I live near a major city, so almost every act comes through here. But if I lived on the other side of the state, I'd have to travel over at least over 2 hours to get to a show. Doesn't sound like that far of a drive, but I go to about 15 concerts a year minimum. My sister just moved very north where she'd have to travel at least 4 hours to see a show! :O

I agree though, concerts is where artists can really make some money. In fact, everyone from Depeche Mode (including Dave Gahan) don't make squat off of album sales except for the writer - Martin L. Gore. Gore writes the lyrics and music, so he gets nearly all royalties even though most people recognize Depeche Mode by seeing Dave Gahan. But when they tour... everyone gets rich.

But what about artists from Europe that don't have the backing to tour the US? Or what about artists that simply CAN'T perform live (some styles can't really be done on stage and some artists are dead but want their families to be supported by their estate)? I'm not a big Enya fan, but she doesn't tour from what I hear. She is so "produced" that at best, she'd have to perform signing over a tape playback.