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 you Eddie on your assessment. I am a year younger than you and at my age its just hard to get excited about seeing bands in concert when I have already seen them 10 times each over the years and the tix prices are higher than ever. Not to mention all the side costs. I can enjoy a great tribute or cover band at a club for $10 and at the end of the night feel the same sense of satisfaction of being entertained as if it was the real band in a big venue. At the end of the night, if I had a fun time, its all that matters.
I can live with $50-80 ticket prices but most concerts I go to sell their merch for way too much. $40 for a t-shirt or a program is ridiculous. $35 for a cd off the mixer not to mention outrageous parking and food/beer prices. No way in hell is any of that worth it.
FYI shirts are so much because the venue can take as much as 30%
Rock music may not be dead, but it’s very obscure among the younger age groups who used to go to the small shows and have their parents take them to the arena concerts. It used to be that a lot of bands (like KISS in the 70s) could draw fans from junior high all the way up to adults with jobs. You just don’t see that anymore. Lots of kids don’t even discover rock music nowadays until they’re in college.
I was listening to Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Metallica and Motley Crue when I was in 8th grade. I don’t think my nephew who’s going into HS this year even knows or listens to one rock band. It’s all about hip-hop and the crap that comes out of the Disney Channel or Nickelodeon. Or whatever they hear on shows like American Idol. Of course stuff like this was around in my day too, but not to the detriment of rock music. After all, Aerosmith embraced Run DMC!
Exposure to rock music just doesn’t come at early ages these days. MTV is no longer about music and there aren’t record stores at the mall anymore. The Guitar Hero and Rock Band video games helped somewhat, but it’s nowhere near the same.
$75-$100 for a concert ticket?!?! Not happening. I saw A LOT of bands in the 80’s for $15-$20 a ticket. I get “inflation” but concert ticket prices have gotten out of control. Which is better – a full venue with $35-$50 tickets or an empty venue with tickets over $75?
Yep – see Kid Rock’s answer this summer with $20 tickets, $20 T shirts and discounted beer prices. hopefully he can help facilitate permanent changes in the concert business!
Just saw Black Sabbath in Houston the other night. The show was great the place was packed but I found it odd for 2 weeks they were giving away tickets on the local sports radio station. Beer was 11.00 and shirts were 40.00