Who Owns Pollstar? The Parent Company Behind Concert Industry Data

When you see a Pollstar report on tour sales, box office rankings, or concert attendance numbers, you’re looking at the gold standard in live music intelligence. But who’s actually behind it? The name Pollstar has been printed on industry reports for over 45 years, but most people don’t know who owns it today.

Pollstar is owned by Live Nation Entertainment

Pollstar has been a subsidiary of Live Nation Entertainment since 2013. That’s when Live Nation, already the world’s largest live entertainment company, bought Pollstar for an undisclosed sum. The move wasn’t just about acquiring a magazine-it was about controlling the data engine that tracks how concerts make money.

Before the acquisition, Pollstar operated as an independent trade publication founded in 1974 by Steve Wynn (not the casino mogul, but a concert promoter from California). It started as a newsletter tracking ticket sales for small venues and grew into the go-to source for box office data, tour revenue rankings, and artist touring patterns. Venues, promoters, agents, and artists all relied on Pollstar to see who was selling out arenas and where.

Live Nation already had its own ticketing system (Ticketmaster), artist booking teams, and venue ownership. Adding Pollstar gave them real-time access to independent third-party data that could validate their own numbers-or expose competitors. It’s like a football team buying the league’s official stats tracker.

How Pollstar works inside Live Nation

After the acquisition, Pollstar didn’t disappear. It kept publishing its weekly box office charts, annual year-end reports, and touring revenue rankings. But now, those reports are backed by Live Nation’s internal data systems. Pollstar’s team still gathers ticket sales from venues worldwide, but they also cross-reference with Live Nation’s own 250+ venues and 150+ festival partnerships.

That means Pollstar’s numbers aren’t just estimates anymore-they’re often confirmed by actual ticketing data from one of the biggest players in the game. For example, when Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour hit $1 billion in ticket sales in 2023, Pollstar was the first to report it, using data pulled from venues and promoters across North America and Europe. That report was later validated by Live Nation’s internal finance teams.

It’s a powerful combo: Pollstar brings credibility and industry trust, while Live Nation brings scale and access. No other company can match that combination.

Why this matters to artists and promoters

If you’re a mid-level band trying to book a tour, you check Pollstar to see what similar acts are pulling in cities like Cleveland, Nashville, or Austin. You use those numbers to negotiate venue deals, set ticket prices, and plan routing.

But now, that same data is owned by the company that also controls the biggest venues and the largest ticketing platform. That creates tension. Some independent promoters say they’re afraid to share real sales numbers with Pollstar anymore, worried it’ll be used to undercut them later.

There’s no proof of abuse, but the conflict of interest is real. Pollstar still publishes data from non-Live Nation venues, and it still ranks acts like Beyoncé, Coldplay, and Harry Styles-even when those tours are booked through rival promoters. But the fact remains: the data source is now controlled by the market leader.

What changed after the acquisition

Before 2013, Pollstar was a neutral observer. After, it became part of the system it was measuring.

Some things stayed the same: the weekly box office charts, the touring awards, the annual Top 100 Tours list. Pollstar’s editorial team still writes about emerging markets, festival trends, and regional scenes. But now, their data pipeline includes access to Live Nation’s internal sales figures-something no competitor has.

For example, Pollstar’s 2024 report showed that stadium tours generated 42% more revenue than arena tours. That insight didn’t come from guessing-it came from pulling actual sales from over 200 venues owned or operated by Live Nation. That kind of detail gives them an edge no indie publication can match.

Who else tracks concert data?

Pollstar isn’t the only player, but it’s the most trusted. Competitors include:

• Billboard Boxscore - Focuses on U.S. data and is tied to Billboard’s music charts
• Concert Industry Insights (CII) - Smaller, niche, used mostly by indie promoters
• TickPick - Tracks resale prices, not primary sales
• Entertainment Research Group - Offers custom analytics for brands and sponsors

None of them have Pollstar’s reach. Billboard’s data is limited to the U.S. CII doesn’t have the volume. TickPick only sees secondary market activity. Pollstar is the only one that covers global primary sales across stadiums, arenas, theaters, and festivals.

What happens if Live Nation sells Pollstar?

There’s been no indication Live Nation plans to sell Pollstar. In fact, they’ve invested in upgrading its platform. In 2022, Pollstar launched its new digital dashboard, Pollstar Pro, which lets promoters access real-time tour data, compare venue performance, and forecast demand.

If Live Nation ever sold Pollstar, it would be a seismic shift in the industry. The buyer would likely be another major player-maybe AEG Presents, Live Nation’s biggest rival. But even then, Pollstar’s data would lose its connection to Live Nation’s internal systems, making it less accurate.

For now, Pollstar remains the most complete picture of what’s happening in live music. But it’s a picture painted by the same company that owns the canvas, the brushes, and most of the paint.

Is Pollstar still trustworthy?

Yes-but with context.

Pollstar doesn’t fabricate numbers. Its methodology is transparent: it collects data directly from venues, promoters, and ticketing systems. Even if some of that data comes from Live Nation, it’s still real sales data.

What’s changed is the lens. Pollstar now sees the industry through the eyes of the largest player. That doesn’t make it wrong-it makes it biased by default. Smart users cross-check Pollstar’s numbers with other sources, like local venue reports or artist social media announcements.

For most people-fans, journalists, or new promoters-Pollstar is still the best starting point. Just remember: it’s not just a data source. It’s part of the ecosystem it measures.