Tony Harris first saw Prince in 1988 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. He sat in the nosebleed section, surrounded by thousands of screaming fans. He can't remember how much he paid for the ticket, but it wasn't more than 30 bucks.
His last Prince show was on a recent night at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, where he paid 10 times that for a standing-room-only ticket to an intimate show that kept Prince jamming nearly until the sun came up. If he had actually wanted a seat, that would have set him back $3,121 a pair -- priced in homage to the artist's recent album, "3121."
"I can't think of a worse cause than the Prince wallet fund," said Harris, 34, a Hollywood Hills resident. "But I have to say, it was worth it, the experience of it, the after-show with the jazz. It was something that, you want to say, money can't buy."
Then, he added: "But I guess it did."
Not many people can afford the price Harris paid. And that could be enough to alienate fans and consign Prince to a pop has-been.
But Prince still has the cachet that can pack them in, whether at a small hotel lounge or Staples Center. The Hollywood Roosevelt concert, however, shows how artists are searching for ways to offset lagging album sales as more fans turn to the Internet for their music. In addition, artists such as Prince are increasing their revenue by dealing more with corporate sponsors and using other marketing tricks to draw mainstream audiences.
Prince, who performed last year on American Idol, has teamed up with Verizon Wireless to promote its new V Cast phones, which enable customers to download songs and videos including his new single, "Guitar." Verizon is sponsoring his seven-night concert-and-dinner shows at the Hollywood Roosevelt, which accommodates only 200 people. The intimate performances have generated a great deal of buzz from pop critics and in the blogosphere.
"In the past, artists have been more sensitive to not wanting to be perceived as charging high ticket prices," said Don Passman, a Los Angeles attorney and author of "All You Need to Know About the Music Business."
"The stigma on that has changed."
The average concert ticket price climbed to $61.58 last year from $25.81 in 1996. Tickets are generally priced based on the acts -- and the demographics of their fans. The Cheetah Girls, for example, sold their tickets for an average of $35; Fallout Boy, $27. Seeing Barbra Streisand cost an average of $298.
