Post by CrazyGirl on Jun 19, 2004 12:14:58 GMT -5
NY Times: The Business Impact of Britney's Knee Injury
NY Times had an interesting article that looked into the business impact of britney's knee injury.
When a very athletic 22-year-old woman blows out her knee, it is usually a painful reminder to slow down, one that means a couple of months of inconvenience, couch time and clever wardrobe triage.
When the 22-year-old is named Britney Spears, however, it means something altogether more consequential. It means, essentially, that a small multinational industry — her new tour — one that employs more than 100 full-time employees, rents whole hotel floors, keeps T-shirt makers working overtime and sometimes rakes in more than a $1 million a week, goes out of business in a matter of minutes.
Ms. Spears, whose latest album, "In the Zone," made its debut at No. 1 on the Billboard chart last fall, began the tour earlier this year and played dozens of shows in the United States, Europe and South America. But during the shooting of a video in Queens last week, she seriously re-injured her left knee. The injured knee had already forced her to reschedule two earlier shows.
This time, though, there was no rescheduling. And so phones began ringing in theater offices around the country as summer-concert schedulers scrambled to find a way to fill their seats during their most lucrative season.
"For other places it might not matter as much, but for us, a week and a half before our festival, it leaves us with a dark date," said Bob Babisch, the entertainment director for Summerfest in Milwaukee, where Ms. Spears was to play on July 1 as one of the biggest attractions of the 11-day festival and was expected to fill the 23,000 seats of the Marcus Amphitheater.
"We had 48 hours to put a package together so we could sell tickets in enough time," said Mr. Babisch, who managed to sign up the Steve Miller Band and the Bodeans as a last-minute replacement. "You just can't have a big theater dark during a festival. It just won't work." He added, of Ms. Spear's cancellation, with a deadpan tone: "It keeps things interesting. I'll say that."
He declined to say how much money he thought the festival would lose because of the cancellation, but added that unlike many other dates on Ms. Spears' tour, which is promoted by the radio giant Clear Channel Communications, Summerfest paid for the promotion and preparations for her appearance in Milwaukee.
The tour had been one of the most successful of the year. According to Pollstar, a concert trade magazine, Ms. Spears was averaging $727,000 per city in ticket sales last week, with an average ticket price of $61, making it the seventh most lucrative tour monitored by the magazine. (By comparison, Prince, at No. 2 on the list, was averaging $971,000 per city. The Eagles were No. 1, with a little more than $1 million per city.)
NY Times had an interesting article that looked into the business impact of britney's knee injury.
When a very athletic 22-year-old woman blows out her knee, it is usually a painful reminder to slow down, one that means a couple of months of inconvenience, couch time and clever wardrobe triage.
When the 22-year-old is named Britney Spears, however, it means something altogether more consequential. It means, essentially, that a small multinational industry — her new tour — one that employs more than 100 full-time employees, rents whole hotel floors, keeps T-shirt makers working overtime and sometimes rakes in more than a $1 million a week, goes out of business in a matter of minutes.
Ms. Spears, whose latest album, "In the Zone," made its debut at No. 1 on the Billboard chart last fall, began the tour earlier this year and played dozens of shows in the United States, Europe and South America. But during the shooting of a video in Queens last week, she seriously re-injured her left knee. The injured knee had already forced her to reschedule two earlier shows.
This time, though, there was no rescheduling. And so phones began ringing in theater offices around the country as summer-concert schedulers scrambled to find a way to fill their seats during their most lucrative season.
"For other places it might not matter as much, but for us, a week and a half before our festival, it leaves us with a dark date," said Bob Babisch, the entertainment director for Summerfest in Milwaukee, where Ms. Spears was to play on July 1 as one of the biggest attractions of the 11-day festival and was expected to fill the 23,000 seats of the Marcus Amphitheater.
"We had 48 hours to put a package together so we could sell tickets in enough time," said Mr. Babisch, who managed to sign up the Steve Miller Band and the Bodeans as a last-minute replacement. "You just can't have a big theater dark during a festival. It just won't work." He added, of Ms. Spear's cancellation, with a deadpan tone: "It keeps things interesting. I'll say that."
He declined to say how much money he thought the festival would lose because of the cancellation, but added that unlike many other dates on Ms. Spears' tour, which is promoted by the radio giant Clear Channel Communications, Summerfest paid for the promotion and preparations for her appearance in Milwaukee.
The tour had been one of the most successful of the year. According to Pollstar, a concert trade magazine, Ms. Spears was averaging $727,000 per city in ticket sales last week, with an average ticket price of $61, making it the seventh most lucrative tour monitored by the magazine. (By comparison, Prince, at No. 2 on the list, was averaging $971,000 per city. The Eagles were No. 1, with a little more than $1 million per city.)
