An article in Slate offered some insight into the economics of the music biz, courtesy of a lengthy paper by Princeton economists Alan Krueger and Marie Connelly. Here are some highlights:

There are fewer people going to concerts these days, and fewer concerts for them to go to. "The number of concerts held annually fell 16 percent from 1996 to 2003, and the number of tickets sold fell from about 30 million in 2000 to just 22 million in 2003. Only 31 percent of teenagers attended a rock concert in 2000, compared with 40 percent in 1976." Why? Downloading. "Pop stars are charging higher prices because they're realizing less income from sales of CDs and other forms of recorded music."
"In 1982, the top 1 percent of artists banked 26 percent of ticket revenues; in 2003, they garnered 56 percent."

"Krueger and 12 students surveyed 858 people at a Bruce Springsteen concert in Philadelphia in October 2002, where all tickets were priced at $75. But they found that between 20 and 25 percent of the seats were ultimately resold at an average price of $280. Ironically, the better the seat, the less likely it was to be sold. In other words, the fortunates who could have sold their $75 fifth-row seats for $1,000 tended to hold on to them, while the non-hard-core Bruce fan who had paid $75 for a nosebleed seat was all too happy to part with his stub for $280."

Another article explains why even if you were willing to pay top dollar to see your favorite 60-year-old rocker this summer, you wouldn't be able to. "Popular shows sell out quickly because many seats are already spoken for. Pre-sales for fan clubs and venue season-ticket holders take up a chunk. Event sponsors get tickets for their clients, radio stations get tickets for giveaways, and the band and the promoters will hold seats for family and VIPs. Event organizers may cut the number of available seats due to space requirements for equipment and stage placement. According to USA Today, just 10,000 of the 20,000 seats at Madison Square Garden were made available to the general public for Coldplay's two concerts in September 2004."

Tom Heany