Late last fall, Kanye West cancelled the balance of his tour dates from mid-November through New Year's Eve, citing exhaustion. For promoters, ticket agents, venues and anyone else involved with the tour, the cancellation meant a major drop in revenue.
Concerts are very big business these days and cancelling a single event can cost a venue millions. Cancel all or even part of a concert series, and you're talking significant losses.
According to Forbes magazine, Bruce Springsteen brought in more than $171 million in ticket sales for The River Tour within the first six months of 2016. Beyoncé and her Formation World Tour amassed $137 million in the same period.
|Significant changes in music business
The music business has changed significantly in the last decade. "Since the birth of digital media like iTunes, the business end of what an artist and agent do has changed," explained David Boyle, contingency class underwriter for ArgoGlobal, a Lloyd's syndicate. "Revenue sources have changed from CDs to people downloading music to iPods. In order to make money when CD sales dropped off, artists started touring in the early 2000s. That had the effect of taking an artist who might make their money from record sales and doing a short tour to doing major tours."
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Patricia L. Harman
Patricia L. Harman is the editor-in-chief of Claims magazine, a contributing editor to PropertyCasualty360.com, and chairs the annual America's Claims Event (ACE), which focuses on providing claims professionals with cutting-edge education and networking opportunities. She covers auto, property & casualty, workers' compensation, fraud, risk and cybersecurity, and is a frequent speaker at insurance industry events. Contact her at [email protected]
