analysis: The good news for the concert industry is that music fans in North America forked over a record $1.5 billion to buy concert tickets in 1999, according to industry trade magazine Pollstar. The bad news for fans is that this feat was accomplished by increasing ticket prices rather than by upping attendance.

Pollstar's annual analysis of the concert business found that the average consumer paid $43.63 to see one of the top 50 tours in 1999, up more than $10 per ticket from 1998. But only 27.4 million tickets to the top 50 tours were sold in 1999, a decrease of 1.1 million from the previous year.

Aging rockers The Rolling Stones--who haven't been shy about asking a premium for tickets in recent years--were 1999's top grossing act, ringing up $66.7 million in ticket sales in North America, according to Pollstar. The Stones' ''No Security'' tour, for which fans paid an average of nearly $110 per ticket, topped 1999's gross charts despite drawing nearly a half-million fewer fans in North America than did the No. 2 Bruce Springsteen tour, for which tickets cost an average of about $60.

Trade magazine Amusement Business, whose statistics include shows outside North America (and which has a slightly different reporting period), pegged the Stones' 1999 take at $89.2 million and named the band as the top touring act of the '90s, with more than $750 million in ticket sales for the decade. Their closest competitors were the Grateful Dead ($285 million) and U2 ($282.5 million).

The Rolling Stones sold out 42 of 45 shows reported to Amusement Business for 1999, but there are signs that high ticket prices kept fans away from some events. Sting's ''Brand New Day'' tour, for example, attracted a disappointing average of 4,600 fans per city, perhaps because the typical ticket sold for nearly $80.

Neil Young [ tickets ], with an average ticket price near $70, averaged attendance of less than 5,000 per city. Meanwhile, Tom Petty [ tickets ] & The Heartbreakers and John Mellencamp [ tickets ], acts with fan bases similar to Young's, both charged about half as much for tickets as Young did and both drew an average of well over 10,000 fans per city.

Premium prices weren't charged by every act in the top 10. The average 'N Sync ticket went for $28.62, and the Dave Matthews Band ($34.44), Shania Twain ($37.65), Backstreet Boys ($37.24), the George Strait Country Music Festival ($40.80), and Neil Diamond ($36.86) all had prices comfortably below the average. Among Pollstar's top 50 tours, the lowest ticket prices were charged by the Goo Goo Dolls ($19.37).

1999's spike in average ticket prices can be attributed in large part to The Rolling Stones, who charged a much higher ticket price for their ''No Security'' arena tour than for their ''Bridges to Babylon'' stadium tour of 1998, which commanded prices in the $65 range. But also feeding the trend is the increasingly common practice of charging significantly higher prices for venues' best seats.

Also contributing to rising ticket prices is the rapid consolidation of the concert promotions business, which had traditionally been controlled by independent promoters who generally booked concerts in one region. That changed in 1997, when a new company called SFX Entertainment snapped up many of the top independents. SFX's big catch of 1999 was The Next Adventure, which, rather than controlling a region, specializes in promoting major stadium tours like ''Bridges to Babylon.''

SFX is particularly powerful in the amphitheater market because, during its buying spree, the company purchased promoters who also owned venues. SFX now owns venues in about 30 of top 50 markets, and it self-produced about 20 amphitheater tours in the summer of 1999.

These efforts have made SFX the dominant player in the industry. According to Pollstar, SFX had a hand in more than 60% of the 200 top-grossing concert dates of 1999. SFX-promoted shows grossed $310 million in 1999, according to Amusement Business, well ahead of the $118 million take of the number two player, House Of Blues Concerts.

SFX's strategy for recouping its approximately $1.5 billion investment in the concert business has been to increase sales of sponsorships--which includes the placement of a business' name on a venue--and to sell more advertising. SFX also has increased the marketing muscle behind the subscription series' at its amphitheaters.

Demographics are also working to increase ticket prices. As the spending power of baby boomers grows, so does the amount of money they will spend to see their favorite acts. That fact isn't lost on the acts and their management, who demand more money from promoters. Thus tours like those of The Rolling Stones, Bette Midler (with an average ticket price of $81.23, according to Pollstar) and Andrea Bocelli ($101.34) can command higher ticket prices than ever.

One of the more encouraging signs to those in the concert industry was the emergence of acts that appeal to young audiences. While surveys of the top-grossing tours are often dominated by long-established acts, 1999's top tours included teen favorites 'N Sync and Backstreet Boys.

Also of note is Shania Twain, who began her first headlining tour in 1997 and quickly emerged as the hottest country act since Garth Brooks.

Indicators weren't as positive for country music as a whole, however, as the genre didn't have the benefit of a Garth Brooks tour in 1999. The George Strait Festival continued to roll, and Brooks & Dunn grossed an estimated $10 million, according to Amusement Business. But overall, gross country concert dollars were down 16% from 1998.

Despite the festival's calamitous end, Woodstock '99 was the single highest-grossing concert event of the year, according to Amusement Business. Nearly 187,000 people attended the July 22-25 event, and its total ticket gross was nearly $29 million.

The year-end charts issued by both Pollstar and Amusement Business are compiled from unaudited box office reports voluntarily filed by concert promoters, and promoters are told that the numbers they report should reflect the face price of tickets. The numbers don't include taxes, ticketing company convenience fees, parking and other charges.