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January 29, 2009

Forbes: Concert Industry May Be A Bust This Summer

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Forbes:

“Tickets are a luxury item that people cut back on,” said Alan Gould, an analyst at Natixis Bleichroeder in New York. David Kerstenbaum, an analyst at Morgan Joseph, agreed, saying, “The company is going to have to be very careful about its price points. They won’t be able to raise prices as much as they probably would have liked.”

Live Nation maintains customers are continuing to buy tickets because their typical consumer goes to just one or two concerts a year. The company says they saw little difference in ticket sales between 2007 and 2008, when the recession kicked in.

Artists, meanwhile, may be hit especially hard by any dip in ticket sales or prices. The upper tier of performers make 7.5 times more money from touring than from recorded music sales, according to a study by Marie Connolly and Alan B. Krueger at Princeton University.

Musicians have leeway in setting ticket prices but are often reluctant to cut prices. “They think ‘Well, so and so got that much, so I’m worth at least that,’ ” Bongiovanni says. “Until the public proves them wrong by not buying tickets, you’re not going to see an adjustment.”


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#1 cliff says:

Phish has had NO prob selling out every amphitheater it has booked for the summer tour - at $50 price points.

#2 Suck says:

No problem selling tickets...because all their fans are stoned trust fund kids from affluent suburbs.

Not sure why more artists don't tap into that market...probably because that audience has no real musical tastes.

No music structure...sort of like one of those epic 30 minute tracks from Phish and all those other jam bands.

I can get stoned and have just as much fun listening to muzak at a coin laundromat as actually experiencing one of these concerts.


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