Yup, Lilith can’t sell out, the Eagles have cancelled some major concerts, the wonky Limp Bizkit’s couldb’t beging to sell out so they went from Arenas to amphiitheatre (that sound you hear is an echo)… the only people who can sell out is any one I want to see.
So what gives?
According to Bob Lefsetz (no, I said he was a crappy music critic, sometimes he is great on the biz side), the many, very expensive, premium seats are confusing punters, who feel they will be stuck with a $250 to $750 price tag for a halfway decent seat and decide to stay home.
Seems to me the Livenations of the world got suckered by the secondary market (much the way “The Producers” on Broadway did), thought people would go big bucks for the right show so they gave ridiculous upfronts to artists and had to price their shows out of biz because:
a) the economy tanked
and
b) they misreadhuman nature. It is human nature to want a tix for a sold out show and to do what you have to to get it
but
not until the show is sold out and you can’t get it.
Ticketmaster (if they hadn’t cheated) probably had the best model.
Let the show sell out than transfer people to their own ticket brokerage firm. If there is demand up the prices.
Unfortunately, Lefsetz is correct about people being confused and instead of going to see 10 shows a year going to 2. Though he doesn’t have a clue about clubs.
But what it boilds down to is the same thing as it boils down to the television business. We can’t keep up with “1” and “0” -we can’t figure out how to fnd the audience and sell it.