Extreme heat is melting the touring industry’s fans, bands, and bottom line, says AdamAJRbrothers. 'The business pressures triggered by climate change are mounting.'
Merchandise can be a major profit center, but even sales aren’t exempt from the effects of the heat. Some artists sell towels to lay on, battery powered fans to keep you cool, and reusable water bottles in line with the sustainability theme. But for many artists, the top-selling items are T-shirts and sweatshirts. On AJR’s tour, there is a substantial price difference between the two, because of the cost of the goods themselves. Sweatshirts are a lot more expensive, and they make more money.
At nearly every one of these warmer concerts, the percentage of sweatshirt revenue decreased and the percentage of T-shirt revenue increased. It makes perfect sense: Hotter weather means less clothing. Fewer sweatshirts means less money for the band, the promoter, and the venue. Our merchandise sales across the tour were down seven percent from the average. Nearly the entire loss came from cities that were extraordinarily hot.
For us, the physical hardship is just as big a deterrent to touring as the financial. Promoters and venues feel the financial effects more than the physical, but that should be enough for them to take action on climate change. For starters, that means focusing on renewable energy to power the venues, reducing waste, and selling locally sourced food and drinks.
This may in fact be the coldest summer of the rest of our lives. We need industry-wide standards, unless everyone wants to see fans, crews, bands, and their bottom lines hurt even more by the effects of climate change. Adam Met is the bassist of the multiplatinum band AJR, a human rights and sustainable development Ph.D, and executive director of the climate research and action organization Planet Reimagined. This article was made possible through research and analysis by Planet Reimagined’s research associate Jack Dimmock.
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