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Bands Pull The Strings To Craft Sold-Out Shows
Sold out?
Musicians (and, by extension, their managers and labels) are manufacturing sold-out shows through a variety of strategies — some legit, and others a bit shady.
The Big Play: There’s no better hype engine than declaring an artist’s concert sold out, turning musicians from up-and-comers into hitmakers overnight. It’s no wonder an artist’s team might be willing to bend perceptions — but it can frustrate fans who feel forced to jump through unnecessary hoops just to see them live.
Behind The Curtain: Be a little wary the next time you hear a show is “sold out.”
It may be an “underplay” — a “shorthand for booking an artist to play at a venue whose capacity is lower than the number of tickets the artist can be reasonably expected to sell,” per Bloomberg.
It may also not truly be sold out, as the artist could be testing demand before adding more shows at the venue in the coming days.
Some venues even close curtains, restrict access to certain sections, or extend stages to lower capacity — making a show appear sold out… and then saying it is.
Encore: Why would an artist want to leave money on the table by playing a smaller venue? It lets them boast that their shows are sold out, boosting demand on the secondary market (just look at how expensive it is to see rock breakout Geese) and for shows in other regions. It can also help them “circumvent radius clauses” that prohibit artists from playing back-to-back shows at different venues in the same vicinity.
But often, it’s about the creative benefits. Playing a sold-out show in a small venue is a powerful way to showcase a musician’s talent — the kind of energy that becomes legend among fans, catnip for the press, and a catalyst for record-label execs to get behind them.
Next Tour: Given the conflict of interest between ticket sales and venue bookings that “sold-out” shows can represent, expect the issue to take center stage in the ongoing Live Nation/Ticketmaster antitrust case.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.