In the past, there had been almost no Christian Rap artists doing concerts in mainstream venue’s, let alone entire headlining tours. 2012 was really the beginning of a shift in where fans would see concerts by the top-selling artists in our genre. Until 2012, with the epic Unashamed Tour 2012: Come Alive by Reach Records, concerts were primarily in churches. This tour lineup included Lecrae, Trip Lee, Tedashii, Andy Mineo, KB, and special guest Propaganda.
Over the last few years we have seen more artists with a Christian Rap foundation and fan base begin to do concerts outside of churches and in venues that you would see any mainstream artist frequent. Venues such as Paramount Theatre, Bogart’s, Fillmore, Ogden Theatre, Warfield Theatre, Aragon Ballroom, First Avenue, Revention Music Center, Ace of Spades, St. Andrews Hall, etc. The shift to Christian concerts going mainstream is a testament to the buying power of our market. We have matured and entered the big leagues as far as the touring vertical of the music industry goes.
We gathered the average ticket sales per headlining show over the past 36 months from Pollstar.com to report the top five touring artists of our genre.
1. Lecrae – 1,500
2. Andy Mineo – 893
3. NF – 747
4. KB – 401
5. Social Club Misfits – n/a (however they are likely between Andy and NF)
These numbers include some church venues that report to Pollstar, but mostly makeup tickets sales from mainstream venues.
Rapzilla reached out to Nehemiah Weaver of Kingdom Promotions to get his opinion on the benefits of utilizing mainstream venues vs. churches as venues.
Here is Nehemiah’s list of benefits:
– Pollstar credit to establish a career as a legitimate touring artist
– Ability to reach unbelievers
– Credible facilities
– Far easier to execute front of house and door
– Professional staff
– Ambiance is more appealing
– Easier for production
– Ticketing is easier
– Ticketmaster rebates for established promoters
– Legit loading dock
– Stagehand accessibility
These are great points from a seasoned concert promoter. We’re working on scheduling a live video to discuss these more in-depth for those that want to learn more whether you are an artist, manager, concert promoter, or looking to learn and become involved in the business. Join our Facebook business group here, to learn more about this and other pertinent aspects of the industry.
