One Direction star Niall Horan’s livestream gig success points to lifeline for hard-hit live music industry

Pay-to-view livestreamed pop concerts have opened a new income stream for the hard-hit live music industry which could outlive the pandemic.

The suggestion follows a concert by former One Direction singer Niall Horan, who raised almost £2million in a one-off performance at the Royal Albert Hall at the weekend, selling more than 125,000 tickets at $20 each.

Organisers believe that with several viewers per ticket-screen, the event reached up to 500,000 fans across 151 countries – tapping remote new markets well off the beaten track, including islands in the South Pacific.

Will Bloomfield, a partner at Horan’s management company Modest! Management, which also manages Little Mix and the Spice Girls, said: “It is almost a cultural shift that fans in this number were willing to pay for something that traditionally they have not paid for. It far surpassed our expectations.

“It’s not a silver bullet to the live industry’s devastation, but what has been proven is that when done right, and when the artist gets behind it, this can definitely have an impact - and at the moment I think the industry needs every bit of help it can get."

Horan had to cancel his Nice To Meet Ya world tour due to the pandemic and performed the event to raise money for touring crew left out of work.

Funds raised went towards his own entourage and to We Need Crew, a UK fund supporting live music touring staff through the crisis.

Bloomfield said: "I hope that artists will consider their touring crew as Niall did.

"The pandemic has been devastating and the impact will last potentially for decades. We are losing highly qualified brilliant people every day.. and these are people we won't get back. It's beyond tragic."

The live music industry has seen hundreds of thousands of job losses.