TicketNetwork Blog

Taylor Swift is going back on tour, meaning there really was no competition in November. When added together, 65% more tickets were bought for Taylor Swift concerts than the nearest contender, Trans-Siberian Orchestra. She will likely continue to do well for at least the next couple weeks as more shows go on sale.

Meanwhile, TSO tickets are selling even better now that the holiday season is in full swing, and they've been joined in representing the holiday-themed shows by Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Also doing better is One Direction, who is back in the Top 3 after dropping to sixth place last month. Most of the rest of the Top 10 is pretty much the same, just with switched positions. The exception is the one other new event, Disney on Ice: Rockin' Ever After.

When The Rolling Stones announced their November and December tour dates one month ago, there was an immediate reaction from some fans that ticket prices were too high. Despite the grumbling, though, tickets sold out very quickly on the primary market.

Back here at TicketNetwork.com, sales were fairly brisk for the first few days tickets were available, but since then there have only been a handful per day. So what happened? Unlike most cases where high prices indicates a high demand for the artist or band's tickets, the prices were initially set so high that it kept casual fans away. When I first looked at the data in late October, the average ticket price was $2,444. Today it is $1,555; that's a drop of almost $900, but it still very high compared to some other artists. For example, Paul McCartney fans were paying an average $287 for tickets listed on TicketNetwork.com when they first went on sale, and more than twice as many sold during the first month as have for The Stones.

Last year I did some research on the growth of electronic music on the TicketNetwork.com Exchange, and found that at the time Tiësto and deadmau5 were two of the biggest artists on the Exchange. Now that we're a year apart from the first post, it seems a good time as any to provide an update.

First off, some numbers for the genre as a whole. I compared the same two periods in both years, January 1 to October 10. As it turns out, the number of ticket purchases for the genre grew by 112%. This isn't as much growth over 2010, which was 447%, but still decent for an emerging genre (in terms of touring performances). The number of artists represented in the genre at TN.com also grew, from 37 to 64.

The lineup of top artists has also changed, partially due to growth, and partially due to some tours ending and others starting. For example, last year deadmau5 topped the list, but he hasn't performed much this year. Instead Avicii has taken over his place; tickets for his events represent 18% of all electronic music tickets sold during the period. The other artists in the Top 5 include Skrillex, Swedish House Mafia, Pretty Lights, and Bassnectar. Skrillex tickets in particular have seen a modest growth in sales. They hasn't surpassed deadmau5, as I predicted last year, but are still up 35%.

At the end of the year we'll take a closer look at how electronic music has done at TN.com in 2012, especially compared to other concert genres.

If you haven't heard yet, country icon George Strait is going on his final tour next year. The first leg of the Cowboy Rides Away Tour, with Martina McBride as the opener, will kick off on January 13 in Lubbock, TX, and end on June 1 in San Antonio, TX. The full tour will last about two years, ending in 2014.

The King of Country has been popular since he began singing in 1982. Beginning at a time when country music was under heavily influence by pop and rock, Strait took a different path, becoming the standard bearer for the traditional country sound.

The preference has helped him stand out among other pop and rock-influenced country artists, particularly when it comes to touring. Here are a few factoids:

• Collectively, Strait's tours with Martina McBride have sold the eighth highest number of tickets among country tours on the TicketNetwork.com exchange.
• When his tours with other artists are included, he is the fourth highest-selling country artist on the exchange.
• George Strait is only of two neo-traditionalist artists to have concert series in the Top 20 list of country tours on the exchange. The other is Reba McEntire, due to the touring she's done with Strait.

You may not have noticed, but the NBA season is just a few weeks away from getting started. It feels like yesterday that I had to cringe watching LeBron James lift up the Larry O'Brien Trophy after leading the Miami Heat to the NBA title. Luckily for me (a Celtics fan) and basketball fans everywhere, the start of a new season means a fresh start for your team and another shot at the championship.

The preseason has just started getting underway this past week, but what people are truly waiting for is the beginning of the regular season and to find out when their favorite team plays in its home opener. There are a lot of great openers scheduled, so I decided to take a look at the Top 5 selling home openers on TicketNetwork.com:

#1 - New York Knicks vs. Miami Heat
November 2 at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY

No surprise here. The biggest basketball market hosting the NBA's defending world champions. It doesn't get much bigger than that. Last year, the Heat visited Madison Square Garden three times including the playoffs, winning two of those games.