21 Branding Power Players On Their Favorite Concerts of the Year

Billboard‘s Branding Power Players list demonstrates that corporations sponsoring concerts is one of the music business’ crucial revenue streams, allowing artists to put on more massive tours than they may have done otherwise and promoters to keep the lights on in their arenas and amphitheaters. In its public filings, Live Nation, the world’s biggest promoter, reports that sponsorship revenue grew from $590.3 million in 2019 to $1.2 billion in 2024, a more than 100% increase, and advertising and sponsorship amounted to just over 5% of total revenue last year.

“Live has become so important to brands,” says Russell Wallach, Live Nation’s global president of media and sponsorship. “That’s where the memory is happening — at that concert, at that festival. Brands have gotten really smart on how they can amplify what’s happening on-site — through social-media platforms, through influencers.”

With that in mind, Billboard polled the 49 executives on our list, from companies from Taco Bell to PayPal to YouTube, for their single favorite concerts of 2024. Some struggled with the concept: “I love music too much just to choose one,” D.J. Vaughn of Walmart responded, naming Patti LaBelle, the BET Experience concerts starring Cardi B, Queen Latifah and others, J Balvin and Usher. 

Below are 20 of our favorite responses, from Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour to some dude with a guitar who happened to play at a café in France. (We weeded out responses promoting shows these executives’ companies sponsored — with the single exception of Vaughn naming LaBelle, because we can’t resist a reference to the R&B heroine’s Peach Apple Cobbler.)