MELBOURNE (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The glory days of monster summer tours, filled stadiums and sold-out festivals may coming to an end in the wake of the ongoing global financial crisis.
In recent weeks, Aussie promoters have been hard at work, reworking and in some cases, scrapping live performance agreements that had previously been considered to be done deals. Pressures from the collapse of both the credit markets and the sinking Australian dollar have led some promoters to renegotiate artist fees and merch deals to ensure that a tour remains viable.
One such promoter, Andrew McManus has been renegotiating with managers and agents over many of the 54 shows he's got booked next month.
"The demise of the dollar has given me basically two hours' sleep for 10 days, working round the clock, dealing with umpteen managers, umpteen number of agents, to try to restructure the whole landscape of each deal to the point where I have actually sacked a number of deals," McManus told the Brisbane Times.
"Either the acts have taken a reduction or I've got rid of them … That's how bleak the whole fucking thing's been."
The Australian dollar has fallen sharply, off by approximately 25% against the US Dollar since January 2008. The dollar is the currency most often used as a baseline when negotiating touring deals. The devaluation in currency has in many cases, removed any margin to absorb additional costs associated with a tour and has left some tours looking at red ink despite strong ticket sales.
"The younger audience will be good, but one of the big assets has been the baby boomers going to 12 shows a year, and I think that will fall back. They're the ones carrying the mortgages and the ones with the kids living at home for cheap so they can afford to go to the festivals." promoter Michael Chugg told the Times. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
