Imogen Heap says touring's too pricey as record industry sales slump

Imogen Heap in concert on 16 April at the Coachella Festival, Indio, California. Photo by jauricchio on Flickr. Some rights reserved

You remember how people have been telling us that musicians shouldn't worry about their songs being spread all over file-sharing networks because the real money is to be made in touring? Especially, if memory serves, people who like getting music for free off file-sharing networks?

Turns out the real money isn't necessarily in touring.

That's the conclusion from a sorry tweet from the Novello-award-winning British singer-songwriter Imogen Heap, who last night told her 1.4m Twitter followers that "This may be the last tour in a while. A bit emotional. Ugh. Not easy keeping afloat in this climate!"

Moments earlier, she'd explained the reason for her mood: "So expensive to tour! Just had a rather depressing meeting with tour manager. Record sales low (across the industry) really impacting me."

And a few minutes later, she explained: "Sad truth is touring US especially such a monopoly. Audience end up paying double ticket price to the venue @Seattle_D. Huge mark up."

That's the brutal reality of touring today: many of the larger venues are owned by the same company, which can set the ticket prices to the fans while also setting how much the artist receives. And because it's an effective monopoly, if you want to do a nationwide tour you tend to get locked in. And there's also the question of who sells the tickets: Ticketmaster and Live Nation finalised their merger in January, and despite the best efforts there are concerns that there's not enough competition to offer ticketing services.

Heap's tour page - showing the gruelling schedule she's going through - suggests she's not managing many sellouts; tickets appear available for lots of the venues.

Heap, who in effect has to support herself through record sales to fund the tours, and vice-versa (because she doesn't have major label backing), therefore gets squeezed. "it's here + everywhere else," she replied to one fan who suggested it was just US-based problems. "With few album sales there's little to pay for the tour. I can't sustain it. Time to rethink!"

She is not some unknown torch singer. Her songs have appeared on film and TV programmes - her song Hide and Seek was featured on hit series The OC and had a song over the closing credits of the film of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. She won a Novello award for international achievement earlier this month, and has won a Grammy for engineering and producing her own album (thanks QuentinS in the comments).. which she went to wearing her own Twitter dress. Yeah, take that, Gaga.

According to the IFPI, which represents the international recording industry, 2009 saw global music sales (physical and digital) fall by 12% in the first half of the year compared with 2008 with "full-year figures likely to see a similar trend". (The full-year figures should be published in the next couple of months.)

Heap has been through tough times before: in 2006 she had credit card debts of £10,000 and Frou Frou, the duo she'd formed with producer and songwriter Guy Sigsworth, had been dropped by their record label. But she turned that around with her next album, Speak For Yourself, which sold more than 100,000 - on her own label.

Her fans, as you'd expect, have been supportive - as far as possible - with suggestions: do stripped-back "bare minimum" tours with less tech? Perhaps, Heap replied: "But want to put on a show you're gonna remember. Go away feeling like it was one of the best shows you've ever seen."

Certainly, the fans seem to like it: see what they say about Heap's shows and they're all positive. And they're also backing her eagerly on her Facebook page.

Which leads us back to the key question. If an artist like Heap - adored by her fans, making copious use of social media such as Twitter, Flickr and MySpace - can't make it work in the modern world despite touring like a Trojan, and having devoted fans, but without selling truckloads of CDs or getting major label investment, might that really mean that the big labels - so reviled in so many corners - actually are needed?

Meanwhile, Heap is due to perform in the UK again in November at the Albert Hall.

Or you could, you know, buy a copy of her album. (See the box back up on the top left?) It's 4/5 according to Caroline Sullivan's August 2009 review. You never know - it might help. It's not as if the Rolling Stones need the money, after all.

Updated with Grammy details, slight subbing.