If you think you're upset about the lack of live music shows in 2020, trust us, music executives are even more enraged. According to a recent report by Pollstar, the music industry took a hit of roughly $30 billion this year. The reported calculated losses of $9.7 billion at the box office, where music makes a killing on movies and movie soundtracks. An extra $20 billion was lost from merch, sponsorships, concessions, restaurants, hotels, and more.
“It’s been an extraordinarily difficult year for the events industry, which has been disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus. As painful as it is to chronicle the adversity and loss our industry and many of our colleagues faced, we understand it is a critical undertaking toward facilitating our recovery, which is thankfully on the horizon,” Ray Waddell, president of Oak View Group’s Media & Conferences Division, which oversees Pollstar and VenuesNow, said in a statement.
“With vaccines, better testing, new safety and sanitization protocols, smart ticketing and other innovations, the live industry will be ramping up in the coming months, and we’re sure that at this time next year we’ll have a very different story to tell.” Endless concerts were canceled and festivals were postponed this year, which also led to record losses for venues.