Ticketmaster-owner Live Nation Entertainment (LYV:NYSE) has suffered a terrible time on the stock market this year with its share price down 39%. A multitude of problems have weighed on the company’s valuation and sentiment remains poor going into 2023. You might have expected 2022 to be a good year for the live music promoter and ticket seller given that lots of famous musicians played concerts to capitalise on pent-up demand for events post-Covid.

At the end of the third quarter, Live Nation said more than 115 million tickets had been sold year-to-date through its system, up 37% on 2019. Yet investors are worried about the impact of a recession on 2023’s takings and a potential regulatory crackdown on ticketing fees. There was also a big backlash regarding the chaotic selling of Taylor Swift tickets. Hundreds of thousands of fans couldn’t use the Ticketmaster platform to buy pre-sale tickets and the general ticket sale was then cancelled. The New York Times reported that the Justice Department was looking at whether Live Nation had abused its power within the industry.

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