Despite an economic collapse on Wall Street and rising unemployment rates, the concert industry has reported record-breaking figures for 2008. Leading trade publication Pollstar and entertainment magazine Billboard released staggering gross averages for the year’s hottest tours, while Billboard Boxscore and StubHub noted an increase in overall concert ticket sale grosses on the primary and secondary markets. But with no end in sight for the nation’s current economic woes, the forecast might not be so bright for 2009. According to Pollstar’s tally, Madonna reigned supreme in national and global ticket sales, grossing $281.6 million for an international total of 2.34 million tickets. The publication rounded out its top five with Celine Dion ($236.6 million for 1.8 million tickets), Bon Jovi ($176 million for 1.83 million tickets), Bruce Springsteen ($166 million for 1.64 million tickets), and The Police ($120.6 million for 1.13 million tickets). Read More

In less than a week, more than 500 ticket industry executives will descend on New York City for Ticket Summit NYC, January 6-8, and the keynote discussion panel is shaping up to be one of the highlights of the event. “Who’s On First? The New Paradigm in the Ticket Marketplace,” which is scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday, January 7, will look at the current state of the ever evolving ticket industry with perspectives from some of the leading executives in the field. Read More

If there is one thing that ticket brokers know, it is that as the secondary ticket market has grown over the years, so has the level of scrutiny that governments have placed on the industry. And one of the areas most studied is tax revenue, as some states and municipalities look at the possibility of levying fees on resold tickets. With so many states creating different requirements, brokers need an edge in how to navigate the system and in the spirit of assisting brokers, TicketNews has created a new 50-state compendium called “Amusement and Sales Tax Laws as Applied to Ticket Resellers.” Hard copies of the report are available for $50 (plus $10 for shipping and handling) by clicking here. In addition, hard copies will be sold next week at Ticket Summit NYC, scheduled for January 6-8 at the Waldorf=Astoria in Manhattan. Read More

Across the world tonight, people will observe the start of the New Year at one-off concerts and special club events. But for performers Travis Barker and DJ AM (Adam Goldstein), tonight’s musical celebration of fresh beginnings and change will be special for another reason. The former Blink 182 drummer and the celebrity disk jockey will perform together in concert for the first time since surviving a fatal plane crash that claimed the lives of four people. Barker and Goldstein will hit the stage at The Wiltern in Los Angeles for a concert hosted by New Year’s Nation. Read More

Miami’s Dolphin Stadium moved into the number one spot once again in TicketNews’s exclusive venues rankings for the week ending Sunday, December 28. The stadium, which had a power score of 3.25 this week, will host the New Year’s Day Orange Bowl as well as the January 8 BCS National Championship Bowl, which claimed the number one spot this week in TicketNews’s Top Sports Events rankings. The Gershwin Theatre moves up one to the number two slot this week on continued strong sales for its hit musical, Wicked. This week, the Gershwin had a power score of 3.22. The Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles, CA, remains in our top ten this week, jumping up one to the number three slot. With a power score of 3.18, the historic Pantages will present a number of Broadway-style productions over the coming months, including “Wicked,” Dirty Dancing and Grease. Next, the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston slipped from its leader position last week down to the number four slot. The Garden, power scoring a 2.95, is scheduled to host a variety of popular acts in the coming months, including Britney Spears, Fleetwood Mac and the WWE. The venue also is home to the Boston Celtics basketball team and Boston Bruins hockey team, both hitting the top ten in this week’s TicketNews Top Sports Events. Read More

Following a reported dispute over its no-bid contract with state fair officials earlier in the year, Live Nation is being replaced as the live music promoter for the New York State Fair in 2009, the fair announced this month. Louisville, KY-based Triangle Talent, Inc., which has worked with 16 state fairs, including Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin in recent years, won the bid and will promote the live music for the New York event, which is scheduled for August 27 to September 7. Live Nation re-bid to land the program, but after losing out to Triangle, it said it will not allow any of the acts it promotes to appear at the Syracuse-based fair. Terms of the agreement with Triangle were not disclosed, but according to the Syracuse Post-Standard, Live Nation was paid about $700,000 to produce 11 shows for the fair in 2008. Read More

Wicked (10.29), once again, regained top billing as the week’s top selling event, according to TicketNews’s exclusive event rankings for the week ending December 28. Jersey Boys follows Wicked in the overall rankings with a 2.96 power score. Other highlights of the list include Britney Spears, who slipped in the overall rankings from number two to number four (2.47) ahead of Elton John & Billy Joel, who hold on to their number five spot with a 2.45 power score. Rounding out the top ten are two theater shows: the Lion King (number eight, 1.56) and the Phantom of the Opera (number ten, 1.48). In the Top Theater Events rankings “Wicked,” “Jersey Boys,” “Lion King” and “Phantom of the Opera” have the edge, but South Pacific (number five, 5.21) and Cirque du Soleil: Wintuk (number six, 4.33) are also moving tickets. Dance-themed shows Billy Elliot (3.20) and “Dirty Dancing” (2.51) rank at numbers seven and eight. Mary Poppins debuts in the theater rankings at number nine with a 1.60 power score. Read More

Current Guns N’ Roses guitarist Richard Fortus is stirring up speculation that Axl Roses’ embattled band could hit the road in 2009. In a recent interview with St. Louis, MO-based newspaper The Telegraph, Fortus said the tour would hopefully start in late March and run for “at least two years.” The tour would support GNR’s latest release, “Chinese Democracy,” which hit stores on November 23, nearly 15 years after Rose initially revealed plans for the record. Despite the legendary delay and years of media hype, the album had a disappointing debut at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with approximately 261,000 copies sold. Read More

While last week’s Broadway ticket sales were not too bad at more than $19 million, box office sales for this week, ended December 28, hit $25,307,611 as the post-Christmas spirit thrived. But, compared to the same period for the year before, ticket sales were down more than $3 million (the same period in 2007 generated a stunning $28,320,773). In the face of the current economic downturn, however, this week’s tally is an accomplishment. For the total season, the gross receipts are $563,919,487, a hefty increase over the same year-to-date figures from last season of $520,323,042. These figures do not include “Young Frankenstein” playing at the Hilton Theatre, which is scheduled to close next week. Another benchmark: of the 31 productions currently on Broadway, eleven grossed more than $1 million in the past week. Topping the list was perennial favorite Wicked at the Gershwin at $1,803,262. Mary Poppins at the New Amsterdam saw the largest increase in dollars over the previous reporting period by about $430,000. Read More

The Better Ticketing Association (BTA), a ticket broker membership organization, recently redesigned its Web site and launched some new initiatives to better serve its members. Dan Pullium, Director of Government Relations for TicketNetwork, who also oversees the BTA, said changes to the site were implemented following discussions with members. The BTA was created by TicketNetwork, which is also the parent company of TicketNews. Read More