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Recession Catches Up With Concert Revenues

MARY LOUISE KELLY, Host:

As NPR's Tamara Keith reports, this summer's concert season is littered with cancelled shows.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PLEASE DON'T STOP THE MUSIC")

RIHANNA: (Singing) Please don't stop the music. Music. Music. Music.

KEITH: She's in good company, though. Lilith Fair, the Eagles and American Idol Live have all trimmed back their tours this summer.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BEAUTIFUL DAY")

LOUISE KELLY: (Singing) You're out of luck...

KEITH: Kevin Lyman is the tour's founder.

LOUISE KELLY: I think it's an indication of a rough summer. I think it's a bit of the economy. I think it's a glut of everyone on the road all at once trying to make up for the revenues that they're not making on their records.

KEITH: Lyman is also the man behind the punk rock Van's Warped Tour. This year, he says business is down eight to 10 percent in most markets.

LOUISE KELLY: We're seeing a dynamic shift in the touring industry, and I think we'll probably come out stronger in the long run, but right now, some real hard times.

KEITH: Tamara Keith, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Tamara Keith has been a White House correspondent for NPR since 2014 and co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast, the top political news podcast in America. Keith has chronicled the Trump administration from day one, putting this unorthodox presidency in context for NPR listeners, from early morning tweets to executive orders and investigations. She covered the final two years of the Obama presidency, and during the 2016 presidential campaign she was assigned to cover Hillary Clinton. In 2018, Keith was elected to serve on the board of the White House Correspondents' Association.