PreferredSeat.com Blog

Many of the winners of this years Grammy Awards are currently touring or will be touring soon and most of the artist are hoping the added attention helps their live concert ticket sales. The revenue from concert tours is becoming much more important now that cd sales are so low, and every bit of advertising such as the popular Grammy Awards can make a difference in ticket sales.

One of the biggest winners at this years Grammy Awards was Taylor Swift. Taylor walked away with Album of the Year and three more awards and she is currently on an already sold out concert tour that begins on March 4th in Tampa Florida. Even though the “Fearless Tour” is sold out through Ticketmaster, you can still find a huge selection of Taylor Swift tickets on the secondary market. The ticket prices for Taylor Swift are very high reflecting the demand for her first major arena tour, and as the tour dates draw closer it remains to be seen whether the prices will go up or down.

Beyonce was the clear winner on Grammy night as she took home a record six Grammy Awards including Song of the Year with “Single Ladies”. Beyonce recently finished touring and her sold out shows never needed any help anyway.

Lady Gaga was also a winner and a performer at the Grammies with two awards including Best Dance Recording. She is just finishing up a hugely successful tour of small venues and will likely be jumping to arena shows on the next tour.  Tickets for Lady Gaga are currently unavailable but expect quick sellouts the next time she tours.

Some more of the Grammy Award winners and  tour schedules:

Kings of Leon – Record of the Year – Currently not on tour

Zac Brown Band – Best New Artist – Zac Brown Band Tickets and Tour Dates

Jason Mraz – Best Male Pop Vocal Performance – Jason Mraz Tickets and Tour Dates

Black Eyed Peas- Best Pop Performance by a Dup or Group with Vocals – Black Eyed Peas Tickets and Tour Dates

Michael Buble – Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album – Michael Buble Tickets and Tour Dates

Bruce Springsteen – Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance – Currently not on tour

AC/DC – Best Hard Rock Performance – AC/DC Tickets and Tour Dates

Green Day – Best Rock Album – Currently not on Tour

Jay-Z – Best Solo Rap Performance – Jay-Z Tickets and Tour Dates

Lady Antebullum – Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals - Lady Antebullum Tickets and Tour Dates with Tim McGraw on Tour

Carey Underwood & Randy Travis – Best Country Collaboration with Vocals – Carrie Underwood Tickets and Tour Dates

Michael Buble tickets are now available for the added US tour dates to Michael’s “Crazy Love” concert tour. The Michael Buble concert tour is now extended through July 18th for a performance at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas.

Tickets for Michael Buble’s concerts have been selling out quickly as his popularity has soured in recent years. If you’re lucky you can find Michael Buble tickets right when they go on sale, but once they’re sold out you will pay more. But you always find the best Michael Buble tickets from a reliable ticket broker such as PreferredSeat.com

The Michael Buble “Crazy Love” Concert Tour Schedule:

March 2010
10 – Orlando, FL – Amway Arena
12 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – Bank Atlantic Center
13 – Tampa, FL – St. Pete Times Forum
14 – Duluth, GA – The Arena at Gwinnett Center
16 – Philadelphia, PA – The Wachovia Center
17 – Pittsburgh, PA – Petersen Events Center
19 – Worcester, MA – DCU Center
20 – New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
23 – Cleveland, OH – Wolstein Center
24 – Cincinnati, OH – US Bank Arena
25 – Detroit, MI – Palace of Auburn Hills
27 – Chicago, IL – Allstate Arena
28 – Saint Paul, N – Xcel Energy Center
30 – Denver, CO – Pepsi Center
31 – Salt Lake City, UT – The E Center

April 2010
2 – Portland, OR – Rose Garden
3 – Seattle, WA – Key Arena
6 – Oakland, CA – Oracle Arena
8 – Phoenix, AZ – US Airways Center
9 – Los Angeles, CA – Staples Center

*June 2010
22 – Tulsa, OK – BOK Center
23 – Wichita, KS – Intrust Bank Arena
25 – St. Louis, MO – Scottrade Center
26 – Kansas City, MO – Sprint Center
27 – Omaha, NE – Qwest Center Omaha
29 – Indianapolis, IN – Conseco Fieldhouse
30 – Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena

July 2010
2, 3 – Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena
6 – Richmond, VA – Richmond Coliseum
7 – Norfolk, VA – Constant Convocation Center
9 – Raleigh, NC – RBC Center
10 – Charlotte, NC – Time Warner Cable Arena
11 – Jacksonville, FL – Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
14 – New Orleans, LA – New Orleans Arena
16 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center
17 – San Antonio, TX – AT&T Center
18 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center

Super Bowl ticket prices have dropped over the last few days, from a high of about $2000 per ticket this past weekend, down to just under $1500 per ticket as of Tuesday morning. The economy is taking it’s toll on the Indianpolis Colts and New Orleans Saints Super Bowl game this Sunday with Super Bowl ticket brokers adapting with lower prices as it gets closer to game time.

As inventory diminishes the price of Super Bowl tickets should stabilize and maybe even start rising again, so this may be a great time to buy Super Bowl tickets. Super Bowl ticket brokers have better prices for Super Bowl tickets than even the NFL, since the NFL website is reselling tickets provided by ticket brokers. So you can cut out the middleman by buying your Super Bowl tickets directly from a ticket broker.

If your looking for Land Shark Stadium, it’s already been replaced just in time for the added exposure of the Super Bowl. The new name for the South Florida stadium is Sun Life Stadium. And almost as popular as the Super Bowl is the  NFL Super Bowl Tailgate Party at Sun Life Stadium before the big game. Lots of food and drinks and plenty to do, but at a price of course.

The Eagles have landed at Arco Arena and they can pack up and leave before they open their bags. With ticket prices that scare off even ticket brokers from buying Eagles tickets at the Arco, the fans are surely being screwed.

Though the face value of the seats are listed in the range of $32 to $275 per ticket, the Eagles are scalping their own tickets through their Eagles Fan Packages for $995 per seat, with parking and dinner.  Rather outrageous prices for a band most fans have seen a half a dozen times. And who wants to pay that kind of money to eat at Arco Arena or any arena food for that matter. At that price you can get a comparable ticket from a ticket broker,  a limo and a gourmet dinner at the best restaurant in town. And still save hundreds of $$!

This is what you will get from now on with the Live Nation and Ticketmaster merger. A few years back you could count on two different prices for a concert ticket. The lower level and floor price and the upper level price. For the Eagles there are at least 11 different priced tickets. And they’ll bump it up even higher as Ticketmaster and Live Nation fine tune their new model to squeeze every dollar from the “fans”.

They say they will be modeling their new system after the airline industry. But that is an entirely different world. We use the airlines because we have to in most cases, for work or pleasure. With tickets it’s different. For a few die hard fans, they want to see the artist each time he comes to town. For the rest of us, price will be a factor. No matter how much money we make. We have choices, and a weekend out of town beats 2 1/2 hours with a bunch of old fools any day.

So the Eagles, Ticketmaster and Live Nation should think long and hard as to how long they can keep the acts touring year after year, trying to jack the fans for every dollar, every tour.  Average “fans” can only afford so much, and at your prices only the well-to-do can actually see you from their seats, the rest might as well stay home and listen to old records.

Now that Ticketmaster and Live Nation have priced the best seats so high, they’ve made the cheapest $32 seats paperless, so they cannot be resold. This is the new model, overprice the best seats and block the resell of the cheap seats, even for “fans” that find after waiting 6 months for the concert, they cannot make it.  Then their stuck, just as Ticketmaster and Live Nation would have them. And do you really believe the Eagles demanded that only the $32 seats be sold as paperless as Ticketmaster would have you believe?

And that’s where the dynamic pricing will come in. Just like Bon Jovi and dozens of other acts recently, Ticketmaster will be sending out those 2 for 1 offers, and the fans that bought first will be screwed again. Then there’s the free ticket offers and you just have to pay the service charges. What will Ticketmaster and Live Nation do if everyone holds out and waits for the 2 for 1 special?

They killed the revenue stream by overpricing cd’s, now they’re going to kill the concert business with overpriced seats and packages that cannot be sustained over years of touring. And the next generation will not stand for these prices, they have too many other choices. Ticket brokers were blamed for years for their high prices and now the artist, promoter and Ticketmaster are selling tickets for even higher prices. Now who’s the ticket scalper?

Paramore tour dates have been announced and the Grammy nominated band will begin the tour on April 26th in Knoxville, TN. Paramore will be touring in support of their new album from 2009 Brand New Eyes and they will be playing larger venues on this tour than they have previously headlined.

Originally from Franklin, Tn, the group has released two other albums, 2005’s All We Know is Falling and in 2007 Riot! Concert tickets for Paramore are on sale soon!

Paramore tour dates:
4/26, Knoxville, TN (Knoxville Civic Coliseum)
4/28, Charlottesville, VA (John Paul Jones Arena)
4/30, Atlantic City, NJ (Trump Taj Mahal / Mark G Etess Arena)
5/1, East Rutherford, NJ (The Bamboozle New Jersey / Meadowlands Sports Complex)
5/3, Columbus, OH (The LC Amphitheatre)
5/4, Grand Rapids, MI (DeltaPlex)
5/6, Rockford, IL (Rockford MetroCentre)
5/7, Moline, IL (Wireless Center)
5/8, Council Bluffs, IA (WestFair Amphitheatre)
5/10, Salt Lake City, UT (E Center)
5/12, Seattle, WA (WaMu Theater)
5/15, Bakersfield, CA (Rabobank Arena)
5/16, Las Vegas, NV (The Joint)