New Zealand’s NZ$40 million events fund is paying multinational promoters such as Live Nation for stadium shows that bring in almost no overseas visitors, while grassroots music venues get a sliver of that money
Three Massey University researchers want the New Zealand Government to rethink how it funds live music, after figures released under the Official Information Act showed only one per cent of the crowd at a taxpayer-backed Linkin Park show travelled to the country for it.
The money comes from the Events Attraction Package, a NZ$40 million fund run by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and part of a NZ$70 million major events and tourism package announced in September 2025 (all figures here are New Zealand dollars). It is meant to attract showstopper events that draw big crowds and overseas visitors. Linkin Park’s March 2026 show at Auckland’s Spark Arena was among the first it backed, and promoter Live Nation received public funding for it. Live Nation also holds a controlling stake in both Spark Arena and Ticketmaster, so the one company was involved in the promotion, the venue and the ticketing for the same show.
How much Live Nation was paid has not been made public, because the Minister and MBIE have declined to release the amount for any individual show, citing commercial sensitivities. What is known is that the fund has paid for seven major tours, including Linkin Park, System of a Down and Bruno Mars, along with two Robbie Williams performances, and that the first four events it supported (Linkin Park, ULTRA, the FIFA World Series and a World Surf League event at Raglan) received NZ$5.9 million between them.
The visitor numbers are thin. Linkin Park drew a record 12,376 fans, and MBIE’s own data shows 126 of them came to New Zealand for the show. The ULTRA New Zealand Music Festival in Wellington, also supported by the package, recorded 118 international visitors, or 0.4 per cent of attendees. Wellington City Council’s evaluation of ULTRA reported NZ$5.4 million in new visitor spending, and Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston says the first four events delivered more than NZ$15 million in net benefit from that NZ$5.9 million investment.
MBIE advised Upston in April 2025 that officials recommended concerts not be funded by the government and that it was unlikely the benefits would outweigh the costs. The minister went ahead anyway, and when seeking cabinet support for the package she cited the Massey team’s own 2024 research, which found every dollar spent on live performance returns NZ$3.20 to the wider community.
The researchers say their work did show flow-on benefits from live performance, but that money on this scale needs careful targeting. They point to numerous smaller, sustainable investments as the best way to grow audiences, including cheaper events, better access for d/Deaf and disabled people and more attendance outside the main cities, whereas international headline tours tend to concentrate audiences and spending in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. An independent review commissioned by MBIE has since found poor coordination between central and local government and confusion about what the fund is for, which suggests a quick, ad hoc approach won out over long term strategy.
For comparison, Spark Arena’s Community Events Fund recently put NZ$60,000 into three all-ages music spaces in Auckland, which is welcome but only about 0.15 per cent of the NZ$40 million package. Their proposed fixes include requiring international promoters to reinvest a share of their profits in grassroots infrastructure and talent pipelines, backing the Music Managers Forum’s Spotlight Aotearoa push for every international tour to book and promote local support acts, and opening the Government’s regional events promotion fund to touring music, which its current criteria exclude.
The Massey team has previously argued for a ticket levy on major events to fund the grassroots, much like the one floated by the federal parliamentary inquiry into the Australian live music industry, and whether public money should underwrite multinational promoters rather than the small music venues where careers begin is a question ALMBC members know well.
