Aussie promoters, venues, make Pollstar’s mid-year global report card

Such is the buoyancy of Australia’s live music sector that seven promoters and 16 venues are listed in live industry bible Pollstar’s mid-year report.

Dainty Entertainment has been the most successful Australian promoter in the first six months of 2014. It ranked #13 in the Top 100 of Global Promoters after selling 620,036 tickets. Its major tours in this period included Michael Buble, Eminem, and the team up of Lionel Richie & John Farnham.

At #22 was Frontier Touring Company (458,824 tickets), Chugg Entertainment sat at #28 (274,945), Bluesfest and its side shows at #57 (152,097), Nine Lives at #60 (145,832), Show Partners at #67 (127,083) and the comedy-focused Adrian Bohm Presents at #75 (104,174).

Live Nation Australian and New Zealand figures were not available, as they were rolled into its parent company, which topped the global list with 9,921 million tickets. Texas-based C3 Presents, now sole owner of Big Day Out and which runs the Lollapalooza festivals in various countries, was at #8 with 877,183 tickets.

Sydney’s Allphones Arena was the most successful of local arenas. In the Top 100 Arenas list, it ranked #16 after shifting 247,610 tickets. At #32 was Brisbane Entertainment Centre (196,480), Perth Arena sat at #34 (183, 277), Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena at #41 (161,672) and Qantas Credit Union Arena in Sydney at #71 (81,439).

In the Top 100 Theatres were Melbourne’s Palais Theatre at #23 (106,604) and Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre at #95 (31,604).

Two Melbourne clubs made it into the Clubs category: the Corner Hotel at #14 (64,771) and the Northcote Social Club at #96 (19,435).

Of the Top 50 Outdoor Stadium and Festival Sites, the Tyagarah Tea Farm in Byron – home of Bluesfest and Boomerang – was ranked at #15 after drawing 104,526 customers. At #31 was Melbourne’s AAMI Park (62,950), Sydney’s ANZ Stadium at #40 with 53,649, Etihad Stadium in Melbourne at #42 (31,335) and Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium at #48 (43,927).

Two venues made it into the 50 Amphitheatres list – Hope Estate Winery in NSW at #23 (42,032) and Melbourne’s Myer Music Bowl at #41 (25,168).

One Direction grossed the most amount of money from its touring in the first six months of 2014, raking in US$131.5 million from just 31 international stadium shows, which shifted an astounding 1.6 million tickets. Runners-up were The Rolling Stones, who made $115.1 million from shifting 651,000 tickets. At #3 was Justin Timberlake ($110.2 million), Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band ($64.9 million) and Michael Buble rounded off the Top 5 with $62.2 million. Also in the Top 100 Worldwide Tours were the pairing of Lionel Richie & John Farnham at #57 ($13.1 million) and the Australian Pink Floyd Show who were at #91 with $7 million made from their international shows.

According to Pollstar, the Top 50 worldwide tours grossed US$1.65 billion in total this year so far. In the same period last year, that figure was $1.85 billion, a 10.8.% drop. Total ticket sales were 18 million, compared to 21 million in the first six months of 2013, a 14.3% drop. The average ticket price jumped $3.68 or 4.2% to $91.71.