More Worries Concerning US Cancellations

According to Swedish newspaper Expressen , more and more artists are canceling their European tours as a direct result of the terrorist attacks – Destiny’s Child, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Aimee Mann, Manic Street Preachers and Janet Jackson are just some of the big names that have cancelled European dates recently.

Destiny’s Child have postponed their shows in Sweden to a later date which according to Thomas Johansson, Chairman and founder of Scandinavia’s leading concert promoter EMA Telstar, is not a big problem. However cancellations are a bigger problem which result in financial loss – in particular marketing costs in newspapers, TV and radio.

Thomas Johansson questions the “force majeure” clause in contracts and believes that those that cancel should also be prepared to split the loss.

– It’s possible to fly from USA to Sweden and as far as I know there have been no terrorist attacks in this country. We are not at war with anybody.

Johansson points out that ticket prices will not be raised as a result of this development, on the contrary there is a continuous effort to keep prices down – if the ticket prices are too expensive the public won’t buy.

However the situation is very different in America, and Johansson gives the example of Madonna’s latest concerts in America costing $250.

– $250 is not 2.700SEK for an American, more like 1.200SEK, but it’s 2.700SEK for us here in Sweden. We could never charge 2.700SEK for a concert at Globen, there’s not enough people with that kind of money to spend on concerts.

If the situation continues in the world Johansson believes that we will see fewer American artists in Europe, but assumes that more people will go and see Swedish and European artists, but is worried by the situation.

American artists are asking for more money for shows than ever before and they are being paid more than ever before. In the worst scenario this could lead us to a similar situation as in the early 70’s when no big US artists came to Europe, they skipped this part of the world as they earned so much in the states. They could end up thinking – why should we travel to Europe and earn 25% less than we do at home. Instead they could add a few extra dates to their US tour to cover it.