It is no secret that the current tours of both Lilith Fair and American Idols Live! have struggled to sell tickets this summer.

Both tours, promoted by Live Nation, have enjoyed considerable popularity in previous years, but this season they have been forced to cancel several dates due to slow ticket sales, which contributed to Live Nation’s recent woes.

The main reason for the disappointing sales can be traced back to the still-shaky economy, but in the case of the American Idols tour, saturation of the market and a slightly less popular troupe of performers this year could have also been a factor. But, whatever the reasons, on the secondary ticket market both two tours also are proving to be an even bigger disappointment.

TFL and ATBS for ticketing professionals

On some major secondary ticket Web sites, such as StubHub, some tickets to the American Idols tour are selling for as low as $10 each even though they carried face values above $40 a piece. Some tickets to Lilith Fair were selling just as low, but the face values for many of those shows were twice as much. Live Nation even ran a promotion this week where it was selling some Lilith Fair tickets for $10 each.

Because the tours had been popular in the past, and in case of Lilith Fair brought together strong acts, like Sheryl Crow and Sarah McLachlan, many brokers thought they might be safe bets. But, as one broker told TicketNews, many of the dates for both tours “are selling for 10 or 20 cents on the dollar – or less – in the week leading up the shows; and some won’t even sell at those prices.”

Christian Anderson of ticket search engine FanSnap told TicketNews that, based on their research, on average tickets for both tours were selling for more than $100 each on the secondary market. But, he acknowledged that some premium tickets were selling for far below face value, which was typically $70 to $100 a piece or more.

“Looking at only the average price can be a bit deceiving,” Anderson said of the American Idols tour. “We’re seeing tickets in the first ten rows at several venues listed for $45 and less. In the bigger cities, tickets in the first ten rows can be found for $75 to $100. Lilith Tour tickets average $134, includes ticket provider fees, for remaining shows, but average prices for Lilith too can be a bit deceiving. We’re seeing tickets in the first ten rows at several venues listed for $50 and less. In the bigger cities, tickets in the first ten rows can be found for $150 to $200.”

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