By Lauren Wilson for Music Dealers
The weak concert sales this summer have clearly been the kick in the rear Live Nation needed to change their act.
The company has a lot at stake after merging with Ticketmaster earlier this year. The Los Angeles Times reports that in a meeting with investors, Live Nation Entertainment executives revealed the top 100 touring band’s ticket sales were down 12 percent this year compared to 2009. That’s not to mention the company’s 2010 operating income could potentially be down by as much as $80 million from the previous year. According to billboard.biz, Live Nation claims it sold 4 percent fewer tickets in the first half of 2010 than in 2009. Gross ticket revenue also decreased 9 percent.
Those statistics do not bode well for Live Nation’s shares which fell 8.7 percent from $10.19 to $9.30 in afternoon trading Friday. The stock has yo-yoed from $5 to $16.90 in the past year. So how is Live Nation going to solve its problems? While CEO Michael Rapino and executive chairman Irving Azoff predict an equally bleak second half of 2010, they’re slightly more positive about the upcoming 2011. More major artists such as Journey, Neil Diamond, and Van Halen will hit the road as well as Christina Aguilera who previously postponed her 2010 tour. They also noted the cast of Fox’s cultural juggernaut, “Glee,” will add more live shows after a brief but extremely successful tour.
Rapino and Azoff are also promising a more customer-friendly business model for 2011. The company acknowledged that ticket prices need to be reduced which they plan to accomplish by adding more pricing tiers and a purchasing system similar to airline fares where ticket prices may vary on the days leading up to the show depending on demand.
Another overdue but very welcome change: ending Ticketmaster’s $2.50 charge for consumers to print their own tickets. Live Nation also pledges to finally begin refunding service fees on tickets of canceled shows. As of now, Ticketmaster only refunds the cost of a ticket, not the fees that are usually stacked upon it.
In the meantime, Live Nation has been trying to alleviate high ticket prices with their rock-bottom Tuesday deals. Fans can see favorite artists such as Aerosmith or the Jonas Brothers for only $10 as part of the promotion. Of course, this doesn’t come without some controversy – the discount angers diehard fans who have already purchased their tickets. In some cases like the Jonas Brothers’ September 19 gig in Irvine, CA, some fans will have paid $99.70 for seats while luckier ones will get in for a tenth of the cost.
On a happier note, in an article for billboard.biz, Brian O’Connell, President of Live Nation’s Country Music Department noted that he “couldn’t be any happier with the way things are going” as far as country music tours are concerned. Lower prices are a big factor of the genre’s thriving tours. Billboard reports that the average ticket prices of Taylor Swift and Tim McGraw are $61 and $49, respectively. Those numbers are considerably lower than the Jonas Brothers’ average of $91 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. The teen heartthrobs were forced to cancel the show after selling only 3,500 tickets for an 11,000 capacity venue. We can only hope other artists will begin to follow country music’s example.
For the full story on Live Nation revamps Click Here.
For the full story on Live Nation’s $10 deals Click Here.
For Billboard’s stats on Live Nation Click Here.
For the full story on country music tours Click Here.
