Re-Rihanna
Who told the "New York Post" the Rihanna tour was a stiff?
I just got off the phone with Irving Azoff. Doesn’t matter what you think of him, his reputation for veracity, because as Sting so famously sang, it’s a brand new day. Irving’s chairman of a public company. He can’t lie.
Then again, if the "New York Post" can get it so wrong and Wall Street bankers live in a world where the laws only benefit them and don’t ever hurt them, is what Irving says true?
Because I’m a moron, I accepted the Rihanna story in the "New York Post" at face value. I forgot to delve deeper. To see what agendas might be involved.
Like that of the writer. Who is or is not speaking to this person? Who gets no credit, but whose name is known to all those on the inside.
Does the writer have an agenda?
And those feeding the writer, do they have an agenda?
Was it the ex-manager? Was it a Live Nation competitor?
Now I don’t want to say Live Nation is great, everybody hates the company, on principle. Because it’s tied in with Ticketmaster, because ever since the Sillerman roll-up concert tickets have gone through the roof and you’ve got to point your finger somewhere, and it’s quite accurate to point it there.
But facts are facts.
And this is what Irving told me:
(Speak to any touring pro and they’ll tell you that the European business is healthier, that promoters can make more money there.)
2. 64% of tickets for Rihanna’s domestic shows have already been sold. And right now, they’re selling at the rate of 700 a day.
3. Rihanna’s Boston show is four months out. Projections say that 90% of the seats will be sold by showtime. Yes, those are just projections, take them however you want. But there are other inaccuracies in the "Post" story. It states that break even is 15,000 when only 13,500 seats are for sale. And it says that 3,700 tickets have been sold when the actual count is 5,800. Begging where the writer got her information, because it’s so wrong.
Now I also spoke to an unnamed Ticketmaster source who gave me some numbers for that company.
Year to year, the company is up 4%. That’s 12% international and 2% domestic.
In the U.S., concerts are up 8% and sports, arts and family shows bring the number down to 2%.
So there you have it.
Does this mean there’s going to be a healthy touring season this summer?
No, that’s still unclear. And the reason I linked to the "Post" article was it doesn’t feel like business is going to be boffo at the b.o.
Then again, how do we explain Coachella? Turns out that’s an institution, it doesn’t matter who plays.
But it does matter who plays at Bonnaroo, that no longer sells out.
But Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits are gold mines, people are clamoring to go.
I believe there are not enough superstars and tickets are overpriced and that that will be reflected in the final numbers.
But ultimately it is about numbers. And I wanted to clue you in.
We’ll see what happens.
