Live Nation is on the defensive about the health of its $120 million Madonna deal.
Big sales around the world for the Material Girl’s upcoming “Sticky & Sweet” tour have been overshadowed in music industry circles by chatter about the large number of tickets still available for a key stop in Los Angeles in November and softer-than-expected sales of her latest album “Hard Candy.”
The tour so far has grossed more than $74 million in sales for 13 dates in Europe and piled up a string of sellouts at arenas across North America, according to Live Nation.
Arthur Fogel, chairman of global music and CEO of the global touring division at Live Nation, projects the tour will gross more than $250 million in ticket sales - surpassing her record-breaking “Confessions on a Dance Floor” tour two years ago, which pulled in $195 million worldwide.
But just over half of the 43,000 seats available for a Nov. 6 date at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium - 27,000 tickets in all - have been sold in their first three weeks of availability, raising red flags about the limits of US demand for the 49-year-old Madonna at this stage of her career.
It also comes as Live Nation’s management has been at odds over the strategy of handing out big-bucks, all-encompassing contracts, known as 360 deals, for aging stars like Madonna and Jay-Z. The rift led to last week’s exit of company chairman Michael Cohl.
To be sure, Madonna’s sales have been better at other venues.
A Nov. 4 show at San Diego’s Petco Park has sold 29,000 of 35,000 seats. And over 33,000 out of 42,000 available tickets were sold for a Nov. 26 stadium date in Miami.
And her US arena dates, including three nights at Madison Square Garden, have sold out.
But at the biggest venues, consumers in the US are not rushing for Madonna tickets with the same fervor that they are in Europe and other parts of the world.
An Aug. 30 show at the Military Airfield Deubendorf in Zurich, Switzerland, sold over 70,000 tickets in days in May, and an October date in Vancouver, BC, sold 50,000 tickets in 29 minutes.
The economy could be a factor - top tickets for Madonna are running as high as $500 at a time when food and gas costs are soaring.
Her latest album is doing solid but unspectacular business in the US. “Hard Candy” has sold 544,000 copies domestically, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That’s barely half of what rapper Lil Wayne recently sold in the first week for his latest album “Tha Carter III.”
Analysts note that the album could be hard pressed to match the business of her last album “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” which sold more than 1.6 million copies in the US.
Fogel, who has produced Madonna’s last three tours, said concern about ticket demand is overblown.
He noted that there are close to five months to go before the US stadium shows in question open, and each one has already grossed $3 million to $4 million in sales.
Live Nation stock closed down 3.92 percent, or 46 cents, at $11.27.
source : new york post
Sticky & Sweet Tour Program
Madonna Confessions by Guy Oseary
Madonna 2009
Give It 2 Me
Give It 2 Me
Hard Candy
Hard Candy
4 Minutes
4 Minutes
I saw Madonna twice before here in Los Angeles. The last time was a couple of years ago at the Forum, a broken down old crappy piece of building. It was the worst concert I have ever been to! For the prices we paid back then, only to spend hours in traffic, lack of ladies rooms, and the A/C was not on–it was the last time I will ever goto the Forum-EVER! And Madonna was not worth the hassle and headache. I sure as hell would not repeat this mess at Dodger Stadium! Not worth it!
Hanno citato solamente lo stadio di Los Angeles. Non capisco perche OGNI VOLTA che Madonna parte in tour ci deve essere una critica per stupidaggini. Perche non parlano del fatto che Madonna e l’unica cantante femminile che riesce a fare dei concerti negli stadi pieni di 80.000 spettatori in delirio? Oltretutto, i concerti che non sono ancora dichiarati sold out, come Roma, hanno a disposizione poche centinaia di biglietti, quindi gli stadi, a parte Los Angeles, sono tutti strapieni. Madonna e la numero uno, qualcuno ancora non lo accetta. Excuse me, but I couldn’t say what I wanted to say in English, I’m an italian fan.
Give me a break. They are only citing ONE venue
that’s not selling out. LA?? Who cares? It’s only got ONE night and I think it’s indicative of where the show is being done, NOT Madonna’s lack of draw. People love to call Madonna “OVER”, but mark my words, the shows will sell out and she’ll have the biggest selling concert for a female for the year.
I wouldn’t be surprized if Mariah’s camp had something to do with this article. She seems to have people working for her to tear down Madonna whenever possible. I’d like to see her sell out this many shows.
I agree with the comments made in the previous post. I live in Michigan near the Traverse area. Tickets for a chance to see Madonna at the Traverse Film Festival sold out in a matter of minutes to get one of only 540 seats at the State Theater. Some tickets have sold for over $3,000 on ebay just to get a chance to see her up close and personal. Like the previous comments stated, Madonna is all about the stage show of which she’s an expert and stadiums just don’t cut it, especially having to pay such high ticket prices with the economy the way it is right now in the US.
no doubt the shows will either sell out or come close to it, but I think the slow sale of Stadium gigs in the US is telling - people in America at least just aren’t going to pay top dollar to sit at the back of a stadium, not even at a decent rate. Madonna has always been about the stage show more so in the past few tours then ever before, and stadiums just don’t cut it. Madison Square Gardens and other arenas are better suited to sell out cause the vantage point from anywhere is better then being at the top of Dodge Stadium, why would you bother, might as well stay home and watch the DVD when it comes out, it’s miles cheaper, you get a better up close view and a lot less hassle. Z