Live Nation: Our Study Shows People Like Concerts More Than Sex

Concert promoter and owner of seemingly everything in the live entertainment industry, Live Nation, has made a bold proclamation regarding sex and concerts.

People allegedly prefer live music over sexual satisfaction.

Before we get into the mechanics of Live Nation’s survey, let’s first acknowledge that these numbers are being released at a rather contentious time in the live music industry. Music fans have continued to see sharp increases in ticket prices in recent years.

READ MORE: FTC Takes on Ticketmaster Over Ticket Sales Practices and High Resale Prices

Business Insider declared in June that “expensive concert tickets are the new normal.” The outlet cited Pollstar figures indicating the average ticket price for the top 100 tours of 2024 was around $135. Five years prior, that number was closer to $96.

Live Nation’s recent Living for Live Global Study aims to show that music fans are still highly interested in live shows despite skyrocketing ticket costs.

How Many People Prefer Concerts Over Sex?

The findings of the survey are somewhat surprising..

According to a website set up by Live Nation, people are twice as likely to choose seeing their favorite artist in concert over sex. Results show 70 percent of people would choose concerts compared to 30 percent who would choose sex.

Scrolling further down the site reveals an interesting reason why there is such a disparity between the two answers.

How Live Nation Determined People Prefer Concerts More Than Sex

Live Nation claims its findings are based on a sample of 40,000 people across 15 countries who responded to its survey. Respondents ranged in age from 18 to 54.

But there is more than one study at play here that may have led to 70 percent of people saying they’d rather go to a concert than have sex.

The live event giant also conducted what it describes as a “custom global study” that was based on more than 1,000 “heavy social media users” in eight countries.

It is not clear whether the number of times people posted on social media regarding “concerts” or “sex” was factored into the overall reported findings. One of those two you’re more likely to find on most public social media accounts.

What If People Could Only Choose One Type of Entertainment?

Besides their preferences for concerts vs. sex, Live Nation also asked what type of entertainment respondents would prefer if they could only have one for the rest of their lives.

Unsurprisingly, “live music” was the top choice with 39 percent of the respondents choosing that option. Second was “movies in theatres” at 17 percent followed by “professional sports events” at 14 percent.