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Concert Business Hits The Wall

The fact that a lot of concert tickets got sold a long time before the severity and duration of the economic downturn became apparent helped the live music business defy gravity for several months after the recession began.  The helium is out of that balloon now.  Promoters desperate to fill seats and amphitheater lawn space are resorting to steep discounts in the hope that they can recoup a decent amount of the lost dollars at concession and merchandise stands if the reduced prices produce bigger crowds.  In addition to suspending service charges for the entire month of June, Live Nation has been selling lawn seats for some amphitheater shows for just $10 and doing reserved seat four-packs to some concerts for as little as $80.  Jason Garner of Live Nation told the Wall Street Journal that canceled tours and anemic sales for many of the ones that are on the road this summer serve notice that 'When 40% of tickets across the industry are going unsold, you have to have honest talk about ticket prices.'  That is a discussion many artists and agents are reluctant to have.  With album sales tanking and even digital downloads showing recent weakness, tours have gone from being a marketing exercise to promote new albums to being the most important income stream many artists have.  Unless the economy rebounds a lot stronger and faster than it has to this point, many artists will have to decide whether keeping their fees as high as they are makes sense if the result is playing to half empty venues.
WSJ.com

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