Coldplay break records but there are doubts about the dollars to pay the cachet

Coldplay’s return to Argentina generates fury. With over 550,000 tickets sold to date, the show’s producer, DF Entertainment, has announced that it will add a new show with which the band led by Chris Martin will complete in Buenos Aires 10 concerts at the River Stadium between October 25th and November 8th this year. Record of box office figures, number of shows and collection. Something never seen in Argentina.

This Tuesday, the manufacturer will release the latest date. If he sells them all, he could exceed the 600,000 locations, with prices ranging from $ 8,000 to $ 19,500. Based on this, it is estimated that the total collection will be around the 7 billion dollarseven if much of the business (close to 90%) is taken a band with dollar cachet. The big question is where does foreign currency come from to pay artists.

This is not a small event, given the delicate state of the reserves available to the Central. At the official dollar, Coldplay will have a turnover of $ 58 million. With alternatives (MEP or CCL)drops to $ 33 million. The difference is more than significant, but DF Entertainment apologized for not speaking: “We never give figures for our shows”.

“The dollars haven’t left Central“, he said to Clarione a source of the entity led by Miguel Pesce. However, they recalled that the production company started the process with the AFIP to access the foreign currency at the official price in February, but that “it was never completed“. Likewise, they point out that the producer of the show is the multinational Live Nation and that DF is solely responsible for the local organization.

The box office is impressive. Coldplay set new parameters for the Creole show. The previous record was held by Roger Waters when in 2012 he crossed Buenos Aires to fill 9 river fields: 370,000 people They left over $ 35 million at the box office. The former Pink Floyd thus won the successes of Soda Stereo in 2007 (6 recitals in River and 360,000 spectators) and the visits of Rolling Stones, in 1995 and 1998, which offered 5 shows each time.

In the current dollar scarcity environment, the payment to Coldplay is relevant. mostly because they are many sectors complicated by import barriers and access to BCRA foreign currency. “The cachet of an international artist is processed as an import service and is paid in the official dollar,” agree the promoters of the recital. Another key aspect is the rent of the stadium. River assures that his rate is dollarized too: they charge US $ 500,000 per day. Seen in this way, the Núñez entity will pocket $ 5 million.

Stock strengthening introduced a new previous step: completion CEF and SIMPES online, with which the AFIP “evaluates the solvency and liquidity (of companies) as a prelude to the request for access to the MULC (Single Exchange Market) for the payment of goods or services”. At the Central they warn that DF has interrupted the request and the exact reasons are not known.

That doesn’t imply, they clarify, a special deal with Coldplay, which wouldn’t be unusual. Through an exclusive contract, Live Nation takes care of the organization of all the international tours of the band that today beats records in Argentina. “It may happen that the multinational takes charge of obtaining the dollars to pay”, They guess. Another option is to use alternative markets to obtain the foreign currency needed to pay the cachet.

To clarify any doubts in this regard, from the Central they clarify that so far this year, “the global import bill for cultural services does not reach US $ 5 million per month“. The state of reserves today prevents the transfer of the currencies necessary to solve a spectacle of this magnitude. Coldplay sold the tickets as soon as they went on sale. The demand was so high that the producer added dates, which is normal.

Promoters of the show describe the Coldplay phenomenon is not unusual. Partly due to the pandemic and the public’s pent-up desire during the long mandatory confinement. As with the highest-grossing concerts, resale is the order of the day. Tickets are already offered on the Internet for several times the original price. A VIP ticket, the most expensive, is priced on the parallel market for just over $ 73,000, which is almost four times that.