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.
Who is the current owner of Pollstar?
Pollstar is owned by Live Nation Entertainment, which acquired it in 2013. Live Nation is the world’s largest live entertainment company, also operating Ticketmaster and owning hundreds of venues worldwide.
Is Pollstar still independent after being bought by Live Nation?
No, Pollstar is no longer independent. Since 2013, it has operated as a subsidiary of Live Nation Entertainment. While it still publishes public box office reports, its data pipeline now includes internal sales information from Live Nation’s own venues and promotions.
Why does Pollstar still matter if Live Nation owns it?
Pollstar remains the most comprehensive source of global concert sales data. Even with ownership bias, it’s the only publication that tracks primary ticket sales across stadiums, arenas, and festivals worldwide. Its reports are used by artists, promoters, and investors to make real business decisions.
Does Pollstar report on tours not promoted by Live Nation?
Yes. Pollstar still collects data from independent promoters, venues, and ticketing platforms outside Live Nation. For example, tours promoted by AEG Presents or Live Nation’s rivals still appear in its Top 100 Tours list. However, data from Live Nation-owned sources is often more detailed and timely.
Can I trust Pollstar’s box office numbers?
Pollstar’s numbers are accurate, but they’re not neutral. Because Live Nation controls the data source, the reports reflect the company’s ecosystem. Use Pollstar as a benchmark, not the final word. Cross-reference with artist announcements, venue websites, or local news reports for a fuller picture.
michael T
So Live Nation owns Pollstar? No shit. That’s like asking who owns the scoreboard when the home team writes the rules. I’ve seen promoters get ghosted after sharing numbers with Pollstar-then suddenly their rival’s tour ‘surged’ in the next report. Coincidence? Nah. It’s corporate espionage with a newsletter header.
Christina Kooiman
It is important to note, and I cannot stress this enough, that the acquisition of Pollstar by Live Nation Entertainment in the year 2013 was not merely a business transaction-it was a fundamental shift in the power dynamics of the entire live music ecosystem. The implications are profound, and I believe we are only beginning to see the consequences of this consolidation of data, control, and influence.
Before 2013, Pollstar operated as a neutral arbiter, a trusted third party that provided objective, verifiable metrics. Now, it is a subsidiary of the very entity that controls the largest ticketing platform, the most extensive venue network, and the most dominant booking apparatus in the world. This is not just a conflict of interest-it is a complete fusion of observer and observed, and that fundamentally undermines the integrity of the data.
When Pollstar reports that a Taylor Swift tour grossed $1 billion, we must ask: who provided the data? Was it independently audited? Or was it pulled from the same internal system that also calculates the artist’s royalty payments and venue rental fees? The answer is obvious, and it’s terrifying.
Independent promoters are now forced to self-censor. They report lower numbers. They delay releases. They avoid sharing data altogether. Why? Because they know that Live Nation uses that information to undercut them-to book bigger venues, lower ticket prices, and monopolize market share. It’s not speculation-it’s documented industry behavior.
And yet, we still rely on Pollstar. Why? Because there is no alternative. Billboard is U.S.-only. CII is too small. TickPick only tracks resale. None of them have the global reach, the historical depth, or the institutional credibility. So we’re stuck. We trust a system that is rigged, because the alternatives are worse.
And let’s not forget: Pollstar Pro, the new digital dashboard, is now a subscription service that costs hundreds of dollars a month. Who can afford that? Independent promoters? Small venues? No. Only the big players. So now, the data isn’t just biased-it’s gated. It’s a paywall on truth.
And the worst part? No one talks about it. We just nod along, quote the charts, and pretend it’s still neutral. But it’s not. It never will be again.
Stephanie Serblowski
Okay but like… Pollstar’s still the only one that tells us who’s actually selling out arenas in Osaka or Bogotá, right? 🤷♀️ I get the conflict of interest, but if you want real numbers, you’re gonna use the source that has the most data-even if it’s owned by the guy who also runs the casino. It’s like trusting your phone’s weather app even though it’s made by Google. Not ideal, but it’s the best we got. 🌍🎤
Renea Maxima
What if Pollstar isn’t owned by Live Nation at all? What if it’s a decoy? A front for something deeper? The real owners are the same people who control the Fed, the IRS, and the Oscars. They need data to manipulate perception. Tour revenue isn’t about music-it’s about social control. The numbers are fabricated. The ‘Eras Tour’ didn’t make $1 billion. It made $3 billion. And we’re being fed half-truths to keep us docile.
Jeremy Chick
Bro, Pollstar’s just the ESPN of concert biz. You don’t hate ESPN because Disney owns it-you use it because it’s the only game in town. Live Nation’s got the data, the venues, the tickets. Of course they bought the stats tracker. It’s capitalism. Get over it.
Sagar Malik
Let me elucidate the ontological implications: Pollstar, as a semiotic apparatus, has been co-opted by the late-capitalist hegemony of Live Nation-a monolithic entity that functions as a panopticon of cultural consumption. The data is not merely biased-it is *performative*. It constructs reality rather than reflects it. The Eras Tour’s reported $1B? A narrative artifact. A spectral value. The true revenue is measured not in dollars, but in affective labor-how many souls were commodified, how many memories were monetized, how many fans were turned into data points. We are not consumers. We are the product. And Pollstar? It is the ledger.
Also, i think they misspelled 'concert' in the intro. lol
Seraphina Nero
I get why this feels icky, but I also think Pollstar still does good work. I’ve used their data to plan my first small tour, and it honestly helped me feel less lost. Maybe the system’s flawed, but the info still saved me from booking a venue that was way too big. Just… be aware, I guess? 🤗
Megan Ellaby
Wait so if I’m a small band and I report my ticket sales to Pollstar… does that mean Live Nation could use it to undercut me? Like, ‘oh, this band made $80k in Austin, so we’ll book a bigger venue and drop prices to $40’? 😳 I didn’t even think about that. I just wanted to know if I was doing okay. This is wild. I’m gonna start reporting to CII instead. Or just… post my sales on Instagram. 🤔
Rahul U.
Interesting analysis. 🤔 Pollstar’s data is invaluable, but the ownership model does raise ethical concerns. I’ve seen independent promoters in India hesitate to share numbers-fearing they’ll be exploited. Still, without Pollstar, we’d have zero global benchmarks. Perhaps the solution isn’t to abandon it, but to demand transparency: open audits, third-party verification, and public data standards. We can’t unring the bell, but we can demand better. 🙏
E Jones
Let’s be real-Live Nation didn’t buy Pollstar. They bought the truth. And now they’re selling it back to us at a premium. You think Taylor Swift’s tour made $1 billion? Nah. That number was cooked in a lab somewhere in Beverly Hills. The real number? 4.7 billion. But they only report what makes the stock go up. The rest? Buried under layers of ‘confidential venue data.’ I’ve seen the spreadsheets. I know what they’re hiding. And the worst part? You’re all just quoting their numbers like gospel while they’re quietly buying up every independent promoter in the country. This isn’t capitalism. It’s a cult. And Pollstar? It’s the holy scripture.
And don’t even get me started on how they use the data to pressure artists into exclusive deals. ‘Sign with us or we’ll bury your tour numbers.’ It’s not business. It’s extortion. With a newsletter.
They own the venues. The tickets. The data. The awards. The headlines. And you’re still surprised you can’t find a decent indie show anymore? Wake up.
They’re not selling concerts. They’re selling control. And you’re all paying for it with your attention, your money, and your silence.
Barbara & Greg
It is deeply regrettable that a publication which once stood as a pillar of journalistic integrity in the live music industry has been subsumed by a corporate behemoth whose primary objective is market domination. The ethical ramifications of such a merger are not merely academic-they are existential. To permit a single entity to control both the measurement of success and the infrastructure of delivery is to invite monopolistic tyranny. One cannot credibly claim objectivity while simultaneously holding the scales, the weights, and the table upon which the scales rest. This is not progress. It is regression dressed in corporate livery.
selma souza
There is a grammatical error in the third paragraph: 'founded in 1974 by Steve Wynn (not the casino mogul, but a concert promoter from California).' The phrase 'but a concert promoter from California' is a non-restrictive appositive and requires a comma before 'but.' Additionally, 'Pollstar's team still gathers ticket sales from venues worldwide, but they also cross-reference with Live Nation’s own 250+ venues'-the pronoun 'they' is ambiguous. Who is 'they'? The team? The venues? This is sloppy writing. And you call this journalism?
michael T
And now they’re charging $500/month for Pollstar Pro. So if you’re a small promoter trying to compete, you gotta pay the guy who’s trying to crush you just to see how much he’s undercutting you. It’s like paying your landlord for a copy of your lease so you can figure out how much rent he’s charging you next month.