INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The buzz so far this summer concert season is less about the music and more about the abrupt changes that fans and bands are dealing with.

Both the Black Keys and Jennifer Lopez have called off nationwide tours that included Indianapolis stops, and industry insiders speculate more big-name moves may be coming.

“But the question is, why?” said national music journalist Zach Schonfeld, who recently decided to dig for answers. His recent Stereogum article on the topic prompted a discussion with WISH-TV’s Daybreak.

The artists, agents, and promoters don’t offer many specifics when sudden changes happen, but Schonfeld points out that disappointing ticket sales seem to be a common theme.

“I think one major factor is that prices are too high,” he explained. “I think a lot of Americans are getting fed up with high ticket prices and maybe they’re cutting back on their entertainment budgets this year.”

Schonfeld says it’s possible that some acts are overestimating their own popularity.

“Yeah, that’s common. But I think a lot of these artists are being influenced by their managers or their booking agents or everyone else who has a hand in their pocket, who stands to profit from these big arena tours,” he told us. “Some of these artists are being pressured by management to book the biggest possible venues in order to maximize profits on their tours, and they’re getting burned when tickets don’t sell well.”

The calendar is another possible factor. Schonfeld points out that it’s no longer 2021 or 2022.

“The way one source put it in my article is that ‘revenge spending’ is over…a lot of people had been cooped up because of COVID and people were really eager to go out and experience live music, and people were willing to pay for those experiences. So demand was very high and the pandemic really introduced this bizarre instability into the music industry. I think some of that demand has come down now.”

As for the future, Schonfeld offers this when asked if this chaotic concert season could lead to changes in the months and years to come.

“I think there’s definitely something to be learned from some of the struggles of the music industry right now. I think the industry is learning that music fans don’t have unlimited pockets when it comes to ticket spending. And (while) there are some artists like Taylor Swift or Bruce Springsteen who are so enormously popular that they are able to charge whatever they want for tickets, that same thing doesn’t necessarily apply to a mid-level band like the Black Keys.”