Coldplay To Be Summer Concert Season Saviours

After the disastrous summer of 2004, in which ticket revenue dropped an estimated forty percent, the concert industry has resolved to reinvent itself -- with a boost from blockbuster tours by Coldplay, Dave Matthews Band and Bruce Springsteen.

"Promoters are doing the things we have always wanted them to do: Keep the ticket prices low, keep the Ticketmaster charges cheaper for the lawn, keep the lawn tickets low, and some other things, like allowing people to bring in their own picnic blankets," says Tony Dimitriades, longtime manager of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, whose tickets will cost less than $60.Ticket prices rose sharply in the last five years, due in part to promoter Clear Channel Entertainment's practice of offering higher and higher upfront payments (known as guarantees) to top artists in an attempt to drive competing promoters out of the market. The big guarantees were passed along to fans in the form of higher ticket prices.

This year Clear Channel, the world's largest concert promoter, has asked bands to accept less money upfront in an effort to make tickets cheaper. While the biggest acts are impervious to promoters' efforts to tinker with prices -- sources say Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones, who will both tour this fall, may each go as high as $250 for the best seats -- many others, including Bob Dylan and Def Leppard, have agreed to smaller guarantees. These artists figure they can profit just as well off a percentage of the final ticket sales.

Michael Rapino, who took over Clear Channel's global-music division in a company shake-up last July, is behind the changes. In addition to asking artists to take less money in advance, he is working on capping Ticketmaster fees at $5, removing "facility fees" of about $4 per ticket and cutting lawn seats to $20. "We're going to do what we can to lower ticket prices and increase the consumer experience," he told Rolling Stone earlier this year.

Clear Channel's biggest competitors, House of Blues Concerts and AEG Live, are skeptical of Rapino's claims. Since last summer, both companies have argued for lower guarantees, but House of Blues VP Alex Hodges says Clear Channel has continued the practice -- forcing his company to respond in kind or lose out on booking shows. "It's always a game of chicken," he says.

Motley Crue, on tour now and returning for a second U.S. leg in July, were one of the first bands affected by Clear Channel's new approach. Initially, promoters turned down the band's demand for big guarantees. So Motley Crue booked shows directly with arenas (the ones Clear Channel doesn't own), with top ticket prices of $75. When the shows proved to be successful, promoters, including Clear Channel, signed on to book additional dates. "If this had been last year, they probably would have received $300,000 guarantees," says Doc McGhee, who manages Kiss and others. "Tickets would have cost twice as much, and they wouldn't have sold as many."

Source: Rolling Stone