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Heading into the critical summer season, concert promoter Live Nation is feeling the heat following a dramatic drop in album sales for Madonna, one of its biggest headliners.
The Material Girl’s latest album, “MDNA,” fell to 15th place, selling just 19,000 copies in its third week after debuting at No. 1, with 359,000 copies in its first official week, according to Nielsen Soundscan figures.
The first-week figure was goosed by a promotion that included the album at no additional cost with the purchase of concert tickets, as well as a deal offered by Amazon that bundled the physical and digital versions of the album for $5.
The sharp fall-off in album sales is a setback for Live Nation as it seeks to deliver on the $120 million deal it inked with Madonna in 2007. The so-called 360 deal — which encompasses albums, touring and merchandise — was hailed as revolutionary, but it has come back to haunt Live Nation.
Securing strong album sales is critical to moving concert tickets.
Madonna’s 66-date global tour kicks off in Tel Aviv, Israel, on May 29, and arrives in Philadelphia on Aug. 28. Her concert pricing is aggressive, with the most expensive tickets costing more than $300 a pop.
“Sales were brisk for the first few days and then they tapered off,” said a source close to the tour. “It doesn’t mean she won’t sell out, but it may take longer than they expected.”
Madonna’s website reports that four tour dates in North America are sold out.
“The word is that ticket sales have been good in North America, but the question about Europe is whether ticket prices are too high,” Gary Bongiovanni, who heads concert publication Pollstar, told The Post.
One source added that Madonna’s long-time manager and business partner, Guy Oseary, is putting pressure on Live Nation to boost ticket sales.
Live Nation’s reported cut of ticket sales is only 10 percent, while Madonna reaps the other 90 percent. Meanwhile, the concert promoter agreed to pay Madonna in the ballpark of $30 million to $40 million in cash and stock for each album as part of their deal, which includes a three-album commitment.
“MDNA” was released through Universal Music’s Interscope label under an agreement with Live Nation.
Live Nation only makes money on the album if it sells more than 15 million copies — a tough feat in today’s shrinking music business.
While Live Nation’s stock is up 3.3 percent year-to-date, it’s off 11.8 percent over the past year. The company has lost money in five of the last eight quarters while sales were down in each of the past two quarters.
Although Live Nation’s 360 deal with Madonna was done by prior management, this concert season is crucial for CEO Michael Rapino, who has been on the job since 2010 and needs to start bringing in the revenue.