Gas or concert tickets?

Are the ever-increasing gas prices taking a toll on the touring market? A number of top-level touring biz execs seem to think so, as quoted by Rolling Stone in this news item from the magazine's current issue.

After noting that sales for tours from such top-tier artists as Bruce Springsteen and Nine Inch Nails appear to be slow in some markets, Steve Knopper's story quotes Alex Hodges, chief operating officer for Nederlander Concerts in Los Angeles, as saying about gas prices: "It has an effect when people are filling up their cars for $80 ... How many concerts are they going to go to with all the other costs?"

Of course. 'Cause the problem may not actually lie, you know, within the music business.

But there's more.

Noticing that name events like Coachella and Bonnaroo have sold out, Rolling Stone later quotes AEG live president Randy Phillips as saying: "My concern is going forward. I hear oil is predicted to reach $200 a barrel on the open market — if that keeps ratcheting up, I'm not sure what the impact is going to be."

The short article, which also has some handy stats, is certainly worth a read.

But is the price of gas really the reason people are going to fewer concerts?

After years of ever-increasing ticket prices and service fees, and summer tours based on blockbuster reunions from heritage acts (The Police! The Eagles!), the concert industry hasn't exactly nurtured repeat customers. And granted, times are tough, but as prices are falling everywhere else in the music industry, the concert business is not exactly following suit.

Nine Inch Nails isn't even on the highest end of the spectrum, but to see Trent Reznor in Oklahoma City on Aug. 15, two tickets will set you back $131.10, including Ticketmaster service fees. That's a high price to pay for an artist who's been ahead of the music business curve and has been offering fans a bevy of inventive pricing options for his music.

Here's just four reasons why gas isn't the main factor to blame:

1. As the rest of the industry is changing with what it offers fans, the touring biz is stubbornly staying the course. What passes for a press release these days with concert behemoth Live Nation is something it's calling the "fast lane" program, which offers Live Nation customers a chance to enter the venue first -- ahead of the riffraff who use some other ticketing services. But skirting lines is hardly an incentive to go see a band. No service fees, or a digital copy of the artist's album, or simply cheaper tickets, are better added values.

2. If Coachella and Bonnaroo are no longer selling out, the blame goes straight to very promoters behind the events. A couple years back, Coachella and Bonnaroo were true destination events, taking place in different parts of the country and offering fans a chance to see bands in a different setting. But that's not the case anymore, as the extreme growth of the festival market has stripped Coachella and Bonnaroo of much of their mystique. Many of the same bands can be seen at Lollapalooza in Chicago, or Outside Lands in San Francisco, or Sasquatch in Seattle, or Wakarusa in Lawrence, Kan., or Austin City Limits in Austin, Texas, or the Virgin Festival in Baltimore. The list -- and that includes old and new events -- can go on and on. Read more about the topic here.

3. I would argue the above is actually hurting the summer festival market, as it's putting bands on a festival circuit rather than an actual summer tour. And fans are quickly realizing that a festival doesn't always offer the best setting for your favorite band -- check the recent Bonnaroo/Kanye West debacle, in which the rapper inexcusably went on stage at 4:30 a.m. To take in a festival, gas prices are just one of the many factors squeezing a fan's pocketbook, as lodging and food often bring the cost into the mid-hundreds, if not more, and gives fans short, sometimes less-than-ideal, sets.

4. The concert biz has counted on veteran acts and reunions, and has gradually raised the prices on each. When these bands tour arenas, they don't play to the people, they play to the upper class. But there's only so many times the Rolling Stones can go back out there before fans get bored, and only so many acts on the level of a Madonna who don't tour every year. Word is that Madonna's tour is selling well, with tickets ranging from $55 to $350 in most markets. At those prices, the concert industry has already priced out a large segment of the population, regardless of the cost of oil.

Photo credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

Extended Play by Todd Martens

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