Portfolio.com has an article which takes a look at the declining attendance figures at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland. As their chart shows, there was a steep drop in attendance after the first few years the Museum was open, but over the last ten years ticket sales have basically leveled out at around $4.2 million per year. Rock Hall Museum C.E.O. Terry Stewart has plans to bring more people to the museum, which include "a new exhibit featuring Janis Joplin’s Porsche (now on loan from her estate) to bringing the induction show to Cleveland in 2009 and every three years after that."

While bringing the Induction Ceremony back to Cleveland will undoubtedly help raise the profile of the Museum, it won't cure the image problem that the Rock Hall has in the eyes of many people. This website alone contains thousands of pleas to the Hall to induct long ignored fan favorites such as KISS, Rush, Alice Cooper, The Moody Blues, The Monkees, Neil Diamond, Yes, Steve Miller Band, Jethro Tull, and many others. You can't help but wonder if Terry Stewart wishes the New York-based Rock Hall Foundation (who determines the nominees each year) would put some popular names on the ballot to help boost ticket sales at the museum. What's going to bring more people to Cleveland, Janis Joplin's car or a KISS induction with a full blown exhibit to honor them? A Leonard Cohen exhibit or a Monkees induction?

We're not advocating the induction of artists purely to sell Museum tickets, but you have to wonder if every year Terry Stewart shows up at the Nominating Committee meeting hoping that another stadium act like U2 or Aerosmith will get the votes to appear on the ballot (maybe Bon Jovi for 2009?).

---

In other Rock Hall financial news, Fox News' Roger Friedman breaks down the finances of the New York-based non-profit Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.