| The cost of going to a popular concert has declined by the largest amount in more than a decade, excluding the pandemic. The average price of the top 100 tours in the world has slipped by about 6% from last year, according to Pollstar. That’s the most since 2012. Pollstar said the prices reflect “2025’s uneven economic conditions marred by trade wars, a volatile stock market, shaky consumer confidence, inflation and mixed employment reports.” Going to a concert is still a lot more expensive than it used to be. The average cost to see one of the top 100 tours so far this year is $120, up almost 70% from 2010. Yet concert promoters and ticket sellers have noticed the downward trend, and they are trying to suss out if this is just a temporary dip, a response to the aforementioned economic uncertainty or something else. The cost of tickets — and the difficulty of securing them — has become a major source of frustration for fans and a popular talking point among politicians seeking to reform the business. The industry has argued that prices reflect demand. People were willing to pay more, as evidenced by the very healthy resale market for tickets. Prices have gone up so that artists (and their partners) can capture the money instead of a scalper. The top tours in the world — those staged by Beyoncé or Taylor Swift — now cost upwards of $250 per person. Considering the cost of parking, food, beer and merchandise, it’s an expensive night out. While certain artists, like Coldplay and Ed Sheeran, have historically charged less than their peers, even some of the holdouts have hiked their ticket prices in recent years. Yet a new wave of artists is prioritizing offering certain tickets for less. “Some artists want to have a cheaper get-in price,” said Rich Schaefer, the president of global touring at concert promoter AEG Presents. While the average cost of the most expensive tickets continues to increase -- wealthy people can and will pay for them – the cost of the cheapest tickets may come down. Artists want to ensure that all their fans can come to their shows. The more existential question is whether the decline in ticket prices reflects a softening in demand for live music. Economists have worried some of Trump’s policies, and especially the uncertainty around his tariffs, would impact consumer spending. “We haven’t felt it at all yet,” Live Nation Chief Executive Officer Michael Rapino said last month. Agents, concert promoters and managers say that the top acts still sell out at any price while the middling acts don’t. Trump’s immigration and economic policies have affected the broader music business in a few ways. Some acts can’t secure a visa to perform in the US, and some possible concertgoers are staying home for fear of deportation. Tariffs have affected people who make physical goods, such as merchandise. The music business has tended to deliver financial results that aren’t correlated to the broader economy. People listen to music whether or not they are working and prioritize concerts over other discretionary expenses. Yet the industry has a lot of exposure to financial markets now that many of the biggest players are standalone public companies – including two of the three major record labels. Financial firms have borrowed billions of dollars to buy catalogs, creating exposure to volatility in the debt market. Trump’s tariff proposals scuttled StubHub’s planned IPO — at least temporarily — and also interfered with other deals that were in process. The music industry is hoping that the decrease in prices will reverse over the second half of the year. Packed stadiums for Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé are testament to strong demand for top acts. But it’s hard to be certain given the current geopolitical and economic uncertainty. The best of Screentime (and other stuff) | YouTube isn’t a short-form video site anymore | Consumers spend the majority of their time on YouTube watching videos longer than 20 minutes. The average YouTube user spends more than 50% of their time on the site watching videos that are longer than 20 minutes. The average user spends about 42% of their time watching YouTube on a TV. That’s according to Tubular Labs, which is out with a new report breaking down YouTube viewership. While YouTube started as a destination for short-form content viewed on computers (and the phones), that has shifted over time. YouTube has prioritized longer videos viewed on TV screens. The biggest creators now often post videos that are between 20 minutes and 30 minutes — akin to the length of a traditional TV show. YouTube has also prioritized shorts — really short videos shot vertically — as part of its rivalry with TikTok. The majority of the videos uploaded to YouTube — and the majority of those watched — fit that profile. Videos that are less than one minute account for about 75% of the views and 57% of the videos uploaded. They just account for a minority of watch time. The traditional short-form video is a dying art form. People on YouTube either watch something that is really short or pretty long. The advertising market reboundsThe advertising market is looking better than experts once feared, according to Magna Global. The firm projected global ad sales will grow 4.9% in 2025, an improvement from just a few months ago. Magna had lowered its forecast due to economic uncertainty and declining confidence. Internet companies will far better than legacy media players. Digital sales will grow by more than 8%, boosted by retail search (e.g. Amazon, Walmart) and social. Traditional media companies will suffer a 3% drop in sales due to declines in print and television/streaming. The No. 1 TV show in the US is…Andor claimed the top spot in the lateset Nielsen rankings, the first time the Star Wars spin-off has done that. Its total — 931 million minutes viewed — is low for a No. 1 title, so it likely helps that the competition is weak. But still, a good result for the second season of the Disney+ show, which critics have hailed as one of the best shows of the year. The No. 1 movie in the world is…How to Train Your Dragon. The live-action adaptation of the hit animated movie grossed $198 million worldwide this weekend, dethroning Lilo & Stitch. The three biggest openings this year (outside China) all belong to kids’ movies. Deals, deals, dealsI am loving the new album from Little Simz, a British rapper whose new work spans a few genres. | 
