Concerts out there are hurting. Sure no artist is ever going to tell you this, but it is the truth. I get the calls everyday from promoters and agents looking for help selling shows big, medium and small. It’s a real issue out there right now. You may even go to a show and think it’s full, but in reality it’s not. That’s called “papering the house”, meaning giving tickets away in mass amounts just to have people in the room to make it look good, sell a T shirt or a beer. Now many have said sales are rough because “rock is dead”. However I do not believe that to be the case. In my view two words sums up the live music industry right now; OVER SATURATION. Simply put, bands are over touring to make up for the fact that almost nobody is making money on album sales. Used to be you toured to sell the album, which is where the money was made. Now it’s reverse. The album is almost the giveaway to promote a tour. But WAY too many bands are out there WAY too long, some hitting major markets three times in a year. I get they need to make money and don’t fault them, but it makes it less special when you can see a favorite band twice a year VS once every two. People simply can’t afford to pay to see all these shows and see a band so many times. As a result everyone is being more selective, and you are seeing more and more bands downsize venues, but still staying on the road. I also think peoples attention is in way too many places to make all these shows a priority. You can see in a second set lists online, audio, video, the mystique is gone. Of course the mega bands will always do okay, but don’t be fooled, the business is not what you think it is or what they project even for them. The days of a 50 city non stop US tour are rare. Bands find special events or festivals or co-headline because they can’t draw enough as a headline in arenas on their own, and those that can are charging way too much. Not sure where the solution lies but it’s something I see and hear about often. I truly do not think rock is dead, but I do think the touring world and peoples attention are so overwhelmed right now with too many options its hard to know what’s going on? Hope it works itself out because the live stage is where this music is best served, but it is an issue I hear about all the time behind the scenes. Look forward to reading your thoughts.
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I agree with most of these post’s.I do think that the reason most of these bands do not sell out venues anymore is because of the cost for regular folks like us.In my opinion it is just GREED!!Why should we shell out 200.00 bucks for a band that has a private jet,publicist,hair stylist,personel trainer,.Not to mention all the service fees(FOR WHAT,AND WHAT IS THE SERVICE FEE?).Some of them forget that they once played the bars.I would rather go to a club and pay 20.00 bucks and see Pat Travers,Y&T,and not have to pay for a meet and greet,At least they aprecciate that truethat fans come to see them live and not on a big screen t.v.And the merch won’t dent the pocket and that they are getting paid.But thank God for Eddie and the boys @TMS!!! P.S. SCREW TICKET MASTER AND LIVE NATION….LET’S GO BACK TO THE BARS!!!!
@Carlos! I completely agree. Most of the touring artists forget where they come from…nothing! They all talk about how they can ‘relate’ to the average American making an average salary, what a load of BS THAT is! None of them can relate, because if they could, NO one would be paying more then $50-100 for any concert tix..OR service fees. Bon Jovi is a prime example of how he describes his audience..working-class America, who prefers beer to wine. I’m like really, just look @ the cost of their ticket prices, those are WAY above average costs. You almost have to be RICH to afford their shows & get any kind of good seats!
ROCK ME BABY!!!
Its just not music, I work for a company thats a major sponser of the local arena and theater. Almost every show, regardless of what it is, from Seaseme Street Live to the WWE is strugglling. I actually have free tickets to an upcoming WWE taping so the place looks full on TV. We get offers all the time for free and reduced tickets to the majority of the events.
I agree with most of what you say, but without wanting to sound like a whiner, some areas have the opposite problem. I live in New Orleans, which is without a doubt a major city, and which is host to a large regional following for hard rock and metal bands. Sure, we get a few arena shows (Rush, Kid Rock), and there are periodic club shows (The Cult comes here every tour, as does Gwar), but for the most part we are shunned for some reason, either by bands or by promoters. I will never see UFO again, which breaks my heart, and probably will never see Maiden here, unless they somehow get booked for Voodoo festival, which is featuring less hard rock and metal every year. I would never have seen Metallica or Ozzy here if not for Voodoo, but this year the closest that fest has to a hard rock act is Nine Inch Nails. Maybe they can talk AC/DC into playing Jazz Fest.
Where bands play all comes down to promoters offering them dates in that city and the money they are asking. If a band doesn’t play your city mainly because there isn’t a promoter there willing to buy the show because they don’t feel they can make money
I think all these artists/venues/promoters price themselves out of biz! With the crazy high prices of concert tix AND the outrageous cost that Live Nation & Ticketmaster charge for service fees that many can NOT afford, less people are attending concerts. Between that and all of the ‘presales’ by radio stations, ‘fanclub’ and all the tix that others buy-up before tix go on sale to the general public, no one wants the rest of the BAD seats!