Something is out of sync. When the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum holds its glitzy induction party at the Waldorf-Astoria this month, it expects to raise more than $3 million with tables that cost as much as $100,000 apiece. If last year’s ceremony is any guide, upwards of 300,000 television viewers will tune in when such stars as Madonna, singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, and British Invasion band the Dave Clark Five (“Catch Us If You Can”) are inducted.

The crowd for the glam New York event grows more raucous each year, thanks to the celebrity jams that end the show: In 2007, Keith Richards, Patti Smith, and R.E.M. were among those who joined in. But back in Cleveland, the rock museum funded by the bash is struggling to bring in more visitors. According to tax filings, ticket sales at the museum dropped 43 percent, to an inflation-adjusted $4.2 million, between 1997 and 2006, the most recent year for which figures are available. (A museum spokesperson says sales rose slightly in 2007.)

Rock Hall C.E.O. Terry Stewart says the shrinkage reflects the natural decline in attendance that follows opening-year buzz. He adds that the 13-year-old museum, which cost $93 million to build and houses items like James Brown’s tuxedo jacket, has also had trouble courting locals: They drifted away once the museum cut back on freebie tickets. (Local adults now pay $18, while out-of-towners shell out $22.) Still, the museum has eked out a profit each year with belt-tightening and other moves. Early on, executives sold naming rights to the theater and plaza for $6.8 million. In 2007, the museum canceled the C.M.J./Rock Hall Music Fest, a costly two-year-old event that had attracted 100 acts, including the Pixies and Grandmaster Flash.

Stewart says he has several plans to boost attendance, ranging from 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.

Rock on.

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