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Earnings & Attendance

Earnings & Attendance Report: DREAM THEATER, TOOL, MOTORHEAD, BRING ME THE HORIZON and more.

Who makes more money on the road: Bring Me The Horizon, Dream Theater or Motorhead?

Who makes more money on the road: Bring Me The Horizon, Dream Theater or Motorhead?

Check out our previous Earnings & Attendance Reports.

How much money does a band make on the road? Billboard hopes to answer that question, somewhat, by providing gross sale reports in their weekly Boxscore report. We like to check in every once in a while to see how metal bands are doing. Let's get to it!

Artist: Dream Theater
Venue: Chicago Theatre – Chicago, IL
Date: April 05th, 2014
Gross Sales: $148,223
Attendance/Capacity: 3,153 / 3,553
Ticket Prices: $66, $56, $46, $26

Artist: Dream Theater
Venue: Warfield Theatre – San Francisco, CA
Date: April 17th, 2014
Gross Sales: $109,991
Attendance/Capacity: 2,149 / 2,374
Ticket Prices: $65, $49.50

No shock here, Dream Theater bring in big cash wit their live gigs!

Artist: Motörhead & Graveyard
Venue: Warfield Theatre – San Francisco, CA
Date: April 18th, 2014
Gross Sales: $90,514
Attendance/Capacity: 2,325 / 2,325
Ticket Prices: $49.50, $37.50

I believe this was Motorhead's warm up show for Coachella and they sold it out. Interestingly, Dream Theater outsells Motorhead!

For fun, let's check in with how the Red Hot Chili Peppers do at a Puerto Rican gig:

Artist: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Venue: Coliseo de Puerto Rico Jose Miguel Agrelot – San Juan, PR
Date: Apr. 06, 2014
Gross Sales: $1,124,680
Attendance/Capacity: 9,785 / 13,230
Ticket Prices: $175, $65

Answer: very well! Meanwhile, TOOL don't do so bad themselves playing small arenas:

Artist: Tool & Failure
Venue: Cedar Park Center – Cedar Park, TX
Date: Mar. 24th, 2014
Gross Sales: $506,489
Attendance/Capacity: 6,891 / 6,891
Ticket Prices: $75

Here are four tours that cater to completely different markets, yet who pull in basically the same amount of people and cashola:

Artist: Ghost & King Dude
Venue: The Vic – Chicago, IL
Date: April 19th, 2014
Gross Sales: $33,600
Attendance/Capacity: 1,400 / 1,400
Ticket Prices: $24

Artist: ChevelleMiddle Class Rut & Nothing More
Venue: The Cannery, – Nashville, TN
Date: April 22nd, 2014
Gross Sales: $32,725
Attendance/Capacity: 1,100 / 1,100
Ticket Prices: $29.75

Artist: MogwaiMajeure
Venue: Regency Center Grand Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
Date: April 18th, 2014
Gross Sales: $32,443
Attendance/Capacity: 1,424 / 1,424
Ticket Prices: $25, $22.50

Artist: Metal Alliance TourBehemothGoatwhore1349Inquisition & Black Crown Initiate
Venue: Regency Center Grand Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
Date: April 06th, 2014
Gross Sales: $31,183
Attendance/Capacity: 1,229 / 1,424
Ticket Prices: $27, $24.99

For people wondering what the difference is playing a primary vs. secondary market, check out the returns on this Bring Me the Horizon tour in NY vs. NJ:

Artist: Bring Me The HorizonOf Mice & MenIssues & Northlane
Venue: Best Buy Theater – New York, NY
Date: Feb. 28th, 2014
Gross Sales: $100,434
Attendance/Capacity: 4,300 / 4,300
Ticket Prices: $100, $24

Artist: Bring Me The HorizonOf Mice & MenIssues & Northlane
Venue: Starland Ballroom – Sayreville, NJ
Date: Feb. 26th, 2014
Gross Sales: $67,856
Attendance/Capacity: 2,300 / 2,300
Ticket Prices: $35, $29.50

The difference is about $30,000. To be fair, the NY show had double the capacity and more expensive VIP packages. Asking Alexandria played the exact same rooms and did not come out with nearly as much money:

Artist: Asking AlexandriaAugust Burns RedWe Came As RomansCrown The Empire & Born Of Osiris
Venue: Best Buy Theater – New York, NY
Date: Mar. 21st, 2014
Gross Sales: $60,180
Attendance/Capacity: 2,150 / 2,150
Ticket Prices: $35, $29.50

Artist: Asking AlexandriaAugust Burns RedWe Came As RomansCrown The Empire & Born Of Osiris
Venue: Starland Ballroom – Sayreville, NJ
Date: Mar. 22nd, 2014
Gross Sales: $50,210
Attendance/Capacity: 2,007 / 2,007
Ticket Prices: $30, $25

You'll notice ticket prices were a little lower for the NJ show and at the NY show, they didn't offer the $100 VIP packages, which clearly add up.

Speaking of adding up, Manowar can't fill a 1200 person venue, so how do they profit? Jack up the prices:

Artist: Manowar
Venue: Mill City Nights – Minneapolis, MN
Date: Feb. 09th, 2014
Gross Sales: $35,800
Attendance/Capacity: 473 / 1,200
Ticket Prices: $100, $75

That Amon Amarth/Enslaved tour was sold out all over the country, now we have an idea of what sort of returns they had, albeit in a smaller market:

Artist: Amon AmarthEnslaved & Skeletonwitch
Venue: Mill City Nights – Minneapolis, MN
Date: Feb. 08th, 2014
Gross Sales: $29,875
Attendance/Capacity: 1,200 / 1,200
Ticket Prices: $25, $12.50

Finally, to give you an idea of what a smaller, more DIY show can bring in:

Artist: Thy Art Is MurderFit For An AutopsyThe Last Ten Seconds Of Life & Kublai Khan
Venue: New Brookland Tavern – Columbia, SC
Date: Dec. 20th, 2013
Gross Sales: $2,910
Attendance/Capacity: 259 / 259
Ticket Prices: $12, $10

$3,000 in gross sales, split over the venue and four bands? Say the venue gets a 30% cut, they are left with 2100 to split amongst four bands. That opener isn't making anything. #tourlife.

That concludes this edition. Check out our previous Earnings & Attendance Reports.

[via ThePRP]

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