The Word's In - Concert Industry Is Up!

(Via CNN Money) The rumors (or possibly just positive thinking) proved true. According to a recent report, revenues on the touring side are up!

A recent Pollstar report states that North American tour revenue topped up at $3.1 billion last year, and increase of 16 percent from 2005. The top 100 tours of last year garnered a whopping $2.3 billion.

"There is no reason not to expect 2007 to be bigger than last year. We have had record revenues nearly every year thanks in part to rising ticket prices. Having superstar acts like The Police certainly helps," said Gary Bongiovanni, publisher and editor of Pollstar, in an e-mail from the Concert Industry Consortium, held this week in Los Angeles.

Of course, since much of this is due to monstrously high ticket prices for withering up old dinosaurs (no disrespect to Sting and co.) and the occasional country couple, what still remains to be seen is whether the industry can offer a reasonably priced ticket, bring more people out to more shows, AND develop smaller artists into big arena draws to create a true trend instead of just riding on a nostalgia and dumb luck .