Nowadays movies are marketed in so many different ways. The symbiotic relationship between Hollywood blockbusters and consumer products that has evolved as part of the modern movie making industry has helped generate revenue for major films, as well as for their marketing partners. This system of co-advertising has developed to the point where it has become difficult to determine where a movie promo ends, and a consumer product advertisement begins. Just within the past few months we have seen Iron Man pitching LG phones, Shrek and Co. delivering McDonalds, and the NBA on TNT analysts promoting the A-Team. However, one of the most interesting, and possibly inadvertent beneficiaries of Hollywood magic is the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. This relatively mundane concert venue, built in 1929, with capacity for 5,700 spectators, was recently featured prominently in the major motion picture Get Him to the Greek. This blockbuster comedy, starring Jonah Hill, Russell Brand, and P. Diddy, consists of a plot revolving around an epic concert scheduled to take place at…the Greek Theatre of course. The film, released on June 4th 2010, has been a hit, earning over $73 million at the box office worldwide. However, the revenue generated by the movie does not end there. We at SeatGeek love to analyze secondary market ticket prices to identify trends in fan sentiment and pop culture, so we decided to take a look at whether the notoriety garnered by the Greek Theatre in “Get Him to the Greek” translated into higher ticket prices for this summer’s shows at the Greek. In other words, did seeing “Get Him to the Greek” make people more inclined to go to a concert at the Greek theatre in L.A?

The short answer, believe it or not, is yes.

We analyzed all performances held at the Greek Theatre, beginning with Counting Crows‘ concert there on July 21st 2009, and spanning through Dane Cook’s final performance there on Oct. 3rd of 2010. (Note that ticket prices for all concerts that have yet to occur are of course subject to change.) Out of hundreds of transactions, involving hundreds of thousands of dollars, we found that tickets for events sold before June 4th 2010, the date “Get Him to the Greek” hit theaters nationwide, transacted for an average price of $101.82, whereas events happening after the movie premiered were transacting at an average price of $165.68, an increase of 62.7%! Additionally, when we focused on only the top five events from both before and after June 4th, the results became even more striking. The average transacted price for the top five events before the premiere are 67.6% lower than the average transacted price for the top five after the movie dropped, with average prices of $165.47 and $277.40 respectively. In fact, the average price for all events at the Greek Theatre, following the premiere of “Get Him to the Greek” is higher than the average of just the five most expensive shows from before the movie hit theaters!

In addition to this data, we decided to analyze ticket prices to all events at the Greek over time, rather than dividing the data solely by event. Here the results are slightly less striking, but still point towards an increase in prices on the secondary market. We narrowed our focus to just the single weeks preceding and following the movie’s debut, the dates from May 28th, to June 11th 2010. These two weeks are especially reflective of the effect of movie publicity, due to the fact that generally a large portion of a movie’s advertising budget is spent on a last minute media blitz during the run-up to the movie’s premiere, and the first few days after it opens. During two of the three days of “Get Him to the Greek’s” opening weekend, the average price for a ticket purchased to a concert at the Greek Theatre was over $240! The average ticket sold over this three day period was $188.41, higher than the average price of $165.57 for the weeks immediately before and after the film’s debut, and much higher than $143.32, the average transacted price for a secondary market ticket to an event at the Greek Theatre over a year-long period between July 2009 and July 2010.

Clearly our data shows that this movie has done far more than just entertain masses of people with blithering Brits and a raging Diddy. It also provided a much appreciated spike to ticket sales at one of the most iconic arenas in the United States. In the future, perhaps more venues will team up with Hollywood to bring a slice of the blockbuster bucks their way. In the meantime, go see “Get Him to the Greek” starring Jonah Hill and Russel Brand in theaters, and go check out one of the great concerts at the real Greek Theatre this summer. And of course be sure to check out SeatGeek for the cheapest sold out tickets for  baseball, football, basketball, hockey, world cup, concerts Broadway shows, and more!

And for your entertainment here are the first 5 minutes of “Get Him to the Greek.” Enjoy.

Also please feel free to email me at jonathan@seatgeek.com with any questions or comments, and be sure to become a fan on facebook at http://facebook.com/seatgeek and follow us on twitter @SeatGeek & @SeatGeekMusic

This Tuesday marks SeatGeek‘s second installment of Tunesday Tuesday. This week, there are quite a few notable artists releasing albums, and subsequently touring. The list includes Big Boi, Enrigue Iglesias, Juvenile, Kelis, Bret Michaels, and Kylie Minogue.

Out of all of these artists, only three are on tour performing concerts.

Enrique Iglesias, whose new ablum is called Euphoria, is currently making the talk show tour, making appearances with Jay Leno, on the Today Show and more. Rapper Juvenile and Australian pop sensation Kylie Minogue are not touring. Juvenile’s album is entitled Beast Mode; Minogue’s is Aphrodite.

Kelis is releasing her fifth album, entitled Flesh Tone, and is going on tour this summer with another pop singer Robyn. Listing prices for tickets for Kelis and Robyn’s shows are currently averaging $86.

Former Poison singer Bret Michaels is coming out with his fourth solo album, Custom Built, just months after suffering a brain hemorrhage. Michaels has been touring with Lynyrd Skynyrd, and will continue to do so for another week or so, before continuing his tour without the legendary rock band. Tickets for concerts on this tour have been transacted at an average of $83.

Finally, Outkast member Big Boi is releasing his first album without Andre 3000. Big Boi’s debut album is entitled Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty. After this release, Big Boi will be making one tour stop, at the Pitchfork Music Festival on July 18. Currently, tickets on the secondary market for this festival are transacting on average at $83, as well.

Be sure to check back next week for our latest album release update. Also, follow us on Twitter at @SeatGeek for more concert and sports news and ticket data!

Robert Randolph and the Family Band Are Bringing Back the Blues

(and Soul, and Gospel, and Rock, and Funk, and R&B…)

It seems like there has been a real dearth in creative, unique musical talents in recent years. Every year there’s a new Jay Sean, or Flo-Rida with a catchy single dominating the airwaves. However, it’s a truly rare occurrence for an artist to emerge with as much raw talent and infectious energy as Robert Randolph. Anyone who has ever witnessed him and “the family band” perform can attest to his intense passion, and flat out love for music that becomes blatantly obvious as soon as he takes a seat behind his pedal steel guitar.

Yes. That’s right, Robert Randolph is a pedal steel guitar player. But player hardly comes close to describing the artistry, grace, and creativity he exudes as his fingers effortlessly fly up and down the strings. Although he does indeed play a pedal steel guitar, if you close your eyes and listen to the sounds emanating from the stage, you’ll hear a lot more similarities to a blues player like Stevie Ray Vaughn than to the cliched country music licks appearing on the albums of a Kenny Chesney or a Tim McGraw.

Robert Randolph learned to play the pedal steel guitar as a teenager at the House of God Church in Orange, NJ, a small city outside Newark, by watching others play the instrument during services. Influences of his church-going background are apparent in his music, which blends the blues, with elements of gospel, soul, rock, and straight up funk. His backing band, comprised of numerous cousins and friends, provides a sound-scape, complete with funky bass lines and soul inspired female vocal harmonies, that successfully provides the perfect environment for Randolph’s unique talent to shine through. To see him play live is to witness an artist at work; and not just any artist, an artist so totally enthralled in his craft that when he’s playing, nothing in the world could bother him, or affect him in any way. He is completely and totally immersed in the music, and when he gets “in the zone” so too does his audience. Although the nature of his instrument dictates that he must play sitting down, Randolph exudes more energy and passion while sitting, than 99% of guitarists do while jumping around all over the stage. To compare the aura of Robert Randolph to other guitarists such as Warren Haynes of The Allman Brothers band and Govt Mule, who in his own right is an incredible player, is like comparing Diego Maradona’s sideline antics to Bill Belichick’s robotic emotionless persona. It’s debatable which one is a better coach, but it’s clear which one is more fun to watch.

Robert Randolph and the Family Band recently released their third studio album entitled “We Walk This Road” to extensive critical acclaim: “We Walk This Road is a consistently surprising tour de force that moves easily through rock, blues, R&B, gospel, and more, sometimes bringing them all together at the same time” says J. Allen of allmusic.com.

In support of their new record, RR & the family band has embarked on a tour of music festivals across the continent, performing a FREE concert in Grant Park in Chicago on Sunday July 4th, as a part of the “Taste of Chicago” festival. Their next appearance after that is July 7th at the Ottawa Blues Festival. Other appearances this summer include, but are not limited to, July 16th in St. Louis at The Pageant, July 23rd Live at the Garden in Memphis with Al Green, July 30th at The Gathering of the Vibes festival in CT, and the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Oct 8th.

Here’s his first network TV appearance, from The Late Show with Letterman. The song is entitled “I Need More Love,”

and here is an instrumental cover of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean from 2004.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at jonathan@seatgeek.com and make sure to like us on facebook at Facebook.com/SeatGeek & follow us on twitter @SeatGeek and @SeatGeekMusic

Rihanna is sexy.

Does anyone seriously doubt this?

Given this, we at SeatGeek have long been interested in her (and her music) and we are happy to note that she will kick off her “Last Girl On Earth” tour this summer on July 2nd at the White River amphitheatre in Seattle, WA.

But what are the best venues to watch her perform?

Well,us Geeks tend to think that the data does not lie. Thus, we have compiled for you the top 10 venues to watch Rihanna determined by the market – i.e. the highest average transaction price that fans are paying on the secondary ticket market. No doubt there are other factors involved and no doubt many of you disagree, but hey, the Mandalay Bay Resort Center is a pretty sweet place to be, given it has hosted the Ultimate Fighting Championships.

So, Mandalay Bay Resort Center in Las Vegas is the winner with an average transaction price of $234 for her 17th July, 2010 concert. It’s a 12,000 seat indoor venue which is at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and will be the host of the Miss Universe 2010 beauty pageant.

But for those of you who aren’t in Las Vegas, we at SeatGeek also have the transaction prices for every other event she’s going to do, and here are the current average transaction prices for her 10 upcoming concerts.

So if you have any concert ticket needs to watch Rihanna perform, or just like comparing ticket prices for the soccer world cup for example, do visit us at www.seatgeek.com

Happy watching.

The Grammy award winning group Earth, Wind & Fire is on the road again during the Summer of 2010. Though this legendary group’s last released album was in 2005, fans are flocking to see them perform both their new songs and the classics that made them famous.

As a continuing segment here at SeatGeek, we wanted to give you the top most popular venues to see Earth, Wind & Fire this summer. The venues are determined by which had the highest ticket transaction price on the secondary market. Topping this list is the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida, which was the most popular venue to catch a Ringo Starr concert, as well.

For all of your concert ticket needs, be sure to check SeatGeek, or follow us on Twitter@SeatGeek!

One of the great live acts of our generation – Bon Jovi – has been around the world this year, performing in Canada, the US, London, and is due to perform in Australia later too.

In anticipation of his upcoming Summer tour, we here at SeatGeek will be previewing the most expensive venues you can watch Bon Jovi perform live. Some of the contenders include Soldier Field in Chicago, the Rogers Centre in Toronto (the first stadium to have a fully retractable motorized roof, as well as for the 348-room hotel attached to it) and Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky – the home of the famous Kentucky Derby, that became the first horse track to host a Rolling Stones concert in 2006. Well, then, no wonder it tops our chart for the most expensive place to watch Bon Jovi live this summer at an average transaction price of $352.45 per ticket. Do note, however, that this outrageous price is unrepresentative for Bon Jovi concerts in general, since Louisville, KY is the venue for the HullabuLOU music concert 2010. Well, the next most expensive place to watch Bon Jovi is the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary, AB, Canada.  Well, then again, that’s Canada and who cares about Canada, right? So the most expensive US venue to watch Bon Jovi in 2010 has thus far been the Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, OH with an average transaction price of $ 217 per ticket for his 12th of July concert there.

And without further ado, here is the graph of the most expensive places to watch Bon Jovi live (data drawn for all his 2010 concerts):

And, for those of you hoping to catch him this summer, here are the average transaction prices of his upcoming concerts this July -

Happy watching folks, and remember, to compare and forecast prices for bon jovi concerts, there’s no place better than www.seatgeek.com/concert-tickets

Every Tuesday, artists release their much anticipated new albums. Often, a tour is accompanied with their album release, to build the hype for the artist and their new songs. At SeatGeek, we wanted introduce a weekly update that takes a look at the ticket prices of tickets for artists who have just released their new albums.

Today, four artists have new albums coming out: Three 6 Mafia, Diddy, Indigo Girls and The-Dream. All artists except The-Dream have scheduled tour dates; The-Dream had a few concerts prior to his album dropping instead.

Three 6 Mafia‘s new album is entitled Laws of Power, featuring it’s first single “Shake My”. The rap group currently has three concerts scheduled for the end of July, with listing prices averaging at $175.

Diddy‘s newest album is called The Last Train to Paris, and he has one concert scheduled on July 3 at the House of Blues Atlantic City. Tickets for this show are aggregating at an average of $76.

The Indigo Girls are releasing their newest album independently, after breaking free from their record label. This album is entitled Staring Down the Brilliant Dream. They are playing at the Lillith Fair in Atlanta on August 8th, where the average listing price is $155. They also have several other concerts scheduled this summer throughout the U.S.

The-Dream is set to release his third album today. It is entitled Love King. While he has no tour dates scheduled for the rest of the summer, he has performed in a couple of concerts in June. The average transaction ticket price for the concerts he performed at was $132.

Be sure to check back next week for our latest album release update. Also, follow us on Twitter at @SeatGeek for more concert and sports news and ticket data!