VIP Tour Packages In Demand, Despite Slumping Economy

Go inside 20 of the season's biggest concerts — U2, Metallica, Green Day and more — in our 2009 Summer Tour Preview.

This summer, when Beyoncé comes to a venue near you, for just $1,000, you'll be able not only to watch the superstar perform chart-toppers like "Crazy In Love" and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)," but see Miss B in the flesh thanks to the "I Am... Beyoncé" VIP ticket package. The price gets you inside the venue (via a special VIP entrance, of course), a seat in the front row, a chance to meet Beyoncé and have your picture taken with her, as well as a one-year membership to the singer's fan club, a collectible laminate, and an autographed tour book. For $575, you can get your own seat, right on the stage.

Aerosmith are offering the chance to hang with the band at well-catered pre-gig parties and Lynyrd Skynyrd's VIP package involves a pre-show barbecue with the guys. (Check out a guide to five of this summer's biggest VIP packages.)

While VIP ticket packages are far from new (the first were offered three decades ago), they have exploded in popularity in the last five years, according to Tamara Conniff, president of music services for Irving Azoff's Front Line Management Group, which oversees VIP ticketing for the company's stable of artists. And more artists are offering their super fans once-in-a-lifetime experiences — often for an exorbitant price. Despite the nation's current economic situation, there's still a healthy market for upscale concert experiences.

"They've been gaining more attention now, because of the state of the business and because the focus these days is more on touring as a revenue stream," explains Conniff, who says visitors to ILoveAllAccess.com looking for the VIP treatment "run the gamut, financially." But the one constant? "They're super fans," she says. "The super fan is the base you aim to serve with VIP packages. Bands want direct communication with those super fans because the super fan buys your record when it comes out, and goes to see you on the next tour."

According to Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of Pollstar, VIP packages have become a universal part of touring, as musicians find its harder to make a living from the studio. "Everybody's realized there's very little money in the recorded music business, and so there is a lot of experimentation going on," Bongiovanni explains. "People are trying to figure out other products or things they can sell the public to monetize an artist's career."

Bongiovanni likens VIP ticket packages to concert T-shirts: Three decades ago, they were introduced as a new way to make money off of touring, he says, "and still, for a lot of artists today, they make as much in merchandise as they do in ticket sales. So, VIP packages are an excellent way for a band to make additional cash."