As concert ticket sales boom to record heights, Digital Ally, Inc. announced that its subsidiary Kustom Entertainment, Inc. would go public via a SPAC acquisition. The deal values the live entertainment company at $222 million and “is expected to provide Kustom Entertainment with the ability to be a stand-alone entity with a focus and mission to own and produce events, festivals, and entertainment alongside its evolving primary and secondary ticketing technologies,” according to the transaction’s press release.
Kustom Entertainment seeks to ride the surge in interest in live entertainment, just 3 years after the “chaos” of the pandemic “devastat[ed] the live music industry,” according to Rolling Stone. Indeed, concert revenue plummeted in 2020, with industry-leader Live Nation Entertainment reporting revenues down over 84% from the previous year. The pandemic and government shutdowns shuttered venues for much of 2020, but even once they reopened and performers again toured, patrons remained reluctant to return well into 2021 as variants spread.
Live Nation Entertainment’s concert revenue from 2008 to 2022
By 2022, ticket sales boomed to new heights, breaking 2019’s record. Bad Bunny led the pack, grossing nearly $357 million with his tour. Venues racked up record-breaking sales even as many shows were cancelled or postponed. Artists including Adele, Billy Joel, Elton John, and Willie Nelson each cancelled performances due to the pandemic — particularly during the first quarter of the year as Omnicron-variant Covid cases surged and the artists and their crew contracted the disease.
Highest grossing music tours in North America in 2022
2023 is poised to shatter 2022’s record. Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” is projected to rake in up to $1.6 billion and Beyonce is anticipated to gross as much as $2 billion from her “Renaissance” world tour. If these figures materialize, they would each trounce the previous highest-grossing concert tours of all time, according to Billboard Boxscore:
1. Ed Sheeran’s “The ÷ (Divide) Tour,” which grossed $776 million over 2017-2019
2. U2’s “360° Tour,” which grossed $736 million over 2009-11
3. Guns N’ Roses’ “Not in This Lifetime Tour,” which grossed $584 million over 2016-19
According to Matterhorn’s comprehensive M&A database, which harnesses AI to track current and historical deals, Kustom Entertainment is advised by Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP, while the SPAC, Clover Leaf Capital Corp., is advised by Sullivan & Worcester.