The Bigger Bang Tour might not go to history as the best rock tour ever. But it might go to history as the biggest price hike in the concert business. I think too many has taken for granted that the Stones are responsible which I don´t believe (maybe yes to some extent). Music Industry has lost lots of income due to file sharing and downloading. Since you cannot digitalise a live concert the latter has been seen as the last safe source of revenue. Now I must admit that I am not sure how the money is split. There is the promoter (Michael Cohl) and then the band. Then there are also the local organizers. Are the record companies coming in somewhere? But I guess that they all have a common interest to earn more money.

As I mentioned elsewhere the Swedish stadium show that soon will go on sale is increasing prices more than 75 % (for floor seats) compared to 2003. During these three years inflation has been about 1 % per year in this country. So we´re talking about a chock increase! I guess the price hike is similar elsewhere. How much was the average price hike in the U.S.? Don´t forget that in Europe the Stones play only stadiums. In the U.S. they played mostly arenas. Personally I´m willing to pay much more for a stadium ticket than an arena ticket. Overall, also prices were definitively to low before if you look at the demand. As a result we got the black market. But my question is still: who is testing the limit? Is not music industry behind (using the Stones as a willing guinea-pig) to find out how much you can increase revenues from concerts.

Interesting questions there Mago!
I always wandered myself what kind of influence a record companie has with the touring of a band. You would think that recording records and touring a separate things but on the otherhand they are promoting an album of a record companie. I would love to hear more about this if anyone has some knowledge or experience in this field.

Cheers,
Wuudy