Venues such as Madison Square Garden sell out crazy fast when popular Asian pop groups come to town, thanks to the dedicated fan bases of the bands performing and the relative rarity of American tours. Asia operates in much the same way, and Western performers might consider heading East more often thanks to sales results such as Taylor Swift's ongoing "Red" tour. The country-pop star sold out her Shanghai show in less than a minute.
Swift's performance will take place at the Mercedes Benz Arena, a venue listed as able to house 18,000 concert goers, similar in scope to Madison Square Garden. Compare that with last week's big concert sellout news: Kate Bush moved 80,000 concert series tickets in around 15 minutes. That's impressive, but these numbers also suggest that Swift could have sold nearly as many tickets for multiple Shanghai shows in less than five minutes. The sales for the show set a Chinese record for quickest sellout, according to sources.
Swift only has seven dates planned for her short Asian leg, and the Shanghai gig will be her only stop in China. All the other dates have sold out quickly, albeit not within a minute. One has to wonder, why don't Western musicians bring their wares to Asia more often to meet the demand?
Well, at least in Swift's case, she's not exactly struggling to fill seats in her homeland, the United States. The performer was the highest earner among touring musicians during 2013 according to Billboard's numbers, bringing in more than $39 million. If she's going to pull in that kind of money, she can tour wherever the heck she wants.
