With stadium-filling world tours resuming after the pandemic or revenue still being generated by legends, music stars are driving economic indicators into a panic.
• Also read: World Tours: Will Taylor Swift and Beyoncé Top One Billion in Sales?
• Also read: More than $100 million in advance ticket sales: Great enthusiasm for Taylor Swift’s concert film
Taylor Swift and the American economy
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The film about Taylor Swift’s triumphant tour, which opens in 100 countries on Friday, had already sold more than $100 million in advance cinema tickets worldwide a week before its release, a record for a feature film in concert, according to cinema operator AMC .
An achievement worthy of the American pop star’s world tour “The Eras Tour”, which, according to American estimates, could exceed one billion in sales for the first time in history when it ends at the end of 2024. The trade magazine Pollstar even speaks of 1.9 billion dollars.
In early September, New York Fed President John Williams estimated that the “Taylor Swift effect” had boosted the American economy in recent months “because people were spending on the concert, the hotel, all of that, an important phenomenon .”
The Fed’s Beige Book already mentioned in early July that hotel revenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was boosted in May by the singer’s fans.
According to economist Maria Psyllou of Britain’s University of Birmingham, the six Los Angeles concerts in August added $320 million to the county’s GDP.
Beyoncé and inflation
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One economist even suggested that the first two dates of Beyoncé’s world tour in Stockholm contributed to higher-than-expected inflation in the country in May.
Aside from the high cost of concert tickets, Danske Bank’s Michael Grahn estimated that the influx of fans could explain the rise in hotel and restaurant prices.
According to the trade site Billboard Boxscore, the American artist’s “Renaissance World Tour,” which ended on October 1st, is expected to have total sales of around $560 million, making it the most lucrative women’s tour in history. By the end of August, it had already grossed $461 million, surpassing Madonna and her 2008-2009 Sticky and Sweet Tour.
The record is currently held by Elton John, whose farewell tour “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” (2018-2023) grossed more than $910 million.
BTS in South Korea
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In its decade of existence, K-pop boy band BTS, currently on hiatus and with several members serving military service, has brought billions of dollars to the South Korean economy.
In December 2018, the Hyundai Research Institute estimated that the first wholly South Korean conglomerate to reach the top of the American and British charts brought more than $3.6 billion in annual economic benefits to its country.
In 2022, the Korea Institute of Culture and Tourism estimated the economic impact of each BTS concert on the country at 1.22 trillion won (more than $900 million).
The Beatles’ lucky strike for Liverpool
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More than 50 years after the Beatles disbanded, Liverpool, the birthplace of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, continues to attract nostalgic fans of the quartet.
The Cavern Club concert hall, Penny Lane or the former Strawberry Field orphanage, museums, restaurants, souvenir shops… Tourism linked to the Beatles is estimated at 120 million pounds a year (almost 150 million dollars), according to the local council.
Other places in the world capitalize on their artists: the American city of Memphis (Tennessee), with Elvis Presley’s former estate Graceland, remains an important place of pilgrimage for fans of rock and legend roll, and Jamaica preserves the memory of reggae giant Bob Marley.
The Abba group, in turn, helped make Sweden the third largest music exporter in the world, behind the United States and the United Kingdom.