Music behemoth Live Nation has received tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded government grants in Australia, some of which were for festivals that never went ahead.

Live Nation — which also owns ticketing giant Ticketmaster — insists the money was used on other events, helped it pay staff during COVID-19, or was repaid.

A series of documents obtained by Four Corners under Freedom of Information detail the tens of millions of dollars in grants Live Nation companies received from federal, state and territory governments.

Live Nation, which is the world’s largest live entertainment company, posted a record revenue of nearly $US23 billion ($34 billion) in 2023. The multinational has been buying out independent operators in Australia and charging a range of hidden ticket fees.

Chief executive Michael Rapino is among the highest-paid CEOs in the United States. Live Nation’s shareholders also include an investment fund controlled by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In New South Wales, Live Nation’s Australian wing was given a $5 million grant package by the state government in 2021 for three festivals.

One of those, Sydney City Limits, has not gone ahead since 2018, and another, Download Festival, has been cancelled since 2020.

Live Nation told Four Corners that funding enabled it to “retain staff and support workforce recovery during the pandemic”.

“With events either scaled back or cancelled, we redirected resources to keep our team employed, plan for a safe reopening, and adapt to changing conditions.”

It says it also used the money to put on other events, “providing crucial income to suppliers and stimulating local businesses and economies when they needed it most”.

“All grants received have been acquitted in compliance with the funding requirements.”

In NSW alone, the company and its subsidiaries in Australia have been given more than $12 million by the former state government.

“It doesn’t make sense to me,” said Alex Cameron, guitarist for Adelaide band Bad//Dreems.

“You’ve got an international company that makes billions of dollars … taking million-dollar grants from governments to put on festivals, which they also profit from.”

A NSW government spokeswoman said eligibility for the grant program was based on an organisation’s “proven track record of festival delivery … and the evidence of ongoing planning of festivals in NSW”.

“Festival X, Sydney City Limits and the Download Festival were three of the festivals identified by Live Nation as part of its eligibility requirements.

“As with all government funding, there were terms and conditions attached to the agreements, which Live Nation have complied with.”

In Australia, the live music sector has struggled since COVID-19 lockdowns, leading the federal government to announce a $200 million fund for artists, tour promoters and festivals that faced mass shutdowns.

The government has given Live Nation and its subsidiaries more than $8 million — a large proportion of which was from that funding scheme.

In one instance, the company was given a grant for an event called The Great Australian Podcast Festival, which never went ahead.

When asked about this funding, Live Nation said it had been repaid to the government.

In the United States, the Washington Post has reported that concerns about Live Nation and other publicly listed companies receiving COVID relief grants were so high that legislation was written to make them ineligible.

When some of Live Nation’s subsidiaries, and companies it has significant investments in, were successful in receiving COVID grants, there was public outcry.

In survival mode

Many of Australia’s music festivals and small venues are fighting to stay alive, with more than 1,300 small to mid-size music venues, where artists develop their craft, closing in recent years.

The director of Australian-owned festival Bluesfest, Peter Noble, said that funding like the $12 million given to Live Nation in his state would run his event for an entire year.

The event has been held for over 30 years and recently announced the 2025 festival would be the last.

Bluesfest has previously been given government funding, but organisers have said it was not enough to keep it going.

“It costs us about $16 million to put the event on. If [the government] gave us say 20 per cent of that, that would give us the confidence that we won’t lose money in these times,” Noble said.

“We can’t continue. We’re not asking for a handout, but when I see imported events basically put on by multinationals get grant money, I feel like the jilted wife.”

The list of Live Nation’s cancelled festivals is also growing.

Splendour in the Grass has run for over 20 years in the Byron Bay region. Live Nation acquired it in 2016.

Two weeks after this year’s tickets went on sale, the festival was cancelled.

In the last two years, Live Nation has also shelved festivals in at least eight locations across the country, often in regional centres, including Falls Festival, held in Byron and Fremantle, and Adelaide’s Harvest Rock.

Live Nation said it had “strategically postponed” festivals to “ensure premium fan experiences when conditions allow”.

“While some festivals face challenges with rising costs, we’re confident those with strong locations, talent, and a unique identity will continue to thrive long-term in a competitive live entertainment market,” it said.

Spilt Milk, another Live Nation-owned entity, announced it would not be going ahead this year after it received $30,000 from the ACT government.

Live Nation said that funding would be used to deliver next year’s Spilt Milk festival.

“The funding specifically contributes to event marketing to attract visitors to Canberra,” an ACT government spokesman said.

‘You can’t just have a cookie-cutter approach’

For years, artists within the contemporary live music scene have been asking for more support and some are now trying to pitch long-term solutions.

One proposal, made by the Association of Artists Managers (AAM), is to make a mandatory rule for international artists to have an Australian support act.

Big-name artists like Taylor Swift, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Harry Styles are raking in large profits from stadium shows, but all brought international support acts to Australia

“It seems so simple: just have an Australian artist on a line-up for every international tour that comes out,” AAM’s Maggie Collins said.

“But there are always factors that come into it that actually make it rather difficult sometimes for the promoters, for those international teams.”

A recent Media and Entertainment Arts Alliance survey of more than 550 musicians found around half earned less than $6,000 a year.

Collins said a local artist gaining a support slot for a major artist was seen as career-defining, but there had been pushback on the idea from large live music companies like Live Nation, which sign artists and their support acts onto lucrative global tours.

“They have a creative vision. We can’t force them to do anything,” Collins said.

“What we want to do is first of all educate them, teach them about our market and say, you can’t just have a cookie-cutter approach across the world.”

Live Nation told Four Corners it “successfully advocated for local Australian opening acts in 85 per cent of the international acts we promote here”.

Collins said Live Nation had an opportunity to give back to the Australian industry.

“We need more Australians listening and falling in love with more Australian music and we want opportunities for especially those larger shows to have those Australian artists on them.”

Watch Four Corners’ investigation, Music for Sale, now on ABC iview.