Concert industry reports record year.
 

Despite bad economy. Proof that the entertainment industry is indeed recession proof. So the upcoming FM tour may indeed be a profitable one despite the fact that most of us seem to agree that the excitement factor is just not there for us fans.

I think the general public though want to hear only the hits and FM to most are middle of the road rockers and the nostalgia factor will also be a big draw.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...DTL&type=music

Hardly! There are such things as "expenses" that affect the net profits for the promoters (the ones who write the big checks that the artist demands). Your summarization of the article is wholly ignorant at best.

And your response is typical of the industry insider "I'm better than you" snob. Get over yourself already. You should thank the lucky stars above you've seen and heard the things you have.

The shizzstorm on Wall Street didn't really start until well after the summer concert season, so the true bellwether for the health of the entertainment industry, i.e., this coming summer, has yet to be seen.

??? The gross of any industry/company is not always directly related to its overall success or health- that concept is not specific to the entertainment industry, nor is it a trade secret that artists have been demanding more and more $$$.

Yes. While AC/DC and Britney Spears (honestly didn't see that one coming!) have been recession proof, Fleetwood Mac will very likely be the first high profile tour of the new year that fails. U2 is the big tour next year- it will be interesting to see how many stadiums in North America Live Nation forces the band into, and how those will do. I'm pretty sure Coldplay's Summer '09 NA stadium ambitions are kaput, too.

How would you define failure in Fleetwood Mac's case?

I have heard that too that people are making sure they have money aside for entertainment and I do feel Fleetwood Mac will do great on this tour The Eagles tickets are higher price and Britney Spears is a higher price than fleetwood mac and at mohegan sun britney added a second show for popular demand and her high price ticket is $250 regular price. So even though we might not be happy about the prices Fleetwood Mac is an average range over all compared to others so I am looking forward to the tour it will be awesome. I would like to see U2 also Heart is touring this year as well.

Hit the nail right on the head with that one. :nod:

I guess that whoever wants to rack up more debt on his credit card will pay for Fleetwood tickets.

What I should have learned, long before I did, is that "health" in an economy constitutes both good news & bad news, depending on the vantage point of the analysis. For example, if retail is doing well, personal (or household) debt is inevitably rising. If retail is doing poorly, personal (or household) saving or retirement saving is probably increasing (except for the unemployed, who are trying to make sure they have enough for next week's allotment of mac & cheese).

An economy like this? It's either The Mac ... or mac & cheese.

The better Fleetwood Mac does for its proposed tour, the worse all you fans are doing with saving emergency cash or contributing to your retirement funds.

But don't these entertainment/media conglomerates rely -- as much as any other industry does -- on banks & loans? The economists say that credit is flowing only slightly freer today than it was three months ago.

I have a question (which probably won't get an answer) for all you Mac fans d'un certain age -- say, 35 or older -- who plan to buy tickets to the show. Are you on track with your retirement (401k, IRA, etc.) account saving?

I'll answer that question as a 37(soon to be 38) year old. The answer would be no, but I want to go and I'm able, so I'm doing it, and that's that.

Over 50. Right on track with my early retirement. If pulling every dime out of the U.S. economy is good enough for Dick Cheney (no U.S. owned bank accounts, no U.S. stocks or bonds --Haliburton now registered in Dubai, no U.S. real property) then it's good enough for me. I got out just in time. I know a lousy deal when I see it. Oops, this question wasn't for me. I'm not planning to buy Mac tickets this year.

Merry X mass to you too pal!

I think the good ol' days, like 2002 - 2007, when people could suck phantom equity out of their homes like an ATM, are gone forever. No more bankrolling ivy league college educations, boats, cars, vacations and yes, concert tickets with home equity. Banks are cutting back on consumer credit. The U.S. economy has just witnessed the instantaneous evaporation of 2 trillion dollars worth of wealth. People's stock and retirement portfolios have been decimated. Sure, most of us will likely hold onto our jobs during this economic calamity, but those of us who gambled with risky mortgages, as well as those of us who invested conservatively in diverse funds, have been lead to slaughter. Where once I thought I would retire within the next 15 years or so, I am now resigned to working until I finally keel over. Long gone are the days when I would not think twice about shelling out over $100 to see a concert or to fly out to Vegas to catch a Caesar's show just for the heck of it... and I have a feeling I am not alone in this sentiment.

As far as I am concerned, we are still in Wile E. Coyote territory- we have run ourselves right off of the cliff and we are hanging in mid-air while trying to probe for solid ground with our toes. The perilous fall into the abyss is inevitable, yet many people (including FM, apparently) must believe we are doing fine since we have not yet gone kersplatt in the valley below.

I'm going to come at this from a different point of view. I view the mess this country is in now as somewhat akin to what happened on 9/11. I mean back then you had terrorists that killed thousands of people. Now you have what I would call "financial terrorits" I.E Madoff, AIG, etc. I'm in no way saying things arent bad out there becuase its more than clear that they are. Everybody back then said we had to go on and live our lives and show the terrorists that we werent afraid of them and what they tried to do to us, and I think the same should apply now. The way I choose to deal with that is to continue to plan on going to the Fleetwood Mac shows I'm going to. :nod: