Daily Archives: March 10, 2011

Garth Brooks Reportedly Singing in Las Vegas For $100 Million Plus Bonus of $15 Million Jet

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Garth Brooks has sold the third most albums in history with only The Beatles and Elvis Presley selling more with Elvis only a million albums ahead of Brooks.

Garth Brooks retired in 2001 at the age of 39 at the height of his popularity. He announced in 2009 that his retirement was ending.

Brooks was born on February 7, 1962 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He played baseball and football in high school. Oklahoma State University offered him a track scholarship and he threw the javelin for the track team.

Before listening to George Strait singing Unwound Brooks was more interested in rock music, then switched to country music. His first album was released in 1989, and it included his No.1 hit Tomorrow Never Comes. The Dance also on the album went to No.1 spot on the Billboard Country Music chart.

His No Fences album released in 1990 included four No.1 hits, including the song Friends in Low Places. Then Brooks did something I don’t agree with, by trying to prevent stores who sold used CD’s, from selling his latest album.

In 1993, Garth Brooks, who had criticized music stores which sold used CDs since it led to a loss in royalty payments, persuaded Capitol Records not to ship his August 1993 album In Pieces to stores which engaged in this practice. This led to several anti-trust lawsuits against the record label and ended with Capitol shipping the CDs to the stores after all.[29]

I can understand him wanting to make the most money possible, from his recordings, but trying to keep music fans like me from buying used CD’s was going to far in my book.

My CD album collection is mostly comprised of used CD’s bought in stores, at Amazon.com and at Ebay.com. Not everyone could afford to buy new CD’s including me, and Brooks who was already selling in the millions, should have not even brought the subject up. The situation ended up making him appear greedy.

Brooks continued to release new albums till 2001, when he released Scarecrow which would be his last album after having announced his retirement on Oct. 26, 2000. The album went to No.1 on both the pop and country charts.

Seven of his eight albums would reach No.1 on the Billboard Country chart. Those albums were released from 1989 to 2001.

Brooks is now in the middle of a five year contract with the Encore Las Vegas and is working his schedule so that he will be home for children during the week.

I went to the Ticketmaster.com website, and found out that a single ticket in the middle of the back section cost $253 before additional charges. The price had been $143 for the cheapest ticket before Steve Wynn the owner of the Encore raised the prices by $100 because of the demand for tickets.

To me this is preposterous considering we saw Elvis Presley at the prime of his career for less than $20 only about 20 rows back from the stage in Monroe, Louisiana in 1974.

I am not begrudging Garth Brooks for making a buck but sometimes rich people don’t think of the ones who made them what they are. Brooks may talk about how much he loves his fans, but he is hurting them, in the wallet by his exorbitant ticket prices.

His net worth is reportedly $325 million so it is not like he needs the money.

The following paragraph from the March 10 edition of the Las Vegas Sun tells me all I need to know about Garth Brooks:

It’s a mind-blowing contract valued by some at more than $100 million. His biggest thrill, though, this weekend also was the biggest tip he’s ever received: flying the private $15 million Challenger 604 jet for the first time that Steve gave him on top of the contract. It makes the Las Vegas treks possible so he doesn’t break the promise he made to his family.

For those interested in reading the entire article:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/dec/14/garth-brooks-conquers-critics-and-fans-opening-wee/

Garth Brooks may be a great entertainer, but his actions tell me he is more worried about adding to his millions, than he is about his fans.