Finance & economics | Mo’ problems, mo’ money

Live music seems recession-proof. Thank ticket scalpers

When demand softens, the secondary market absorbs the pain

Olivia Rodrigo performs on stage in Los Angeles in 2024
Photograph: Getty Images
|2 min read

The mood music on Wall Street is downbeat, as America’s government throttles trade and consumers seem poised to trim spending. Yet one corner of the entertainment industry is partying on regardless. Live Nation, a concert promoter, has said it expects the live-music industry to break records in 2025. Its Ticketmaster app had 70% more traffic this February than last, reckons Sensor Tower, a data firm.

Explore more

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Mo’ problems, mo’ money”

From the March 29th 2025 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition
illustration of a map of Africa with a large pixelated cursor pointing at Zambia, which is highlighted in yellow

Want to be a good explorer? Study economics

The battle to reduce risk has shaped centuries of ventures

Illustration of a hand pushing a jagged black arrow upward against a red background. The Jane Street logo appears to be rolling down the arrow in the opposite direction.

Jane Street is chucked out of India. Other firms should be nervous

Around the world, marketmakers now face extra scrutiny


A man looks at an advertisement for the Nippon Individual Savings Account (NISA) displayed at a branch of Nomura Securities Co., a unit of Nomura Holdings Inc., in the Kichijoji area of Tokyo, Japan.

Japan has been hit by investing fever

Will old folk catch the bug?


Don’t invest through the rearview mirror

Markets are supposed to look forward; plenty of investors look back instead

Trump’s trade deals try a creative way to hobble China

To appease the world’s biggest market, countries must anger the world’s biggest trader

The great dealmaker is conspicuously short of trade deals

Donald Trump issues threats—and grants deadline extensions