Live Nation, Ticketmaster, Academy Music Group and AEG are among the UK-based live music businesses that have submitted a gender pay gap (GPG) report for 2022/23.

From 2017, all companies in mainland Britain with more than 250 employees have been required to report their GPG – defined as the “difference in the average hourly wage of all men and women in an organisation” – for the previous year to the government equalities office.

The requirement was put on hold amid the coronavirus pandemic, though many companies voluntarily submitted GPG reports regardless.

With the pandemic in the rearview, companies today (5 April) shared their latest pay gap figures for 2022-23. These stats provide a snapshot based on pay on 5 April 2022. See results for the four live music giants below.

Live Nation (Live Nation (Music) UK Limited)

Pay gap (median): 6.6%
Pay gap (mean): 35%

Live Nation UK has reported a 24.8% improvement on the 2021/22 median pay gap (the difference between the midpoints in the ranges of men’s and women’s pay), reducing the disparity to 6.6% in 2022/23.

Meanwhile, the company’s mean pay gap (the difference between the average hourly earnings of men and women) was reduced by 2.1% to 35% in 2022/23.

Women occupy 45.8% of the highest-paid jobs and 60.5% of the lowest-paid jobs at Live Nation, and median bonus pay is 62.6% lower than men’s.

“In senior management positions/the upper quartiles pay, and bonus, are both heavily linked to the delivery of commercial performance, and therefore show bigger variance than at other levels of our business,” says Live Nation in a statement.

“We regularly review salaries and have recently undertaken a full job levelling review to ensure our commitment to paying equally for the same job (and for equal levels of experience) is robust.”

The company, which employs nine female promoters and 22 male promoters, says it’s focusing on increasing the former within its business.

LIVE NATION UK HAS REDUCED ITS MEDIAN PAY GAP BY 24.8% TO 6.6% IN 2022/23

Ticketmaster (Ticketmaster UK Limited)

Pay gap (median): 25.9%
Pay gap (mean): 16.5%

Tickemaster’s GPG is on a downward trend, where women’s median hourly pay is still lower than men’s at 25.9% in 2022/23, while their mean pay is 16.5% lower.

Women occupy 25.5% of the highest-paid jobs and 45.2% of the lowest-paid jobs at Ticketmaster, and their median bonus pay is 14.6% lower than men’s.

In a statement, Ticketmaster says its GPG “reflects the broader societal challenges of getting more women into the technology sector”.

“We want to see more women in the technology industry and are a signatory of the Tech Talent Charter, a government-supported, industry-led membership group that aims to address the UK’s tech talent shortage and diversity problem through collective action,” said the company.

TICKETMASTER SAYS ITS GPG “REFLECTS THE BROADER SOCIETAL CHALLENGES OF GETTING MORE WOMEN INTO THE TECHNOLOGY SECTOR”

Academy Music Group (Academy Music Group Limited)

Pay gay (median): 10.7%
Pay gap (mean): 22.9%

AMG’s first GPG report since 2018/19 reveals a small increase in pay disparity during the last four to five years. Women’s median pay is 10.7% lower than men’s in 2022/23, up from 6% in 2018/19. While the mean pay gap was captured at 22.9%, up from 21% in the previous report.

Notably, women occupy 45.6% of the highest-paid jobs and 59.7% of the lowest-paid jobs at the venue operator, whose shareholders include Live Nation.

And though 17.1% of women received bonus pay (compared to 21.9% of men), their median bonus pay was 96.7% lower than men’s.

AMG says that, of the 246 permanent staff, female workers represent 36.5% of the total workforce and male workers represent 63.5% of the workforce.

The company operates 20 live music venues across the country, including O2 Academy venues in London, Leeds and Liverpool.

AT AMG, WOMEN’S MEDIAN BONUS PAY WAS 96.7% LOWER THAN MEN’S

AEG (Anschutz Sports Holdings)

Pay gap (median): 31.9%
Pay gap (mean): 37.5%

Live music giant Anschutz Sports Holdings, parent company of The O2 and AEG Presents, reported a median gender pay gap of 31.9% (11% in 2021) and a mean pay gap of 37.5% (22% in 2021).

Women occupy 36% of the highest-paid jobs and 73% of the lowest-paid jobs, while women’s median bonus pay is 32.5% lower than men’s.

“We acknowledge that there remains much to be done to continue to narrow the gender pay gap, whilst recognising the steady, positive impact that our ED&I strategy has had since we began reporting in 2017,” said AEG’s statement. “Our employees are at the heart of everything we do at AEG, and we remain steadfastly committed to creating a truly equal and supportive environment where every individual can thrive.”

Actions taken by AEG include a mentoring programme and revising its family-friendly policies.

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