The house lights dim, and ripples of anticipation spread throughout the crowd. Beams of light flash across eager faces. The speakers begin to hum, getting louder until bass pounds from all angles—a sudden explosion of sound. The subtle scent of metal and smoke lingers in the air, mixed with the sticky-sweet aroma of spilled beer and sodas in hand. The artist emerges, and the crowd erupts with excitement.
“The energy in the room was just electric,” describes Sheila Regan, a Minneapolis-based arts critic and journalist, about her experience seeing Dua Saleh live. “Not only am I seeing this singer perform, I’m also surrounded by people that really connect to and know the music.”
People sing and shout along; voices blend into one passionate roar. In that moment, nothing else exists—except the song’s rhythm, the synchronized voices of strangers, and the feeling that the music somehow belongs to everyone around.
For decades, live performances have been a means for musicians to bring people together and promote their music in order to sell albums. Yet in the state of today’s music industry, live performances are no longer just about selling albums—they are a crucial part of an artist’s digital success.
The extent to which concerts drive streaming numbers, however, varies dramatically depending on an artist’s level of fame. Concerts fuel the fanbase of major stars like Taylor Swift, leading to billions of streams and massive revenue.
But for the majority of musicians, it is quite the opposite: streaming does not provide a livable income but instead serves as a tool to attract an audience that will one day buy tickets for a live show. For artists navigating the digital age, the stage acts as both a launchpad for attention and a lifeline for survival.
Live music creates a unique and direct connection between artists and their fans, allowing artists to experiment with their music and showcase their personalities beyond recorded tracks. Although listening to physical pieces of music on vinyl is often how artists originally intend for their music to be heard, live music is the purest way to experience a song. Artists tell more of the story of how their music is made by interacting with their fans directly and doing crowd work.
In a vote conducted by Rolling Stone Magazine in 2011, the top three live acts of all time are Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, The Rolling Stones, and The Who. The passion that stems from hours upon hours on stage, 11-piece bands, and even smashing guitars has paved the way for many other artists and helped define the state of music today.
Recently, alternative live music opportunities have risen in popularity. Digital concerts and live streams are up-and-coming, even in a post-Covid world.
According to 6Connex, “Virtual concerts often provide a more personal and interactive experience than traditional live events. Many artists host live Q&A sessions, take song requests, and even share sneak peeks of upcoming projects.”
The rise in ticket prices
In the same fashion, performance income remains a significant source of earnings for many artists, especially in the era of streaming. With streaming as a primary listening method, tours have become crucial for revenue. This is one of the many factors for high ticket prices. Some of the others include the high demand for tickets, ticket withholding, ticket scalping, and ticket reselling. As reported by The Guardian, around 84% of ticket income is divided between a band and its promoter. Though artists’ income margin is much lower from streaming.
“An artist will make more in one night in Madison Square Garden than they will in the first six months of releasing a song,” notes Yellowbrick. “At the end of the day, [they] end up making more money in one month of good, strong touring than they will in a year of spins and performances on the radio, and likewise.”
Towards the end of each calendar year, Spotify and Apple Music release listening data for each of their listeners. On Spotify, it is called “Spotify Wrapped,” and it details listeners’ top songs, artists, genres, and the amount of minutes they listen to per year. The same is done on Apple Music through “Apple Music Replay.”
Furthermore, artists receive low royalties from streaming compared to live performance revenue. According to the music distributor Ditto Music, “Spotify pays artists between $0.003 and $0.005 per stream on average. That works out as an approximate revenue split of 70/30—so that’s 70% to the artist/rights holders and 30% to Spotify.”
For less popular artists, fractions of a cent per stream are rarely enough to cover the basic costs of being a musician, causing artists to further rely on other revenue sources like live performances and merchandise to supplement income. Therefore, large artists may be able to make significant profits off of streaming, but smaller artists usually are not.
This tension between artistic success and financial instability was brought into the spotlight during the 2025 Grammy Awards, when pop icon Chappell Roan used her Best New Artist acceptance speech to address the industry’s treatment of musicians. She voiced how she struggled as an upcoming artist and as a signed minor and called on record labels to treat their artists with more respect.
“If my label had prioritized it, I could have been provided care for a company I was giving everything to,” said Roan, as reported by Vogue. “Record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection.”
Roan’s courageous act brought more attention and focus to the fact that it is extremely difficult to make a living in music, which is further amplified by streaming margins and the expense of live shows.
Evolution of music sales
Before streaming became popular, artists initially relied on selling physical vinyl albums, and with the development of technology, they eventually switched to relying on selling CDs.
As described by Kill The Music, during the 1980s, when CDs were first introduced, “CDs became the preferred medium for music, surpassing vinyl records and cassette tapes in popularity and sales.”
Although, when streaming became readily available, music artists experienced a steep decline in physical sales of records and CDs.
Roadrunner Records since 1999. Owned and operated by John Beggs. RR was originally located at 4302 Nicollet Avenue since 1986 and owned by Todd Adams but was acquired by Beggs in 1999 and relocated in 2008 and 2020.
John Beggs, owner of Minneapolis record store Roadrunner Records since 1999, notes that this is reflected within his business.
“CDs started to not sell as well when people were getting the music for free or using streaming services,” said Beggs. “But records became more popular with the people that really wanted to own them.”
At his store, the people that were more devoted to the hobby of collecting vinyls—the vinyl enthusiasts—interest continued to grow when streaming took off. Moreover, the collection of vinyls and CDs has become increasingly popular for younger generations recently, but not to nearly the same extent as in the past. Much of which can be traced back to the high prices of records.
“Things that are really popular, whether it be something like Taylor Swift or Kendrick Lamar, those new records are really expensive,” said Beggs. “Not many kids have, you know, $30-$40 to spend on a new record. They’re probably more likely to stream it for free.”
In the present day, streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music dominate the music world.
“When you’ve got the streaming option and you’re streaming someone like Taylor Swift, and you’re going to pay $1,000 for a ticket to go see her perform, you’re probably not going to buy all her records at $40 apiece,” said Beggs. “My feeling is that since records don’t sell like they used to, the artists make up for that loss in ticket sales. They compensate for the lack of actual physical record sales with the expensive tickets and expensive merchandise that they sell at their shows.”
Opportunities for new artists
Correspondingly, emerging artists gain exposure and build their fanbase through live gigs. On a large scale, artists such as Billie Eilish opened for Florence + The Machine in 2018, Kendrick Lamar for Kanye West in 2011, Taylor Swift for Rascal Flatts in 2008, and Katy Perry for No Doubt in 2009. Although ticket prices are continuing to rise, smaller venues can house smaller artists for more reasonable prices. In the Twin Cities, venues like The Cedar Cultural Center, The Armory, Amsterdam Bar & Hall, and The Hook and Ladder are great alternatives to experience live music more affordably.
The shift from artists relying on live music to boost record sales to artists performing live to promote streaming reflects a fundamental change in the music industry. As revenue has shifted from album sales to digital streams, artists have had to adapt their business models to prioritize both live performances as a primary income source and as a marketing tool to drive streams.
Beyond the newer importance of live performances for artists, live music remains a sole form of connection for many fans. Not only the closer bonds between artist and fan, but also fan to fan. Live music is about the community experience—thousands of people crowded in a single area, with a single purpose: to listen to the music that surrounds them.
“It’s nice to be able to actually see someone perform a physical instrument,” said Regan. “There’s a liveness that makes you feel in the present moment and gives you the sense that music is in the present moment.”