The results show a steady rise from moderate to high-level concentration over that time frame in large part driven by Live Nation alone. This rising concentration was found to be associated with higher prices for fans, bigger productions, less risk taking from promoters and more homogenous offerings, consistent with known monopolistic behaviours. Implications for theory and policymakers are suggested in closing.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Note that we double-checked the industry data and only retained the parent companies for promoters. Hence, working from Pollstar’s top 50 list, we found anywhere from 40 to 43 actual unique promoters, and thus chose to limit ourselves to the top 40 entries each year for consistency purposes. Likewise, we worked from Pollstar’s annual top 100 tours lists but removed anything unrelated to music artists or bands (e.g., circus, comedy, etc.). In the end, we limited ourselves to the top 75 entries, again for consistency purposes.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Louis-Etienne Dubois
Louis-Etienne Dubois is an Associate Professor of creative industries management at Toronto Metropolitan University's School of Creative Industries, as well as Associate researcher at MINES ParisTech's Centre for Scientific Management. He holds a PhD from HEC Montréal and MINES ParisTech. His research activities focus on production and innovation processes in cultural and creative organizations.
Stan Renard
Stan Renard is Associate Dean and Associate Professor and Coordinator of Arts Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Oklahoma Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts. He is the Director of the Arts Incubation Research Lab (AIR Lab), a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab.
Daniel Guttentag
Daniel Guttentag is an Assistant Professor in Hospitality and Tourism Management in the School of Business at the College of Charleston. He additionally serves as the Director of the Office of Tourism Analysis, which conducts data analysis and market research on behalf of tourism businesses and organizations throughout the Lowcountry. Daniel holds a PhD in Recreation and Leisure Studies and a Master's degree in Tourism Policy and Planning, both from the University of Waterloo (Canada). He also worked for several years as a Tourism Business Analyst for the Toronto Convention and Visitors Bureau.