After months of uncertainty, a consensus on safety protocols in regards to concerts and festivals has been reached and it was lead by two of the biggest companies of the music industry. Both Live Nation and AEG have united around vaccine policies.

Concerts was one of the biggest things taken from us due to the pandemic. I personally felt incomplete without them, I used to try to go to one once a year because I really enjoy live music. “The loss of concerts was one of the major cultural headlines of the pandemic; we need to draft off of that and use the collective voice of the business to remind people that they have a responsibility, and if they don’t make the right choice this could all go away again,” says chairman and CEO of AEG Presents and COO of AEG Jay Marciano in a recent statement made to Pollstar.

In early August, Line Nation and AEG created separate safety measures that emphasized vaccination for fans, crew, and staff as part of an effort to keep the industry moving. Live Nation will start requiring both vaccine proof and a negative COVID test for entrance to its fully owned venues and festivals starting on October 4th. AEG on the other hand will only let in fully vaccinated fans into their clubs, theaters, and festivals starting October 1st.

“Vaccines are going to be your ticket back to shows,“ says Michael Rapino, President and CEO of Live Nation Entertainment. The model developed is similar to that of Lollapalooza which seemed to work this past July - 10,000 people attended per day from July 29th-August 1st and only 203 got infected with COVID. Other industry leaders such as Louis Messina, founder of Messina Touring Group, believe such measures have to be set by the industry so artists don’t have to. Messina has worked with artists such as Taylor Swift, Shawn Mendes, and Ed Sheeran. Despite these efforts to bring the industry back to normal. Messina has mentioned that there are lots of fans who purchase tickets but don’t actually show to the show.

That being said, those in the music industry believe that the FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine this past August 23rd will deeply boost the rates of vaccination and therefore decrease the number of fans that don’t show to the concerts or festivals.

It is everyone’s responsibility to protect not only themselves but also others including the artist and event staff when attending a concert. The companies hope to improve the vaccination rates of the country with these new sets of rules because the more shows that are announced, the more people will want to go but not before getting vaccinated!

Live music always has a way of bringing people together and we hope that this time it is able to do it more than ever!!