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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Tess Reidy

Rocketing costs and drop in ticket sales force musicians to pull tour dates

Little Simz on stage at the Reading festival in August. The Mercury Music prize winner is among musicians to cancel gigs.
Little Simz on stage at the Reading festival in August. The Mercury Music prize winner is among musicians to cancel gigs. Photograph: Simone Joyner/Getty Images

Musicians are cancelling concerts and entire tours because the rising costs of staff and materials coupled with a drop off in ticket sales is making them too expensive to run.

Earlier this month, US band Animal Collective cancelled forthcoming European dates as“not sustainable”. Within days, the UK downtempo producer Bonobo called time on future live shows in America, describing them as “exponentially expensive”. Then electronic musician Tourist rescheduled a US stint, saying “sometimes tickets just don’t get sold”.

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