Today Pollstar listed the Top 20 grossing tours of 2005. Overall ticket sales are down while prices are going up, and that gave reliable classic rock and pop divas (e.g. Rolling Stones, U2, Celine Dion, McCartney, Eagles, Elton John) the top spots.

While most of these artists have tix ranging from $50-100, it’s refreshing to see Green Day and Tom Petty making the list with tickets under $40. However, when you factor in Ticketbastard fees, every single show here is over $50.

This is indicative of the entire music industry right now…

With venues like Myth opening to swallow up acts who typically play medium venues, and while large arenas like Target Center only able to sellout shows like Aerosmith/Kravitz, we’re in an incestuous Top 40/Clear Channel circle, and the days of seeing a major national tour for $20 (including fees) are over.

A ray of light
However, there is hope! There’s no shortage of quality music for bottom dollar if you know where to look. And for labels, bands and musicians themselves, the cash isn’t far behind if they are strategic.

Would a band prefer to fill half of the 5,850 seats at Roy Wilkins Auditorium for $50/each or sellout First Avenue or another smaller venue at $15/each, while leaving fans with the cash to buy your new album, a t-shirt and plenty of booze (which if you have a savvy manager, you will also receive a cut).

Sure you can’t come close to the $150,000 you would have brought in at Roy Wilkins, but what kind of experience did you bring your fans at the sold-out, cheaper, more intimate show versus the half-filled, expensive, impersonal one? Will your fans shell out the bucks for the next concert? Will the teenagers put your poster on their walls?

The Solution
If it was me, I’d want to play credible venues that I know I can sell out for the smallest dollar amount possible to ensure my true fans AND those curious fans (who are not yet willing to commit $50 to try me out) can come out and enjoy the show.

If my expenses, stage show and entourage require that I raise prices and play crappy venues to small crowds, then I need to rethink the purpose of my life and possibly kill myself. You know how these musicians are.

For now, I’ll continue to support smaller acts and spread the $150 I could have used for McCartney across 8-10 concerts, unless you factor in booze. And the mark-up on booze is a post for another time.