Despite more artists touring than ever before, total ticket sales and revenue for live music is down compared to the same period in 2018.
Are the cost of concerts too high for consumers, or are there not enough megastars touring right now? Are people growing tired of live music, or has the number of tours happening at any moment time overwhelmed audiences? We don’t have any answers, but these questions need to be addressed.
Pollstar released data regarding the top 100 tours of the year so far, and the results show a steep decline in sales compared to the same period in 2018. The stats show that Sir Elton John had the global highest-grossing act in the first-half of 2019, generating $82.6m across 56 shows. The British singer/songwriter, currently on his farewell tour as biopic Rocketman graces movie theaters, brought in more than P!nk (No.2 with $81.8m), Justin Timberlake (No.3 with $75.5m), Metallica (No.4 with $69.7m) and Fleetwood Mac (No.5 with $67.7m).
Those figures are impressive, and they represent countless sold out shows in large arenas, but they pale in comparison to sales from last year. According to Pollstar’s data from the first-half of 2018, the Top 100 global tours turned over $2.81bn in gross sales. In the same period this year, however, this worldwide figure for the Top 100 tours stood at $2.06bn – falling by 26.8%, or $752m, year-on-year.
That three-quarter of a billion-dollar decline is setting off alarms throughout the industry, and raising a lot of questions about what could explain such a change.
Not surprising, total ticket sales for 2019 so far are down as well. Data from 2018 reveals 31.29 million tickets sold in the first six months of the year, but in 2019, that number is down to 22.28 million. That’s a 28% change.
The one area of ticketing that increased this year? Ticket prices.
Calculations by Music Business Worldwide suggest that the average ticket price of the world’s Top 100 shows was $92.42 in H1 2019 – up from the $89.85 average price posted in the first half of last year.
MOST EXPENSIVE AVERAGE TICKET PRICES IN H1 2019 AMONGST THE TOP 100 NORTH AMERICAN TOURS, ACCORDING TO POLLSTAR
- Bruce Springsteen, Springsteen On Broadway ($506.39 average)
- Lady Gaga ($269.94)
- Aerosmith ($205.02)
- Bruno Mars ($193.76)
- Andrea Bocelli ($176.41)
- George Strait ($173.74)
- Gwen Stefani ($170.24)
- Eagles ($157.86)
- BTS ($146.62)
- Fleetwood Mac ($143.58)
The possible explanations for these changes are numerous. More artists touring could mean less income for top-tier talent, but the number of festivals and tours for talent at all levels that have struggled to fill venues says otherwise. The increasing cost of tickets for good seats, coupled with the continuing reign ticketing bots, may also explain the change, but there is not enough data to support that idea at this time.
With streaming revenue remaining stagnant, artists are depending on tour revenue to keep their careers afloat. That may, in part, explain rising ticket prices, but if the cost of admission alienates consumers then artists will be in more trouble than they are right now.
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