With the 2020 and 2021 music festival seasons cut short by the pandemic, 2022 is making up for lost time.
This year alone, there are over 100 huge festivals taking place in North America can’t-miss headliners, like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stevie Nicks and Green Day, dropping into festival grounds all over the continent.
Tickets are usually available on most major platforms, including Ticketmaster, StubHub, Vivid Seats, MegaSeats and SeatGeek. (Vivid Seats is currently offering first-time users $20 off an order of $200 or more by using promo code NJ20 at checkout.)
To help you try and make sense of the music festival scene, here’s a comprehensive list of the 50 biggest rock, hip-hop, alternative, EDM, country and Latin fests coming soon, all in chronological order.
Hangout Music Festival
May 19-21; Gulf Shores, Alabama
Headliners include Post Malone, Halsey and Tame Impala. Buy tickets here
Welcome to Rockville
May 19-22; Daytona Beach, Florida
Headliners include KISS, Korn and Guns ‘N Roses. Buy tickets here
Just Like Heaven Festival
May 21; Pasadena, California
Headliners include Interpol, The Shins, Modest Mouse and M.I.A. Buy tickets here
California Roots
May 26-29; Monterey, California
Headliners include Ice Cube, Damian Marley and Rebelution. Buy tickets here
Boston Calling Music Festival
May 27-29; Boston, Massachusetts
Headliners include Rage Against the Machine, HAIM and Run The Jewels. Buy tickets here
Bottle Rock Napa Valley Fest
May 27-29; Napa, California
Headliners include Metallica, Twenty One Pilots and P!nk. Buy tickets here
The Forecastle Festival
May 27- 29; Louisville, Kentucky
Headliners include Tyler, The Creator, Jack Harlow and Earl Sweatshirt Buy tickets here
So What Festival
May 27-29; Arlington, Texas
Headliners include Sum 41, Simple Plan and 2 Chainz. Buy tickets here
Solid Sound Festival
May 27-29; North Adams, Massachusetts
Headliners include Wilco, Japanese Breakfast and Sylvan Esso. Buy tickets here
Sunset Music Festival
May 27-29; Tampa, Florida
Headliners include Dillon Francis, Alesso and ILLENIUM. Buy tickets here
Sueños Music Festival
May 28-29; Chicago, Illinois
Headliners include J Balvin, Ozuna and Wisin Y Yandel. Buy tickets here
Gulf Coast Jam
June 2-5, Panama City Beach, Florida
Headliners include Florida Georgia Line, Old Dominion and Brooks and Dunn. Buy tickets here
Mountain Music Festival
June 2-4; Oak Hill, West Virginia
Headliners include Galactic, Cory Wong and Tauk Paper Scissors. Buy tickets here
Roots Picnic
June 4-5; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Headliners include Mary J. Blige, The Roots and Rick Ross. Buy tickets here
Carolina Country Music Festival
June 9-12, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Headliners include Jason Aldean, Keith Urban and Luke Bryan. Buy tickets here
Governors Ball Music Festival
June 10-12, Flushing, New York
Headliners include Kid Cudi, J. Cole and Migos. Buy tickets here
Barefoot Country Festival
June 16-19; Wildwood, New Jersey
Headliners include Eric Church, Florida Georgia Line and Jason Aldean. Buy tickets here
Country Jam
June 23-25; Grand Junction, Colorado
Headliners include Tim McGraw, Miranda Lambert and Eric Church. Buy tickets here
Summerfest
June 23-July 9; Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Headliners include Jason Aldean, Justin Bieber and Rod Stewart. Buy tickets here
Viva L.A. Music Festival
June 25; Los Angeles, California
Headliners include Daddy Yankee, J Balvin and Becky G. Buy tickets here
Essence Fest
July 1-3; New Orleans, Louisiana
Headliners include Janet Jackson, Kevin Hart and Nicki Minaj. Buy tickets here
Pitchfork Music Festival
July 15-17; Chicago, Illinois
Headliners include The National, Mitski and The Roots. Buy tickets here
Inkarceration
July 15-17; Mansfield, Ohio
Headliners include KoRn, Disturbed and Breaking Benjamin. Buy tickets here
Under The Big Sky
July 15-17; Whitefish, Montana
Headliners include Turnpike Troubadours, Lord Huron and Cody Jinks. Buy tickets here
Faster Horses Festival
July 22-24, Brooklyn, Michigan
Headliners include Eric Church, Morgan Wallen and Tim McGraw. Buy tickets here
Rolling Loud
July 22-24; Miami, Florida
Headliners include Kanye “Ye” West, Kendrick Lamar and Future. Buy tickets here
Lollapalooza
July 28-31; Chicago, Illinois
Headliners include Metallica, Dua Lipa and J. Cole. Buy tickets here
Osheaga Music and Arts Festival
July 29-31; Montreal, Canada
Headliners include Arcade Fire, A$AP Rocky and Dua Lipa. Buy tickets here
Hinterland Music Festival
Aug. 4-7, Saint Charles, Iowa
Headliners include Phoebe Bridgers, Nathaniel Rateliff, Glass Animals and Jenny Lewis. Buy tickets here
Windy City Smokeout
August 4-7; Chicago, Illinois
Headliners include Tim McGraw, Miranda Lambert and Willie Nelson. Buy tickets here
Outside Lands
August 5-7; San Francisco, California
Headliners include Green Day, Post Malone and SZA. Buy tickets here
Rock the South
Aug. 5-6; Cullman, Alabama
Headliners include Morgan Wallen, Alabama and Jamey Johnson. Buy tickets here
Tidal Wave Music Festival
August 12-14; Atlantic City, New Jersey
Headliners include Luke Bryan, Morgan Wallen and Dierks Bentley. Buy tickets here
Sacred Rose
August 26-28; Bridgeview, Illinois
Headliners include The War On Drugs, Khruangbin and Phil Lesh and Friends. Buy tickets here
This Ain’t No Picnic
Aug. 27-28; Pasadena, California
Headliners include The Strokes, LCD Soundsystem and Phoebe Bridgers. Buy tickets here
Jazz Aspen Snowmass
Sept. 2-4; Snowmass Village, Colorado
Headliners include Stevie Nicks, Chris Stapleton and Leon Bridges. Buy tickets here
Bourbon and Beyond
Sept. 15-18; Louisville, Kentucky
Headliners include Pearl Jam, Chris Stapleton and Kings of Leon. Buy tickets here
Life Is Beautiful
Sept. 16-18; Las Vegas, Nevada
Headliners include Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz and Lorde. Buy tickets here
Riot Fest
Sept. 16-18; Chicago, Illinois
Headliners include My Chemical Romance, The Misfits and Nine Inch Nails. Buy tickets here
Primavera Sound L.A.
Sept. 16-18; Los Angeles, California
Headliners include Arctic Monkeys, Nine Inch Nails and Lorde. Buy tickets here
Telluride Blues and Brews Festival
Sept. 16-18; Telluride, Colorado
Headliners include Buddy Guy, Cee Lo Green and Gov’t Mule. Buy tickets here
XPoNential Music Festival
Sept. 16-18; Camden, New Jersey
Headliners include The War On Drugs, Nathaniel Rateliff and Patti Smith. Buy tickets here
Sea.Hear.Now
Sept. 17-18; Asbury Park, New Jersey
Headliners include Stevie Nicks, Green Day and My Morning Jacket. Buy tickets here
Firefly Festival
Sept. 22-25; Dover, Delaware
Headliners include Green Day, Dua Lipa and My Chemical Romance. Buy tickets here
Louder Than Life Music Festival
Sept. 22-25; Louisville, Kentucky
Headliners include Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nine Inch Nails and Incubus. Buy tickets here
Format Festival
Sept. 23-25; Bentonville, Arkansas
Headliners include The War On Drugs, Phoenix and Beach House. Buy tickets here
Sound On Sound Festival
Sept. 24-25; Bridgeport, Connecticut
Headliners include Dave Matthews Band, Stevie Nicks and The Lumineers. Buy tickets here
Ohana Music Festival
Sept. 30 through Oct. 2; Dana Point, California
Headliners include Stevie Nicks, Jack White, Eddie Vedder and P!nk. Buy tickets here
All Things Go Music Festival
Oct. 1; Columbia, Maryland
Headliners include Mitski, Lorde and Bleachers. Buy tickets here
Aftershock Music Festival
Oct. 6-9; Sacramento, California
Headliners include My Chemical Romance, Slipknot and Rob Zombie. Buy tickets here
Austin City Limits
Oct. 7-9 and 14-16; Austin, Texas
Headliners include Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lil Nas X and P!nk. Buy tickets here
When We Were Young Music Festival
Oct. 22, 23 and 29; Las Vegas, Nevada
Headliners include My Chemical Romance, Paramore and Avril Lavigne. Buy tickets here
RELATED STORIES ABOUT LIVE EVENTS:
Concerts 2022: Where to see the most popular singers live, how to buy tickets
Ticketmaster sold out: Where to buy tickets on the resale market
The biggest classic rock concert tours in 2022
Vivid Seats promo code: How to get a discount on tickets
Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust.
Matt Levy covers the live entertainment industry, writing about upcoming concerts, festivals, shows and events. He can be reached at mlevy@njadvancemedia.com.
Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online.
From streaming services to concert promoters and ticket sellers, music companies have reported encouraging first-quarter earnings results that show consumers continue to adopt subscription services and eagerly return to live events after COVID restrictions were lifted in late 2021. The same companies’ stock prices tell another story, however. While music companies posted double-digit gains in subscription growth, revenue, ticket sales and many other metrics, their share prices are down by double-digits in 2022. That’s not a surprise given the state of the economy: Inflation is at a 40-year high ; rising interest rates sent investors looking for value stocks and safety in bonds; and consumers are starting to miss credit card and auto loan payments. Right now, investors are looking beyond mere growth to margins and profitability.
Related
RelatedEndeavor Beats Wall Street Estimates as Live Events Bounce Back
05/20/2022In the wake of these earnings reports, Billboard is highlighting three factors that are influencing the music business in 2022. First, growth in subscription services is reshaping labels and publishers’ revenues; growth may be slowing, and it could disappoint some investors, but it’s there. Second, publishing revenues saw especially strong growth in the first quarter and contributed more to parent companies’ growth than record labels (given their relatively smaller size). Third, live music is going to have a strong 2022, which will impact not just touring artists but record labels that sell merchandise on the road.
Subscription growth was strong (but it’s slowing).
Spotify’s subscriptions grew 15% to 182 million, an annual increase of 24 million and 2 million more than the fourth quarter of 2021. While second-quarter growth was below Spotify’s guidance, the company said it was above expectations if “involuntary churn” of 1.5 million subscriptions from the company’s exit from Russia weren’t counted. (Spotify expects another 600,000 lost subscribers in Russia in the second quarter.)
The second-quarter guidance is 6 million net new subscribers, which would take Spotify to roughly 188 million, up 14% from the second quarter of 2021. That would represent a smaller annual gain in subscribers (23 million versus 27 million in the second quarter of 2021) and a lower annual growth rate (14% versus 20%).
Smaller streaming services posted higher growth rates in the first quarter. Even though Tencent Music Entertainment revenue fell 15% due to losses in social entertainment, its music subscriptions grew 31.7% to 80.2 million, an annual increase of 19.3 million and up 4 million from the fourth quarter of 2021. Anghami’s subscription revenue grew 26% year over year. Chinese music streaming service Cloud Village reports first-quarter earnings on May 24.
Publishing and merchandising were higher in the revenue mix.
At Universal Music Group, recorded music accounted for 78.3% of revenue but delivered only 61% of first-quarter revenue growth despite strong gains in subscription royalties. UMG’s publishing division accounted for 17.1% of total revenue but 26.7% of total revenue growth. Merchandising was 4.9% of UMG’s total revenue and 12.3% of its revenue growth. At Warner Music Group, publishing’s share of revenue grew to 16.7%, up from 15.4% a year earlier, and accounted for 30.2% of the revenue growth. At Sony Music, publishing increased its share of quarterly revenue from 16.4% to 18.3%. Recorded music grew from 58% to 60% as the “visual media and platform” division fell from 25.6% to 19.2%.
Live events companies are seeing double-digit growth.
At Live Nation, which claimed to have its best first quarter ever, revenue jumped more than six-fold in the first quarter after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. More importantly, the company expects double-digit growth this year compared to 2019, the best year for comparison because COVID affected every quarter in 2020. Live Nation has sold 70 million tickets for shows in 2022, a 36% increase from the same point in 2019, and committed show count is up 44% through late April. At the same time, no-show rates appear to be a non-issue, falling “generally in the mid-single digits,” the company said in its earnings release.
MSG Entertainment’s entertainment (live event) revenue grew more than six-fold to $194.6 million thanks to the lifting of COVID restrictions. Minus MSG Networks, which merged with MSG Entertainment in July 2021, the company had $292.5 million in revenue, up 17% from the same period in 2019.
Vivid Seats’ first-quarter revenue was up 442% from the prior-year period. The company increased second-quarter guidance for both revenue (its cut of total revenue) and gross order value (total ticket sales value). Music accounted for 53.1% of revenue, up from 31.9% in the prior-year period. Marketplace order volume increased 589%. At Eventbrite, first-quarter paid tickets rose 78% year over year, and net revenue per ticket increased 13.6%.
STOCKS
Through May 20, the % change over the last week, and the year-to-date change.
Spotify (NYSE: SPOT): $107.19, +1.0%, -54.2% YTDUniversal Music Group (AS: UMG): 20.41 euros, 0%, -17.6% YTDWarner Music Group (Nasdaq: WMG): $29.76, +2.3%, -31.1% YTDHYBE (KS 352820): 221,000 KRW, +2.8%, -36.7% YTDLive Nation (NYSE: LYV): $89.16, -2.3%, -25.5% YTDiHeartMedia (Nasdaq: IHRT): $12.13, -5.2%, -42.3% YTDCumulus Media (Nasdaq: CMLS): $12.50, -2.5%, +11.1% YTDTencent Music Entertainment (NYSE: TME): $4.07, -0.7%, -40.6% YTD
NYSE Composite: 15,072.58, -1.2%, -12.2% YTDNasdaq: 11,354.62, -3.8%, -27.4% YTDS&P 500: 3,901.36, -3.0%, -18.1% YTD
Associated Press
Search for Texas inmate expands as land, air operations endThe search by ground and air in the Texas county where a convicted murderer escaped from a prison transport bus and stabbed the driver last week has concluded as the hunt for him expands, authorities said Friday. Gonzalo Lopez, 46, was being transported to a medical appointment on May 12 in a caged area of the bus when he escaped in Leon County, a rural area between Dallas and Houston, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has said.