the most expensive tour for the next 6 months

[elle]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jesselaw...tour-playbook/

For "On With The Show", Fleetwood Mac Is Taking A Page From One Direction's Tour Playbook


It’s been 15 years since Christine McVie left Fleetwood Mac and while the band has continued to tour during that time, for many fans it wasn’t the same without McVie. With the announcement that McVie would be rejoining the band for their upcoming tour, fans responded en force, driving up demand for Fleetwood Mac tickets to levels well above the band’s 2013 tour. In addition to being the most expensive tour for the next six months, it’s also evidence of how hard it is to turn down the payday that touring offers in the post-album world.

McVie originally stopped touring with the band as a result of the grind that touring entails as well as her age. At the time, she was 55, and while she may have overcome her performance anxiety since then, it’s more likely that the draw of touring was simply too lucrative for her to continue to stay away. Last year, without McVie, the band ranked 10th in Billboard‘s top music moneymakers with earnings of $19.1 million. While their 2013 tour, “Fleetwood Mac Live” had 69 stops, this year’s ‘On With The Show’ tour has a relatively light 39 shows. Despite having toured non-stop over the last two years, fans’ enthusiasm remains undeterred. Given the fact that eight songs written and sung by McVie are on the band’s greatest hits album, it’s no surprise that fans are coming back for more less than a year after the last tour ended. At an average price of $366, ‘On With the Show’ is in fact the most expensive tour in the next six months by over $100. In 2013, One Direction’s ‘Take Me Home’ tour was the most expensive. One Direction tickets for their current ‘Where We Are Tour’ are significantly less expensive than last year’s tour, however, that has more to do with the stadium scale of this tour compared to the last tour. For ‘On With The Show’, Fleetwood Mac is playing in many of the same venues as last year, and it appears that they’re taking a page out of One Direction’s touring playbook.

Stevie en Lindsey ( Oberhausen 2003) - eigendo...
Stevie en Lindsey ( Oberhausen 2003) – eigendom Bumperke (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One Direction has essentially been touring for the last four years, quite aware that their popularity and marketability could vanish at any moment with the changing tastes of America’s tweens. Musically, Fleetwood Mac is on much stronger ground than One Direction, having sold over 100 million records and received five Grammy nominations, including winning the 1978 Album of the Year for Rumours. The monetizable window, however, may be no less narrow for Fleetwood Mac than One Direction. In the case of Fleetwood Mac, however, changing tastes are not the threat. For Fleetwood Mac and other baby boomer bands, the threat is Mother Nature herself. McVie is now 71-years old and the oldest member of the band. Her ex-husband and current touring mate, John McVie has recently battled cancer, which led to the band having to cancel 14 dates last year.


The race against Mother Nature is in fact driving the 2014-15 concert market well beyond Fleetwood Mac. Over the next six months, many of the biggest and most expensive tours are for acts in their 60s and 70s. Those include Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, John Mellencamp, as well as the grandfather of the endless tour, Bob Dylan. For Stevie Wonder, it’s been seven years since his last tour, and Stevie Wonder tickets for his upcoming Songs in the Key Of Life tour are the third most expensive over the next six months, behind only Fleetwood Mac and Bob Dylan. At an average price of $323 Bob Dylan tickets are the second most expensive of any upcoming tour. While One Direction gross sales over the last three years are the text book for the science of monetizing a tour, the boy band has nothing on Dylan’s stamina. Since kicking off his Never Ending Tour in 1988, Dylan has played close to 3,000 shows. Unlike Fleetwood Mac and One Direction, however, Dylan is not profit maximizing and plays much smaller venues that average around 5,000 seats. While he’s making a good living touring, Dylan likely hasn’t made it onto Billboard’s list of top tour earners, and he likely has no aspirations to get there. In a 2009 interview Dylan gave Rolling Stone an interesting perspective on the Never Ending Tour when he said “These days, people are lucky to have a job. Any job. So critics might be uncomfortable with my working so much. Anybody with a trade can work as long as they want. A carpenter, an electrician. They don’t necessarily need to retire.” For Dylan, Fleetwood Mac and the wave of other boomer acts touring set to kick off new tours, those are words to live by.

[HelloMonster]

Yeah, no sh-t.
Kicking us while were down from last years' gouging.

[Wdm6789]

How is Paul McCartney not in the top three? My Paul McCartney tickets were more expensive than my Fleetwood Mac tickets and my Fleetwood Mac tickets are five rows closer than my Paul McCartney tickets.

[Macfanforever]

I would like to find a breakdown on touring costs.

I couldn't imagine what FM has to pay out on each show.


Fleetwood Mac is more likely is a union employer which they are not cheap.They got to pay the wages of .their employees and their benefits.Workman's comp .Also the high cost of traveling like fuel,road tolls,hotel fees,food,ETC.

FM and other classic artists last forever ,One Direction will not be remembered in 5 years or less.

[bethelblues]

Five separate private planes, five limos, five different five-star hotels, top restaurants every night, extended staff and entourage for five people....it all adds up when they can't see each other unless they're performing.

[nicole21290]

Originally Posted by bethelblues

Five separate private planes, five limos, five different five-star hotels, top restaurants every night, extended staff and entourage for five people....it all adds up when they can't see each other unless they're performing.

Oh, please. Not exaggerating at all, are we?! They ARE able to see each other when they're not performing and do so. One example is the following, though my favourite thing about these tweets is that it was first tweeted about at 11.30 at night. Late dinners are the done thing.



And do you know what? I reckon they've even been able to travel on the same plane occasionally, and not always at opposite ends as Stevie laughingly suggested last year!!!!

[bethelblues]

I was trying to be sarcastic about the expenses. No, I do think they all like each other. There are stories though of Stevie switching hotels if she got a bad vibe checking in, and having to have a grand piano in her room.

[BombaySapphire3]

I think that the writer is correct in stating that Christine came back for the money..if they were makig peanuts she'd have never left England..no question.

[nicole21290]

Originally Posted by bethelblues

I was trying to be sarcastic about the expenses. No, I do think they all like each other. There are stories though of Stevie switching hotels if she got a bad vibe checking in, and having to have a grand piano in her room.

Ah, sorry about that. I apparently need a better sarcasm radar. Apologies for the slightly over the top response. I wish I could claim tiredness but it's only 4.20 in the afternoon so...

A bit annoyed at the pricing though not surprised at all. Still wish I'd been able to see them for a cheaper price last year, though, considering my interest in the band doesn't increase with Christine re-joining, lol.

[Wdm6789]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

I think that the writer is correct in stating that Christine came back for the money..if they were makig peanuts she'd have never left England..no question.

I don't think it's about the money. I think it's about Christine and John and the fans. They're all getting old John just had cancer. I think Christine realized that she owes it to herself and the band and the fans to come back for possibly their final tour. She is 71 and is reportedly worth $50 million. I don't think she's in it for the money. I think it's all about sentiment. I think she thought "do I really want to die without playing with them again" and with John's cancer it made her choice even more clear. I think she's doing it for herself and the fans. She's giving all the fans the chance to see Fleetwood Mac in full force, who thought they never would see all five. I could be wrong, they could all just be greedy. I really don't think it's about money.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

I think that the writer is correct in stating that Christine came back for the money..if they were makig peanuts she'd have never left England..no question.

I don't think so. If they were playing little dives, I don't think she'd be into that, but I think the sensation of arena touring and being "on top" again and, having all of the music industry backstage after your show to talk to you ... that's quite a lure for someone who'd become a partial recluse.

Yes, being back with 2 men she's known and loved since the SIXTIES and two other peeps that are both endearing, in their own way is also a prize in and of itself.

Even if she wasn't making a boatload of money, I think she'd be into the tour, for the headiness of it all.

But no, if she was returning to the hard show biz life before they made it big, that's when I think she'd never have left England. Michele

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

I think that the writer is correct in stating that Christine came back for the money..if they were makig peanuts she'd have never left England..no question.

I don't. She wants to blaze. For the first time in her very lucrative touring career, she actually wants to be on the road "with her mates."

There's no question, however, that BIG money isn't at all unattractive to her--or anyone in the band.

[michelej1]

[From an article about Madonna's tour]

Forbes, March 6, 2015

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jesselaw...-tour-of-2015/

Even fellow iconic act Fleetwood Mac, who owned the highest-priced concert tour of 2015 back in January, is being trumped by Madonna on the secondary market. The band’s On With The Show Tour has generated an average secondary price of $298.82, making the “Like a Virgin” singer’s forthcoming North American stint 51.3% more expensive.

[Andy Man]

Originally Posted by Wdm6789

I don't think it's about the money. I think it's about Christine and John and the fans. They're all getting old John just had cancer. I think Christine realized that she owes it to herself and the band and the fans to come back for possibly their final tour. She is 71 and is reportedly worth $50 million. I don't think she's in it for the money. I think it's all about sentiment. I think she thought "do I really want to die without playing with them again" and with John's cancer it made her choice even more clear. I think she's doing it for herself and the fans. She's giving all the fans the chance to see Fleetwood Mac in full force, who thought they never would see all five. I could be wrong, they could all just be greedy. I really don't think it's about money.

For the most part, I have to agree with you. I do believe that the money is certainly an aspect to why they are doing this tour. Obviously the demand to see Fleetwood Mac live is high at the moment, and no doubt Christine has been well aware of this over the last few years. She certainly does not need the money, but I'm sure that the idea of making the fortunes that the other members have been over the last decade whilst living a life of luxury on the road was tempting.

However, I think that there is far more than the money behind Christine's decision to come back. John's cancer and the "sands of time" certainly have no doubt been on all of their minds. And I am sure that at some point Christine must have seen what the others were up to (especially when she saw them in London in 2009) and thought to herself "maybe I should go back." She had the opportunity to live a life, again, that many struggling musicians and artists out there would love to have. Christine seems, to me, to be someone who appreciates what she has the ability to do. Plus, she is an artist and no doubt needed to get that energy out again.

Whatever the reason, and despite the insane cost it is to simply see this band live (even for nosebleed seats!), it is great she is around again.

[michelej1]

Miami Herald March 17, 2015 by Adam Snitzer

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/busi...e14078537.html

Elton John and Fleetwood Mac are rock-and-roll superstars. Five decades into his career, Elton John just finished a packed concert at Miami’s American Airlines Arena. Fleetwood Mac is coming to town on March 21st.

Together, they’ve sold more than 400 million albums, with dozens of recordings going “Gold” and “Platinum.”

That financial success has been good for them, their record companies, their concert venues, their branded merchandise sellers and also for ticket scalpers, who have marked-up Elton John and Fleetwood Mac ticket prices for decades. And the Miami performances will have been no exception.

In the final week before Elton John’s performance, ticket scalpers (or brokers as they are now called) were asking nearly $7,000 per ticket for seats right in front of the stage. The arena box office and the event’s official online ticket-seller, Ticketmaster, were sold out of these seats. But ticket brokers were still holding hundreds of great seats and were asking up to 20 times the tickets’ face value.

Prices for front and center seats to see Fleetwood Mac were headed in the same direction. With three weeks to go, ticket brokers were already asking up to $3,800 per seat.

Ticket scalping in the United States has been going on for more than a hundred years. The term is derived from a gruesome wartime practice among certain tribes of Native Americans. Ticket scalping got its start in the market for railway tickets and has since moved into ticket sales for theater, music and sporting events.

Over the past century, ticket scalping has had unsavory connotations. Scalpers’ prices have traditionally been viewed as “unauthorized.” Scalpers’ profits have been viewed as opportunistic, unfair and downright illegal. Laws against scalping go back at least to the 1920s when New York State passed a law limiting markups to no more than 50 cents above a ticket’s face value.

Years ago, when Elton John and Fleetwood Mac began performing in large venues, ticket scalpers lurked in the shadows, quietly hawking their wares on street corners close to concert venues. Transactions were strictly cash. Tickets were sometimes counterfeit; buyers beware.

But then came the Internet and ticket scalping (I mean “brokering”) went legit. First, companies like Ticketmaster created an efficient online marketplace for buying tickets via computer. Then, companies like StubHub!, which is owned by eBay, created a similarly safe and efficient online marketplace for “re-selling” tickets.

Now, it’s possible for resourceful ticket brokers to gamble by quickly amassing tickets for certain performance events and then potentially re-selling those tickets for a profit – all online.

Companies like Ticketmaster and StubHub! are somewhat pitted against each other. Ticketmaster has implemented techniques to thwart automated ticket purchases by computer programs, such as forcing buyers to decipher jumbled words. StubHub!, on the other hand, doesn’t endorse ticket scalping per se, but is committed to maintaining what they call a “fan-to-fan” marketplace - even if those fans are asking $6,925.25 for an Elton John ticket.

From a pricing and revenue management perspective, ticket brokers have a few lessons to teach. First, they show us that the spectrum of consumers’ “willingness-to-pay” is extraordinarily wide and that there’s often remaining demand at high prices when inventory is sold out. They also show that willingness-to-pay can be differentiated at a very fine level of detail. For example, the face value of tickets for an entire section at American Airlines Arena is typically set the same. But the brokers on StubHub! know – for example -- that the front row of section 108 is more valuable than seats 20 rows back and were recently asking $140 more per ticket.

So, there are two lessons learned from Elton John and Fleetwood Mac re-sale pricing. One: If you want to see rock-and-roll superstars up-close, buy a pair of high-powered binoculars. Two: If you have a popular product that’s hard to keep in stock, ask a higher price.

Adam Snitzer is a revenue strategy expert and president of Peak Revenue Performance, a consulting firm that specializes in designing and executing innovative pricing strategies. He can be reached at adam@peakrevenueperformance.com, or via the company’s website at PeakRevenuePerformance.com.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/busi...#storylink=cpy