Travis Scott's Astroworld Tour 2018-19:
• 58 live shows
• 4+ months of travel
• 850K fans
• $64M gross

Travis Scott's Fortnite concert 2020:
• 4 virtual shows
• one weekend, no travel
• 28M fans
• $20M

I doubt he does another 50+ city tour.

The standard touring model had issues before COVID.

Opportunity cost is high. Artists have to plan 18 months in advance, and be on the road for months on end.

I think about this quote from Taylor Swift last year. She wasn't planning to tour her 'Lover' album, and Taylor sells out stadiums.

Instead, she planned to host two music festivals this summer (one in Boston, one in LA). But cancelled due to COVID
https://onairwithryan.iheart.com/featured/ryan-seacrest/content/2019-08-27-taylor-swift-talks-newfound-freedom-lover-tour-plans-and-so-much-more/

Also, if you're an artist who rises fast, like Lizzo did last year, your venues are too small. You leave money on the table.

If your popularity dips and you booked venues too big, you cancel last minute or downgrade venues if possible (e.g. Justin Bieber, Chance, Nicki Minaj)

In January, I drew this chart to highlight the shift.

Before, artists would just book bigger venues as they grew.

Now, they level up venues and explore other events too. I gotta update this to add virtual events too.

Will Travis Scott do another tour? Of course he will.

But his opportunity cost and potential options has grown since Astroworld Tour.

We'll likely see a mix of live events, tour stops, festivals, virtual, etc. He could bring Astroworld Fest to a few different locations too.

I’m gonna break this down more in an upcoming newsletter.

Each week I send out a memo on the business of hip-hop.

You can sign up here: https://trapital.co/