Some Major Tours Hurting This Summer

As posted here recently, concert attendance for the year is down about 22% so far, but summer is when the major money is made. Now preliminary reports say that sales for the Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction, Dave Mathews Band and Aerosmith tours are shaping up as soft.

But the word is that the reformed Creed tour is a disaster while both The Fray and Yanni are only a bit better. In general, up-front ticket sales are way down so promoters are really pushing walk-up ticket sales.

It's a bit too early to say just how sales will end up, but we'll probably know by the 4rth of July. One thing's for sure, ticket prices are way too high, consumers are nearing a revolt over service charges, and many artists are over-saturated in the markets they're visiting. Consumers are tired of seeing the same old thing. Now if ticket prices were $20, sales might be a completely different story, but the chances of that are slim.

Yet sales spiked by a factor of 6 after LiveNation's "No Fee Wednesdays" was announced last week, which shows that price really is an issue (even though parking and facility's fees were not part of the promotion). What we could be seeing is a turning point in a part of the music business that sorely needs one.