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# How Live Events Became More Valuable Than Album Sales
- URL: https://adjacent.media/signals/how-live-events-became-more-valuable-than-album-sales/
- Published: 2026-04-10T23:02:01.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-10T23:02:01.000Z
- Description: Artists now compete in an experience economy where touring, merchandise, and exclusive fan access generate vastly more revenue than recorded music. Platforms have collapsed the scarcity and mystique that once made albums the primary product.
- Author: Jonathan Greene
- Tags: #signal, theme-consumer, creator economy, subscription economy

Source: [Emilie & Andrea](https://open.substack.com/pub/theculturejournalist/p/live-music-economy-touring-jaime-brooks)

Artists now compete in an experience economy where touring, merchandise, and exclusive fan access generate vastly more revenue than recorded music. Platforms have collapsed the scarcity and mystique that once made albums the primary product. Musicians treat their catalog as marketing collateral for the real business: selling time, presence, and community. The economics of attention force them to monetize wherever fans will actually pay, which increasingly isn't the recording itself.