Live Nation announced a consequential move into the concert livestream industry on Tuesday with the acquisition of a majority stake in streaming service Veeps. The announcement comes as live concerts remain on hold en masse and Live Nation and its ticket retail subsidiary, Ticketmaster, continue to hemorrhage money.
Veeps was founded in 2017 by brothers Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charolette, who will remain at the head of the company. The ticketed livestream platform saw over 1,000 events in 2020 from performers including Brandi Carlile, Patti Smith, Eric Gales, Rufus Wainright, and many more.
A statement from Live Nation, the world’s largest entertainment company, also pointed to Veeps’ capabilities in audience engagement as motivating factors in the purchase. Of interest to Live Nation was the “enhanced engagement between artists and fans” which includes features like chat and exclusive merchandising purchases, as well as other social media marketing capabilities.
Currently, Live Nation has its own livestream hub set up, dubbed Live From Home!, which puts on streams through a variety of platforms including Twitch, Facebook and Instagram Live, and more. This move, however, will put Live Nation into the game as a major streaming provider alongside other services such as FANS, Nugs, and more.
“We are impressed with what Benji and Joel have created with Veeps and their platform will create new ways to enjoy thousands of Live Nation concerts,” President and CEO of Live Nation Entertainment Michael Rapino said in a statement. “Live streaming is a great complement to our core business, and essentially gives any show an unlimited capacity. …The most critical element of live streaming is the artist on stage, and with Live Nation’s unmatched inventory feeding into Veeps, together we will help fans enjoy more live music than ever before.”
“This partnership is a demonstration that premium, ticketed live streams have earned themselves a permanent place in the verticals of every artist business,” added Joel Madden. “Last year Veeps live streams helped artists — both big names and new acts — make over $10 million dollars for themselves, their families, their crew and their chosen causes and we’re looking forward to helping even more artists connect with fans this year in ways that support their art and their development.”
This purchase comes as things begin to move in the right direction for the concert industry. Last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci projected that, if vaccine rollout across the United States stays on schedule, in-person concerts could return en masse by as early as fall 2021. Meanwhile, studies continue to come in from overseas on how to safely conduct live events. A study held in Spain last month showed no new infections of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) in all 463 participants who attended an indoor concert that adhered to certain safety protocols.