If
anyone had any doubt that touring is where the money is in the music
business, a quick look at the top Moneymakers for 2008 should hammer
the point home.
Regardless of genre, retail sales or radio play,
each of the 20 acts on Billboard's Moneymakers list toured in 2008.
(Taylor Swift mostly opened for Brad Paisley but doesn't get credit for
that revenue). For almost all of them, touring generated the most
revenue. And in a year when recorded-music sales declined yet again,
many earned more at the box office than ever before.
1. Madonna: $242,176,466 2. Bon Jovi: $157,177,766 3. Bruce Springsteen: $156,327,964 4. The Police: $109,976,894 5. Celine Dion: $99,171,237 6. Kenny Chesney: $90,823,990 7. Neil Diamond: $82,174,000 8. Rascall Flatts: $63,522,160 9. Jonas Brothers: $62,638,814 10. Coldplay: $62,175,555 11. The Eagles: $61,132,213 12. Lil Wayne: $57,441,334 13. AC/DC: $56,505,296 14. Michael Buble: $50,257,364 15. Miley Cyrus: $48,920,806 16. Taylor Swift: $45,588,730 17. Journey: $44,787,328 18. Billy Joel: $44,581,010 19. Mary J. Blige: $43,472,850 20. Kanye West: $42,552,402
The
top five Moneymakers are also the five acts that earned the most on
tour, and in the same order, according to Billboard Boxscore. Eight of
the top 10 Moneymakers are in the Boxscore top 10.
Even more
remarkably, the top Moneymaker -- Madonna -- only had the
50th-best-selling album in the country. She ranked 14th on the list of
digital track sellers and didn't place on the ringmasters chart. Her
place on Moneymakers, like her $242,176,466 income, comes from the
highest-earning tour that took place in 2008.
In fact, those
questioning whether Madonna rates a reported 10-year, $120 million 360
deal with Live Nation might reconsider. Madonna's Sticky & Sweet
tour took in $229,886,340 at the box office, although the extravagant
production might have cost up to 40% of that gross, according to
industry estimates. The margin is much better on tour merchandise,
where Madonna probably raked in more than $18 million in sales, not
counting her licensing business.
Of course, nothing helps reduce
tour production costs like more touring. So Madonna will perform
another run of concerts this summer -- 25 shows in the United Kingdom
and Europe -- which will add to the take of the top-grossing tour by a
female or solo artist.
Outside of the United Kingdom, all of
Madonna's concerts will be in stadiums, so she'll gross several million
dollars per night. By fall, Sticky & Sweet will have run for 80
shows and earn a place in the top five grossing tours of all time.
This
is the first time Madonna has ever extended a tour. "It absolutely
hasn't happened in the four tours I've been involved with," says
Madonna's tour producer Arthur Fogel, chairman of global music for Live
Nation.
"There's been talk [of extending] during each one, but
it has never come to be. But with this one, she loves the show, she's
had a great time and she's excited about playing new markets."
Madonna and Demi Moore are on their way to becoming the new queens of Oscar night.
I
just got word that the two Hollywood sirens will, as they did last
year, cohost a party with Guy Oseary at Oseary's L.A.-area home after
this year's awards ceremony on Feb. 22.
Among the guests at last
year's soiree were Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de
Rossi, Cameron Diaz, Orlando Bloom and even Sir Elton John and his
husband, David Furnish, who made their way there after hosting their
annual AIDS fundraiser.
Madonna and Moore's guest list will
again be invite-only. Hopefully, Moore and hubby Ashton Kutcher will
convince Madonna to twitter from the party.
Bulgarian fans, we are happy to announce that Madonna will perform at Sofia's Vasil Levski Stadium on August 29th.
While the public ticket sale will start on February 19th, at 10am
local time, please note that a fan club devoted pre sale will start on
February 12th, at 10am LOCAL TIME for Legacy members and at noon, LOCAL
TIME for newer members.
London, Manchester, Werchter, Oslo, Helsinki & Gothenburg - SOLD OUT! Extra Madonna Shows added in London and Manchester
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --Already
the biggest grossing tour in history for a solo artist, Madonna's
"Sticky & Sweet Tour" is once again set to be the sweet success
story of the summer. Ticket sales for the 2009 leg of Madonna's
phenomenally successful "Sticky & Sweet Tour" went on sale this
weekend and tour promoters Live Nation have already reported immediate sell-outs.
In London and Manchester where tickets sold out in minutes on Friday, second shows have now been confirmed for July 5th in London and July 8th in Manchester, marking Madonna's final UK dates in 2009. On Saturday, having never previously performed in Belgium, over 70,000 tickets were sold for the Werchter Festivalpark concert, making it an incredible one-day sell-out event.
This morning, tickets in Oslo sold out as quickly as they could be processed and disappeared in under 30 minutes. In Helsinki, Madonna's Sticky & Sweet August 6th performance (76,000 tickets sold), will be the biggest show by one artist ever organized in Finland. Gothenburg's performance was also an immediate sell-out with over 55,000 tickets sold in two hours.
In 2008, the "Sticky & Sweet Tour" was seen by 2,350,285 fans in
58 cities. With record breaking ticket sales everywhere, including
650,000 tickets sold in her series of South American dates, 72,000
tickets at Zurich's Dubendorf Airfield - the largest audience ever assembled for a show in Switzerland, 75,000 tickets in London and four sell outs in New York'sMadison Square Garden (60,364 tickets).
Special Guest for Sticky & Sweet 2009, Paul Oakenfold has long been one of the most important names in modern club culture. He has remixed The Rolling Stones, U2, Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Snoop Dog, Muse, New Order, The Cure, Massive Attack and even Elvis Presley
and produced The Happy Mondays. The two time Grammy nominee is in the
Guinness Book of World Records for being the biggest DJ in the world.
His new artist album, 'Pop Killer' is due out later this year.
viagogo is the Official Premium Ticketing Partner for Madonna's
European Tour 2009. Premium tickets and VIP packages will be available
from Friday 6th February on www.viagogo.co.uk.
In addition, viagogo will be the Official Secondary Ticketing Exchange
where fans can buy and sell their tickets. viagogo facilitates the
exchange between someone who wants to sell and someone who wants to buy
a ticket for a live event. It guarantees that buyers receive their
tickets in time for the show and sellers receive payment. viagogo is Europe's leading ticket exchange. *Not applicable for Sticky & Sweet shows in Germany & Italy.
For complete Tour and Ticket Information, Fan Club Memberships, VIP Packages, Merchandise and more visit: WWW.MADONNA.COM
Madonna fans! The 'Sticky & Sweet' Tour will stop at Barcelona's Olympic Stadium on July 21th.
While the public ticket sale will start on February 19th, please
note that a devoted fan club pre sale will start on February 16th at
10am LOCAL TIME for legacy members and at Noon LOCAL TIME for newer
members.
Please visit the 'Tours' section of the site for more info.
If you didn't find tickets to the first
London and Manchester shows, we're happy to announce that Madonna will
perform a second show at London's O2 Arena on July 5th, 2009 and at
Manchester's MEN Arena on July 8th, 2009!
A devoted pre sale for both shows will start on February 10th at
10am LOCAL TIME for legacy members and at Noon LOCAL TIME for newer
members.
Please note that the public ticket sale for both shows will start on February 12th at 9am Local Time.
Leave it to Madonna to have the last laugh. With the tabloid media in a frenzy over the 50-year-old’s divorce from Guy Ritchie and alleged dalliance with 33-year-old New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, does she low-key it and go out publicly only with her kids? Does she find an “age appropriate” man, someone born, say, before the Beatles arrived in America?
Hell, no. Madonna has never been one to hide. Nor to apologize. Provocation is simply in her nature. So she teamed once again with photographer Steven Klein for a W photo shoot that thumbs her nose at prudes and busybodies who would call her a cougar. If you think A-Rod is too young for her, how about 20-ish Jesus Luz, a Brazilian model discovered during casting for the shoot in Rio de Janeiro? Madonna and Luz’s obvious chemistry, Creative Director Dennis Freedman recalls, quickly sidelined the other, more seasoned male mannequins as Klein’s heat-seeking lens homed in on the megastar and the unknown. Soon the shoot’s plot, told in Klein’s cinematic style, evolved into the story of a strong, powerful, exceedingly chic woman and her new, boyish, beautiful plaything.
“Blame It on Rio” is Madonna and Klein’s third collaboration for W. The first, “Madonna Unbound” (April 2003), found her twisted like a pretzel in a photographic meditation on the performance process. The second, “Madonna Rides Again” (June 2006), explored her, uh, passion for horses. And now comes her appreciation for the male form. “Each one is extraordinarily ambitious,” says Freedman.
But who would expect anything less from Madonna? Say what you will about her, she is no slacker. She agreed to undertake the W project on her two-day break between concerts in Rio and São Paulo on the South American leg of her Sticky & Sweet Tour. The first day was devoted to fittings, and on the second, Freedman says, “she worked well into the night” as the crew plowed through a storyboard’s worth of scenes. And if she managed to squeeze a little pleasure into all that business, who are we to criticize?
If you didn’t find tickets to the first London and Manchester shows, we’re happy to announce that Madonna will perform a second show at London’s O2 Arena on July 5th, 2009 and at Manchester’s MEN Arena on July 8th, 2009!
A devoted pre sale for both shows will start on February 10th at 10am LOCAL TIME for legacy members and at Noon LOCAL TIME for newer members.
Please note that the public ticket sale for both shows will start on February 12th at 9am Local Time.
Photos of Madonna getting hot and sticky with four Brazilian boy toys are about to hit newsstands.
Even as Yankees
slugger Alex Rodriguez battles allegations of steroid use, W magazine
will debut a 45-page spread in which the kabbalah vixen of his dreams
can be seen simulating (at least we think she's simulating) sex with a
quartet of hunks.
The biggest slice of beefcake in the spread is 22-year-old Ford model Jesus Luz, who's rumored to have replaced A-Rod as Madonna's main muscleman.
The layout, shot by top fashion photographer Steven Klein,
shows Her Madgesty, 50, half-naked in black lingerie, straddling one
stud on a hotel bed while being attended by three other
pleasure-givers, one of whom barely conceals his manhood with a towel.
Although
not as explicit as her X-rated 1992 book, "Sex," the shoot marks
Madonna's return to the sort of arty raunch she abandoned when she
married British director Guy Ritchie and took on the airs of an English countrywoman.
The W portfolio, headlined "Blame it On Rio," gives prominent play to Luz, who reportedly accompanied Madonna to the Maldives in December. Last week, he was seen with her in New York, where he's said to have dined with the Material Mom and her children.
Asked about the nature of Madonna's relationship with Luz, her rep, Liz Rosenberg, said, "I'm told they're kind of friends."
Belgian ticket vendors goformusic.be & teletickteservice.com were not equipped to meet the high demand for Madonna's first ever Belgian concert. Previous sales for highly in demand acts such as The Rolling Stones, Metallica, AC/DC, U2 & Bruce Springsteen were nothing compared to the demand for The Queen of Pop.
Websites crashed 1 hour before tickets officially went on sale. Eventually leading to a complete shutdown before noon, switching to phone lines only. Telephone operators were able to manage just a 'modest' 7,000 tickets per hour compared to the usual 17,000. After 15.00h the technical situation stabilized and websites slowly started to function again.
65,000 tickets eventually sold out after 14 hours of hard labour, complete pandemonium & headline news.
Madonna is nominated for the 'Best Pop Dance
Track' (4 minutes) and 'Best Solo Artist' awards at this year's
International Dance Music Awards ceremony, which will take place during
the Winter Music Conference in Miami from March 24 to March 28, 2009.
Click here to cast your vote now (registration required).
Madonna - 2009 Sticky & Sweet Tour - Presale Information 2009-01-30 03:02:09 Icon
Fan Club members will have the opportunity to participate in presales
for the following concerts starting on Tuesday, 3rd February:
- 4th July, 2009: London - The 02 London - 7th July, 2009: Manchester - MEN Arena - 11th July, 2009: Werchter - Festivalpark - 14th July, 2009: Milan - San Siro - 30th July, 2009: Oslo - Vallehovin - 6th August, 2009: Helsinki - West Harbour - 9th August, 2009: Gothenburg - Ullevi Stadium - 11th August, 2009: Copenhagen - Parken Stadium
Please
CLICK HERE and carefully read the pre-sale instructions. Please note
the presales will open to Legacy fan club members first, at 10:00 AM
(local time) on 3rd February. Two hours later, at 12:00 PM (local
time), the presales will open to the rest of the eligible fan club
members.
NOTE ABOUT ICON MEMBERSHIPS AND TICKET ACCESS: The
summer 2009 tour dates are an extension of the 2008 Sticky & Sweet
Tour, which is why the cut off date to join Icon and receive access to
these ticket presales is still April 30, 2008. Only those Icon Fan Club
members who signed up for a Platinum membership before May 1, 2008, and
whose account is currently in good standing will have access to fan
club ticket presales.
VIP Packages will be offered for certain
concerts (to check if VIP Packages are available for a particular show,
please scroll down and look under the "Special Packages" column; VIP
Packages will be offered if they are marked as "COMING SOON" prior to
the sale or "AVAILABLE" during the sale).
All New Madonna Album Cover Lithographs Available for the First Time Ever!
Visit the store
today to find these amazing lithographs featuring album covers from
Madonna's first seven studio albums, including Ray Of Light, Like A
Virgin, True Blue, Erotica and a Collector's Set of all seven!
These collectibles are a must have for any Madonna fan.
Madonna fans have made a real difference by helping Raising Malawi to earn this month's Myspace Impact Award.
The Impact Award honors MySpace members who are making a positive impact in the world. Raising Malawi was nominated for its work to eliminate poverty and empower vulnerable children in the impoverished nation of Malawi.
As this month's winner, Raising Malawi receives a $10,000 grant to be put toward improving the health and education of Malawi's kids. In a nation where every penny truly counts, this money will do a great deal of good.
The Impact Award also means invaluable publicity for Raising Malawi and its partner organizations. Now millions of people worldwide will learn of Malawi's plight and what they can do to help.
Madonna and Raising Malawi would like to thank all the fans who voted for Raising Malawi and helped to spread the word about the important work of this remarkable organization. With the unified support of dedicated volunteers worldwide, there's no limit to the impact we can make.
To learn more about the work of Raising Malawi and how you can be part of it, please visit www.raisingmalawi.org.
It's Official: Madonna To Tour This Summer
Madonna fans, are you ready for more?
We are happy to confirm that the rumors are true: Madonna has
decided to extend her 'Sticky & Sweet' Tour. She is looking forward
to an amazing summer in Europe, hitting the cities she didn't get a
chance to in 2008.
While detailed itinerary will be released later this week, we
highly encourage you to wait for official on-sale dates and info before
ordering tickets to rumored shows and venues.
Get ready for another hot summer.... Madonna is hitting the road again!
All New Madonna Album Cover Lithographs Available for the First Time Ever!