People in the business world love to talk about “metrics” and I often get asked, “what metrics should I be tracking?” There are no standard metrics and often you need context to understand how the metrics from your company compare to other companies. My simple answer is to just start tracking a few different metrics you think are relevant. 

I often find that metrics can spark discussion and lead to creative ideas. These conversations will lead you down different paths and your metrics will evolve. You may find that the metrics you are tracking two years from now are different than the ones you are starting with today. 

I love live music and saw some interesting concert data that led me to start calculating some metrics. Pollstar is a company that provides data for the concert industry. Last year, Pollstar celebrated their 40^th anniversary and published data about the top touring artists of that 40-year period. They published data about total Gross Sales and total Tickets Sold. You can see the chart here: 

https://data.pollstar.com/Chart/2022/07/072522_top.touring.artists_1020.pdf

In the Gross Sales category, the Rolling Stones finished #1 with $2.165 Billion in sales. U2 finished #2 with $2.127 Billion in sales. 

However, when you look at total tickets sold, U2 is #1 with the Stones finishing #3. Who was #2? Dave Matthews Band (DMB) came in second, but only with half the revenue of the other bands. That inspired me to calculate $ per ticket sold. 

Here is a quick summary:

U2: 26,178,043 tickets sold   $2.127 Billion in Sales   $ per ticket sold: $81.28

DMB: 23,279,056 tickets sold   $1.085 Billion in Sales    $ per ticket sold: $46.63

Stones: 22,137,799 tickets sold   $2.165 Billion in Sales    $ per ticket sold: $97.80

I find it astonishing that the Stones can command twice the amount per ticket than DMB and 20% more than U2. This data covers the years 1982 – 2022. DMB did not start touring until the early 90s, so the other bands had a 10-year head start on them. However, DMB tours every year while the others can take years off between tours. DMB takes the approach of higher volume, lower price while the other bands limit their number of shows and command a premium. And good luck seeing the Stones these days for only $97. 

As I worked my way down the list, I was pleasantly surprised to see one of my favorite bands, Phish, come in at #12 on the tickets sold list. Here are their stats:

Phish: 13,501,959 tickets sold   $595 Million in Sales    $ per ticket sold: $44.13

From a pricing perspective, they are not far off from DMB. Like DMB, they tour every year, but DMB almost doubles Phish’s stats. Since both bands play in similar-sized venues, that means that DMB must visit more cities or play more nights in each city.

Since Phish and DMB have the higher volume/lower price touring model, I wanted to find a metric that gave me an indication of the size of their fan bases. I figured the easiest metric I had available to me was total monthly listeners on Spotify. I was shocked when I saw the results and how they relate to the stats above. Here are the monthly listeners by band:

Stones: 22,197,214 monthly listeners on Spotify

U2: 18,684,514

DMB: 2,410,180

Phish: 450,341 

The Rolling Stones have almost 50x the amount of listeners that Phish has, yet has only sold 1.6x the amount of tickets. Let’s look at some additional metrics:

Stones: 1 ticket sold per listener; $98 ticket sales per listener

U2: 1.4 tickets sold per listener; $113 ticket sales per listener

DMB: 9.65 tickets sold per listener; $450 ticket sales per listener

Phish: 29.98 tickets sold per listener; $1,323 ticket sales per listener

Phish and DMB have some incredible metrics when compared to the other two. This speaks to their raving fan base and “repeat customers.” These bands are known for changing up their setlists every night to create a unique experience. This creates higher engagement and more repeat customers at shows. 

As I mentioned in the beginning, metrics are great because they create conversation and ideas. Looking at these concert numbers, a business could start to think about marketing and customer acquisition costs. This could spur a lot  of pricing discussions – are we leaving money on the table with a lower average ticket price? Or should we be looking at the avg $ per listener and be content with where we are? 

Tracking or periodically calculating metrics in your business is an incredible way to create context, set goals and spur discussion to move your business forward. It takes time to develop the right metrics, but starting with a simple set of these metrics will get people talking and put you on a path to analyze your business differently. 

If you would like further information about Crown CFO & fractional CFO services, reach out to Mike DeMaio – [email protected]