Last week, concert business giant Live Nation Entertainment announced a month-long promotion dropping ticket service fees throughout June. The offer means savings of around 25 percent on the average ticket, but it’s only applicable for purchases at LiveNation.com for amphitheater shows, including Boston’s Bank of America Pavilion and Mansfield’s Comcast Center. Surprisingly, top draw acts like the Dave Matthews Band, Green Day, Phish, and Rihanna, sure sellouts you’d think, are not exempt.
“Every year 40 percent of tickets go unsold and only 20 percent of concerts sell out,” Jason Garner, Live Nation’s CEO of concerts said. “Our job is to help fans and artists connect and fill every seat. Our goal is that by waiving the service fee for the month of June we can motivate the fan who couldn’t otherwise attend a show this summer.”
The music business’s last great hope, touring, might not be shaping up as the cash cow some had hoped it would be. Similar to over-priced CDs crippling the record industry through the 1990s, generally high concert ticket prices may well have a similar impact on touring.
However, Garner was optimistic, adding, “Ticket sales are on par with our expectations for the year.”
