Nate Rau

nrau@tennessean.com

Ticket sales for the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival fell precipitously this year to an all-time low of 45,537 — a drop of 46 percent from its 2011 high.

Bonnaroo doesn’t release its actual ticket sales, but The Tennessean calculated the number following a public records request to the Coffee County government’s budget office.

The festival sold 28,156 fewer tickets in 2016 compared to the prior year. The previous low came in 2008 when there were 65,164 tickets sold.

With an average price of $324, Bonnaroo saw $9.07 million less in ticket sales revenue this year compared to 2015. The plummeting ticket sales came in the first full year since Live Nation purchased a controlling interest in Bonnaroo. Live Nation purchased a majority share of Bonnaroo just weeks before the 2015 festival.

Related link: Complete coverage of 2016 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival

Bonnaroo 2017 will be pivotal for the festival

Industry experts attributed the drop in ticket sales in part to what some viewed as a so-so slate of headlining artists – Pearl Jam, LCD Soundsystem and Dead & Company – along with rising competition among summer music festivals.

Some within the music industry say that improving the headliners would return Bonnaroo to its 10-year average of about 75,000 tickets sold. But for the first time since its inception, there are questions as to whether Bonnaroo’s ticket price is worth the cost for four days of music and camping at the height of Tennessee's sweltering summer.

With Live Nation's backing, Bonnaroo has invested millions of dollars in infrastructure at Great Stage Park in Manchester, and organizers are hoping to bring more music festivals to the farm in the coming years.

Bonnaroo anticipated the drop in sales, and warned Coffee County leaders about it in the weeks prior to the festival. Bonnaroo pays a flat $30,000 plus $3 per ticket sold to Coffee County. The Tennessean submitted a records request for the yearly payments to the Coffee County government, subtracted the $30,000 from each annual total and then divided that number by three to figure the actual ticket sales.

Bonnaroo did not answer questions from the newspaper about the drop in attendance, the profitability of this year’s event, if the partnership with Live Nation impacted ticket sales or whether the festival paid the same amount of money to book artists as it has in the past.

In June, the festival released a statement through a spokeswoman on the final day of the festival regarding its attendance.

"For the past 15 years we've been extremely fortunate to have over a million fans share the Bonnaroo experience with us,” the statement read. “While our attendance is slightly lower this year, the Bonnaroo community is as vibrant as ever and excited about celebrating this milestone year on The Farm."

Since Bonnaroo's general admission ticket has hit $324, Belmont University music industry professor David Herrera said cash-strapped young people who are the festival's primary customer are choosing between an expensive four-day event and more affordable one or two-day concerts. VIP tickets for Bonnaro this year cost $1,598 per pair.

"I have had students pass on some festivals, telling me that they can go to Florida and see their favorite act in a one to two-day event, stay at a cheap hotel on the beach, drive back and spend less than most VIP packages," he said. "But, given that live shows are still showing growth, it can be any of these reasons.

"Could be the heat, humidity, or perhaps what business theory calls the 'law of diminishing returns - each time you go back, you are a a little less satisfied and are less likely to attend again, unless you can attract new talent or really improve the facilities."

Fleming Artists Agency booking agent Jordan Burger represents three bands that performed at this year’s festival. Burger heaped praise on the festival, saying it offers a unique fan experience that remained excellent.

“To me, it’s the best run festival in America,” Burger said. “But at the same time, there’s Pilgrimage, there’s CMA Fest and there’s a festival in every direction 200 miles away from Nashville. There’s so much more opportunities for music fans and competition for summer festivals.”

Herrera, who teaches concert promotion, said the increased competition means the summer festivals bid against each other especially for headlining artists. That leaves less money down the lineup to pay mid-level bands who would play on the smaller stages at Bonnaroo.

“So the headliner will draw, but the smaller budget for other acts means that the less popular support acts are used and you create a smaller draw,” Herrera said. “Thus, not every festival can have the perfect line up. This could create a drop in attendance.”

Herrera argued demand for music festivals remains high and that Bonnaroo is positioned for a return to form.

"Personally, I believe it is a combination of competing events and prices," he said. "But given the general health of the concert business, all it takes is a great lineup to bounce back."

Bonnaroo’s best year for ticket sales came in 2011 when the headlining artists were Eminem, Arcade Fire and Widespread Panic. There were 85,094 tickets sold that year.

Bonnaroo officials did not answer questions about what impact the lineup of headliners has on attendance. The previous low for attendance since the data became available in 2006 came in 2008. Pearl Jam, the veteran alternative rock band, also headlined that year.

Bonnaroo wants to host more festivals, asks county for support

Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp. President and CEO Butch Spyridon said he doesn’t view the drop in ticket sales as a cause for concern. He said CMA Music Fest saw its attendance ebb and flow before it entered the hot streak it's been on the last several years.

“I don’t put a lot of stock on one year,” Spyridon said. “I would say there’s a lot more competition out there. My personal opinion, the lineup didn’t have as much mass appeal as maybe prior years. I can’t speak to why or even if that’s completely accurate.”

Spyridon added that he supports holding Nashville’s CMA Music Fest, which set a new attendance record this year with 88,500 fans but had direct visitor spending fall by $900,000, on a different weekend than Bonnaroo.

In the past, the two festivals have tried both options – sometimes falling on the same weekend and other years separating by one week in June. Spyridon said Bonnaroo visitors frequently stay in Nashville a night or two before or after the festival, but it’s harder to accommodate them when CMA Fest is in town.

“There’s no secret on both sides that we would love to see them on separate dates,” Spyridon said. “And when they were on separate dates it worked. Conversely most of those 15 years they were on the same date and it worked.”

Under its agreement with Coffee County, Bonnaroo has paid $2.7 million to the county government. Bonnaroo also pays for the police overtime needed for security.

The festival wants to rework its agreement with the county, which expires next year, so that some of the ticket sales revenue generated by the festival can be used to upgrade infrastructure at the farm. Bonnaroo executives have pitched the idea of holding additional festivals at Great Stage Park, which the festival owns.

This was the first year the festival added bathrooms and even more water and sewer infrastructure is needed, festival organizers say. Coffee County Mayor Gary Cordell did not respond to a phone call seeking comment on the decline in ticket sales revenue.

Reach Nate Rau at 615-259-8094 and follow him on Twitter @tnnaterau.