Making it big in live music: a multilevel analysis of careers in live music

Drawing on a dataset following the careers of 214 early-career popular music acts in the Dutch live music industry over a period of eight years, this paper maps trends in the number of live shows early-career acts play and the fees they receive. In addition, it investigates factors that may explain success in live music. Descriptive statistics indicate that a small number of acts manage to perform a lot of shows and receive high fees. However, most acts are only able to play a few shows per year for a relatively low fee, indicating a winner-takes-all market mechanism. A multilevel analysis showed that critical recognition and popular recognition are positively related to the number of shows acts performed. Furthermore, label and booker representation and attending a pop academy has a positive effect on success in live music, adding insights to our conceptualization of the structural dynamics of live music industries.