Very good panel at Venue Connect featured promoters talking about the latest trends and things to watch for with touring artists, cost of acts and all the factor that go into booking of artists. All four stated that the more the marketing departments of venues can get involved in promotion via social the better. One panelist said forget radio --"all they want is a buy".. Another from Live Nation said you never know from quarter to quarter what venue type will hit big and which slow.. This year he said arena shows are down, and stadium shows are way up.
Another key is to find ways to take a 30 stop tour and make it into a 40 stop tour, by looking at secondary markets.
And any way you can extend the marketing post show helps to attract ticket buyers for the next show.
Live Nation has nine business units around the country and each of those work in their regions to bring options to agents.
They are looking to create events, and this year there are at least two big events in second year that were created by Live Nation.
Festivals are becoming a huge part of the business, and major artists are working the rest of their tours around festival dates.