New Data from Please & Thank You Pinpoints When a VIP Buyer Becomes a Superfan

Please & Thank You (P&TY), the largest independent VIP agency behind VIP programs for Sabrina Carpenter, Backstreet Boys, and Shaboozey, has released The VIP Economy, a report built on nearly 1 million VIP ticket transactions across 302 artists in 34 countries. Its central finding: fan loyalty isn't about how much someone spends, it's about whether they come back a third time. The full report is at vipeconomy.please.co.

The numbers:

• Once a fan buys three VIP tickets for a single artist or event, their chances of returning increase from 20% to 38%.

• By an eighth purchase, that number rises to 65%.

• Total live music revenue is expected to grow from $34.6 billion to $67.1 billion by 2035.

• In that rise, there is $4.5 billion in possible superfan revenue.

Why it matters

• On a traditional $100 ticket, an artist nets roughly $8 after venue, promoter, and agent fees (National Independent Talent Organization). VIP revenue, by contrast, flows largely to the artist.

• That makes retention, not pricing, the highest-leverage growth lever in touring, inside a live-music market Goldman Sachs projects will reach $67.1 billion by 2035.

What they said:

• Eddie Meehan, CEO of P&TY: “Artists and managers have treated VIP like a nice-to-have for years. P&TY has been doing this for two decades, and our data says it’s closer to the only real growth lever left in touring. There’s a ceiling on what a fan will pay for a single ticket. There isn’t one on what they’ll spend coming back for more. That loyalty already exists. Our job is giving it somewhere to go.”