Madonna Update

I have been following the Madonna Sticky & Sweet tour through recent blogs (see blogs 1, 2, & 3) for the implications in international music tours. One key figure that was discussed at the beginning of her tour was the need to gross $4 million per show. Well, of her 28 North American dates so far, she has grossed $91.5 million, which balances out at $3.27 million per show.

Madonna is set to finish out her tour in Latin America, completing the entire tour on December 21st in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Including the European part of the tour, Madonna has grossed $207.5 million and when including the final Latin American dates, she is expected to gross an astounding $282 million. That would be the top-grossing tour ever for a female solo artist.

In total, there were 17 European tour dates, 5 Canadian, and there will be 13 Latin American dates. So 35 International shows and 28 USA shows in total.

The financial implications for international music tours are pretty amazing. The $91.5 million from North America constitutes just 32% of her total, meaning that a substantial majority of the $282 came from other countries. And some of these foreign countries are avoided by many US-based artists for fear of not generating enough income. I think this tour has shown that a very well known artist will generate the necessary ticket sales to make a tour lucrative.

One thing I failed to write about in previous blogs was the source of where this $4 million per show would come from. I assumed that all $4 million would come from ticket sales. But a more likely scenario would be that $1 to $2 of gross revenue would come from sponsorship money. Therefore, the ticket price for some of these venues would not need to be as high in order to reach the $4 million necessary gross.

I will continue to keep an eye on similar international tours to see where the money is being made.

Stay tuned,
Erik
erikrostad.com