Even though Jennifer Lopez announced recently that due to "personal issues" (read: low ticket sales) she had to cancel her summer tour, a report is going around that Justin Timberlake, Bad Bunny, The Black Keys and P!nk are struggling to sell tickets to their high profile arena concerts.
via: NYP
Even Coachella was reportedly more lackluster than in previous years.
Yet, Taylor Swift is holding the most profitable concert tour in music history.
And Beyoncé kills it whenever she’s on the road.
While not all artists’ issues are the same, there do seem to be some universal themes impacting the music business.
There are a lot of concerts going on in a post-pandemic world, ticket prices are climbing and it’s not easy to obtain tickets.
The average ticket price for the top 100 tours in the first quarter was a record $123.25, according to data from concert ticket tracker Pollstar, cited by Business Insider.
Plus, artists may be overestimating their appeal by booking massive venues after delivering one hit.
Last week, Live Nation announced J.Lo’s tour was canceled and the singer/actor was taking time to be with her family and friends.
There was speculation the issue was the pop diva’s crumbling marriage to Ben Affleck.
But sales of her latest album have been weak and the companion film on Amazon Prime Video got panned. J.Lo’s planned Las Vegas residency is also in jeopardy.
Rock duo The Black Keys also scrapped a planned arena tour, while fans flagged that some shows for Troye Sivan, Charli XCX and Wallows appear to be undersold, according to reports.
Reggaeton star Bad Bunny reportedly canceled his Minneapolis show due to poor sales, though a source close to the tour told The Post he canceled one date and that was only because of “extenuating circumstances.”
There have been murmurs that headliners Justin Timberlake and Pink also have been slow to sell tickets, BI reported.
Live Nation, the owner of Ticket Master, clapped back, with a spokeswoman telling The Post Timberlake and Pink “are doing extremely well.”
She also emailed, “Charli XCX and Troye Sivan’s SWEAT tour has multiple sold out dates and is over 70% sold across the board with 4 months left until it kicks off in September,” and the Wallows tour “is selling well.”
Live Nation said it has sold 100 million tickets so far this year, up from the same point last year. In addition, the company said, “Every year some events naturally fall off for various reasons, and in 2024 across all venue types we’ve seen a 4% cancellation rate — which is flat to last year.”
I think it could be a plethora of reasons tickets aren't selling. Bad Bunny just ended his Most Wanted (or if you believe the reports - Least Wanted) tour, with said tour grossing $208 million, so while the tour may not have sold a lot of tickets, it seems to have brought in a huge amount in sales.
Meanwhile The Black Keys and JLo embarrassingly had to chop their arena tours due to low sales. Justin added dates to his ongoing tour, and I've been hearing conflicting reports about the Sweat tour.
People are starting to become selective in regards to who they go see because tickets are too expensive, consessions and merch have also become quite pricey.
Plus, if you wait the day before or the day of they drop the ticket prices to a more affordable number.
I also think some of these legacy acts who are struggling to sell music need to humble themselves and realize that maybe they need to either kick off a residency in Vegas or if they want to live the life of a gypsy and travel they should consider smaller venues.
I'd rather perform to a packed house in a smaller venue, than a half packed house at an arena.
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