Album sales are still continuing on their downward spiral but the live music industry hasn't hit the bottom yet. In fact, it seems to be heading upward based on the end-of-summer numbers introduced by Pollstar (as reported by Rolling Stone).
The season got off to poor start, as big-hauler Paul McCartney was forced to cancel dates due to illness and other huge names just weren't touring. The numbers don't take festival appearances and sales into consideration, apparently, as Rolling Stone cited the many festival appearances of Outkast as detracting from the touring numbers. That meant by the end of June, ticket sales were down 12.6 percent from 2013 at the same point.
A few major tours amped up the numbers for the rest of the summer however. McCartney got back on the road and a number of tours—Jay Z/Beyoncé's "On The Run," Eminem/Rihanna's dual booking, One Direction and Jason Aldean—sold out entire stadiums, a "format" that used to be limited to huge acts such as the former Beatle.
"It took longer for those (older) bands to become stadium attractions, because they were only dependent on their music and radio," said David Zedeck, executive vice president for Live Nation. "It might happen quicker now, with a band like One Direction being able to sell stadiums three years after their first album. There are so many more ways to reach fans."
One problematic trend does water down the good season however: Many venues used services such as Groupon to move unsold tickets for arena acts such as Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire and Wiz Khalifa. Those acts might want to consider multi-day runs at smaller venues the next time they head out.
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