Gospel Music Sales Up: But Concert Ticket Sales Don't Keep Up With Market Surge

Although sales in the genre are up, attendance at gospel concerts have not followed suit. Major artists are struggling to fill seats causing local concerts and national tours to suffer. Some of those tours, backed by major sponsors including the Patti Labelle Tour and the Sisters In The Spirit Tour, have been cancelled abruptly leaving gospel music fans standing in the refund line scratching their heads.

James Walker, Esq., of Walker & Associates, an attorney for some of the biggest names in the business, blames market saturation.

"The explosion of gospel music has been a blessing and a curse in some ways for our touring business," Walker told Gospel News Now. "There was a time when you could only see your Gospel artist once or twice at most a year in a given market, and rarely on television or in a video. With the present billion dollar state of gospel music and the industry as a whole, many of the artists are touring all the time and the feedback from consumers has me very concerned."

Cheryl Jackson, Program Director of Washington, D.C.'s Stellar Award-winning Heaven 1580 (WPGC-AM), said the lack of money has a lot to do with gospel music's empty seats.

 

"Economics play a major role in why seats aren't being filled in arenas. Christians are supporting gospel music and record sales indicate this. Ticket prices are soaring based on the growing demand of artists and the economy has affected the consumer so that concerts are no longer an affordable luxury."

With ticket prices higher than they have ever been, it seems that gospel consumers are counting the cost. Prices for some of the genre's top artists could easily start at $30 and go up to $60 - $75 for coveted seats for A-list artists.

    

"Concert ticket prices are not family friendly," says Frances Middleton of Arlington, VA's WAVA, owned by Salem Communications. "Do the math. For example, if the price of a ticket is $55 each, for a family of four, that's $220. Then there's gas to the concert and parking, which could be $20. If you add dinner before or after the concert, that could be an extra $60 - $120. So hypothetically, an evening out could be $330- $360 per event. How often can most people do this?"

Although over-saturated, finances and promotion play huge roles in why gospel concerts aren't doing well, technology may also be partly to blame as well.

The rapid growth of technology has a direct impact on the lack of attendance of gospel concerts. People can now download music videos, movies and television episodes along with their favorite songs directly to their desktop computers or even cell phones. It is now much easier to access information and entertainment content than ever before. It leaves fans asking themselves "Why pay for gas, parking and a new outfit when we have widescreen TV's and Surround Sound at home?" Walker agrees adding that "Many big name artists are commonly on TV now. Stations like BET, The Word Network, Gospel Music Channel and other gospel TV outlets, along with TBN and CBN, among other regional channels, carry gospel music frequently so the demand to see someone live in concert isn't a priority.