U2's Beautiful Days On The Road

The GAME should have a chat with U2. While The GAME is "in prison" on the road. U2 is having the time of their lives, even after 20 years of the grind. According to a recent tour diary post:

Touring is hell...

‘Touring is hell, or it used to be. These days it's an amazing
privilege, and it gets better each time we go out.

We fly around the world getting applause from our fans for just showing up, and we get to do the thing we most love: playing our music. On days off we get to see some of the most beautiful areas of the country we’re in.


Maybe The GAME should consider making watered down feelgood music instead???

Full blissful tour diary post here.

BRIEF: The Game Is Not Having Fun

According to a recent MTV report, rapper, The Game, is having a horrible time on the road. He was quoted as saying:

"Being on (the) bus is like being in a prison on wheels, man....you start getting claustrophobic and when I start getting mad I just start pulling people out of their bunk and kicking them in the face and s***."

Sounds like they need to add a request for post-show tranquilizers to the rider. In the meantime, someone please at least get the tour manager a whistle and some pepper spray.

Yikes!

Full article here.

Live Nation Makes New Friends

This just in! In a further move away from their murky Clear Channel roots, Live Nation has added two big names to their Board of Directors, Harvey Weinstein and Robert "Ted" Enloe. As many of you know, Weinstein was a founder of groundbreaking movie house Miramax Films. Enloe has made a big name for himself in securities and real estate, and sits on a number of corporate boards.
More info here.

Live Nation's Big Idea

Here are my notes from last week's Live Nation Credit Suisse presentation.

What They Said:

• The goal this year was to narrow down and focus on music and trim away the fat. To that end they've developed a vertical integration strategy.
• Though this industry has existed for a long time it was the last to get professionalized (and is still dragging behind if you ask me). Live Nation is working to develop a "clarity of mission."
• Part of this strategy included seeling off non-strategic assets like the sports division and acquiring Trunk Ltd. and House of Blues
• Artists are now (and for the last few years) making more money on the road than selling records.
• Live Nation spends over a billion dollars a year in talent costs and don't expect that to change.
• They would however like to stretch that dollar to includes such things are more performance s and more rights to broadcast said performances since they are "providing the strategic capital" (read: yo dude! we have speakers installed!)
• Next year there will also be an increased focus on getting out of non-optimum venus in wrong markets.
• They have too many ampitheatres that they can't sell out. One thousand to five thousand seaters
• The number of European properties surpassed United States this year.
• They have developed a new top market strategy in N. America as they currently do in Europe whereby they will have the best venues (at the large and mid-sized level) in the first tier markets (major cities) and pull out of less profitable second tier markets.
• Internation expansion is a high priority. They have their lasers set on Spain, Germany, Australia, and Japan among others.
• House of Blues has immeasurable brand value and name recognition for Live Nation, however I didn't get a sense that they were particularly clear on how the rest of their properties could capitalise from it.
• This year was about investing in the company more than anything else.
• They will be rolling out an online store powered by MusicToday very soon.
• They are aggressively looking to expand in the music festival market, as they already have the rights to the largest festivals in Europe and have found them to be immensely profitable (Boonnarroo, Coachella this means you. Name your price).
• They need to sort out a better food and beverage deal.
• They may sort a deal out with Ticketmaster to work together on a Live Nation ticketing system but they will no longer farm their ticketing out to Ticketmaster.

What They Didn't Say/ What sounded fishy:

• They didn't say anything about artist development. They seem to be content with the idea that the artists that fill the arenas and clubs might not be the same from year to year, rather than trying to work on developing staying power and using that to form the basis of their (sorely needed) customer relationship/ audience development strategy.
• They want to figure out how to sell fans more "artist stuff". But there was not much talk about the quality of said "stuff".
• They talked about having an email list of 25 million "avid concertgoers", but didn't explain what that meant. We all know most people rarely/never go to concerts, so what does it mean to have an email list of which a sizable chunk are people who just want to see Barbara Streisand?

Off The Road Again: No One Coming Out To Play

With the weather getting colder and the roads getting slicker it seems the end of year show cancellations are starting to pile up, I just got word that the Coup and Mr. Lif got into a car crash that put a screeching halt to their current tour and David Berman and The Silver Jews cancelled their last two shows of their year. According to the website, they are going through "winterization" according to popular opinion, Berman is going through a major case of stage fright. More on that (via Tinymixtapes) here.

Taking their cancellations and raising them, Robert Pollard has announced he will no longer be touring.

"This is not to say I'll never play another show again, but this touring thing is too much," the ex-Guided By Voices frontman tells Billboard.com. "It's too hard to psychologically re-energize yourself each night."

Rest of the article (via Billboard) here.

Listen Up: Phil Collins Is More Committed Than You

While you may neglect your girlfriend, your dishes, and your mounting bills to devote more time to the band, dude, Phil Collins has probably got you beat by quite a lot. In reuniting his band Genesis, Collins risks permanent deafness (dude!).

Six years ago, Collins suddenly loss hearing in his right ear and has been steering clear of that noisy scene ever since.

He says, "I find it very difficult to hear in loud environments. I was advised not to do any more shows. But it hasn't got any worse. You just run the risk of b**gering the other ear up."

The Genesis reunion tour is slated to run from June to July 2007.

Ch-ch-changes: New York Venues

A few weeks after the closing of CBGB's and a day before CMJ, I get wind of some sweeping changes with my local NYC music scene. As is the case in so many big city music scenes, big conglomerates are beginning to swallow up many of the smaller venues. According to an article in online news source, Gothamist.com, the ever popular Lower East Side Luna Lougne will be reopening next year after a two year closure, however this time Live Nation will be at the helm. Across the river in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, venue North Six has been purchased by junior promoter Bowery Presents (of Mercury Lounge, Bowery Ballroom, and Webster Hall fame and glory) and will soon go by the new (and decidely less catchy) name of The Music Hall of Williamsburg.

While this is exciting news for some, I know that this monopoloizing is bad news for up and coming bands. More big name promoters running small venues means a greater focus on the bottom dollar which will shut developing bands out of even more rooms. With moves like this in the very near future, baby bands might be much better served by moving to Philly like these gag ads (from an Adhouse Advertising School assignment) suggested a few months ago.

Shows To See At Sea: The Cruise Concert Industry Flourishes

(Via Pollstar) While the audience for mega concerts may be dwindling on land, promoters are creating new and more appealing showgoing experiences by floating the show out to sea. According to a recent Pollstar article, revenues for concert cruises. While the concert cruise has been the bastion of jam bands for a while, other genres are jumping on the boat. Country mega star Tim McGraw will headline Live Nation's "Country Cruise Getaway" in January; with fans paying in the range of $900 to $2,000 for the full package. This trend is showing promoters that in the case of the live experience quality may be out quantity. An intimate show as part of a total package experience may emerge as a winning strategy.

Full story here.

BRIEF: The Dixie Chicks' Newest Ticket Flop

It might be time for The Dixie Chicks to address the idea that maybe they're just not a very good band. After a particularly rough touring season this summer, Austin, TX band The Dixie Chicks are now facing dwindling sales on another project. Sales for a Lubbock, TX sneak preview screening of their documentary "Shut up and Sing" were reported to be sluggish. After an hour and half of sales, only 22 of the 300 tickets had been sold.

(Full article here)

Barenaked Ladies Go For Green

On their forthcoming tour, Barenaked Ladies jump on the environmentally responsible band wagon (no pun intended). For their "Barenaked Planet Tour" the group has teamed up with non-profit Reverb to create educational eco-villages at all their shows. The eco-villages will also be hubs for biodiesel collection and recycling projects.






















We're looking forward to reducing the amount of waste and CO2 emissions we create on tour," says bassist/vocalist Jim Creeggan. "Now that technologies like Biodiesel, Renewable Energy and Compostable Products are available, it has made it possible for us to take action against environmental threats like Global Warming and Deforestation. We hope the concert industry will take the opportunity to use these innovations as well. There isn't time to wait.

Reverb was started by musician Adam Gardner(who plays in some band I've never heard of called Guster) and his wife to educate fans and help mroe bands create enivronmentally responsible tours. The Reverb crew has recently toured with Dave Matthews Band, Alanis Morissette, Jack Johnson, Avril Lavigne.

While I've seen other bands make one time commitments to sustainable on their tours, it is exciting to see that bands now have the ability to travel green on every tour. Very nice.

Full article here.

Ticketmaster and Live Nation Get It On

(Via CMJ.com)So much to talk about, so precious little time!

So let's get to it. Anyone who knows me knows I love being right, so you can only imagine the glee I felt when I read that Live Nation had intentions of possibly bouncing out Ticketmaster to reduce ticket costs. During the first quarter earnings call, Live Nation Chairman, MichaelRapino, hinted at the "long discussion" they were going to have to have with Ticketmaster when their exclusive ticket retailing agreement expired in 2008. I noted Rapino's tone, and have been keeping a keen eye on the situation ever since. And now -ta da!--from the looks of things, that conversation may be happening sooner than expected.

Just a few days ago in the LA Times, Michael Rapino was quoted as saying, "Seventy percent of people didn't go to a concert last year, and even the average concert fan only attends about two shows a year. We can grow this industry by lowering prices."

According to a report from CMJ.com

Fees incurred by (Tickemaster) services frequently raise ticket prices by 25-35 percent. Last year, average ticket prices rocketed to $57 for the most popular gigs. Meanwhile, Ticketmaster collected almost $1 billion off of the fees and surcharges.

So it sounds like the Live Nation gang might be grabbing back the reins and bringing ticket prices back to a slighly saner range. There's no telling whether this can or will happen before 2008, but in light of Comcast's expansion of their ticket busines; developments in areas such as mobile ticketing; and Live Nation's forward march in developing brand identity through their website and many many acquisitions, Ticketmaster had better scramble or else the Ryder truck will be backing up in their garage.

Full article here.

ComCast expands their ticket racket

Cable provider ComCast has announced they are getting into the ticket selling game ousting Ticketmaster in an increasing number of markets. While this new competition for Ticketmaster won't lead to lower prices for consumers (Comcast-Spectacor president Peter Luukko said ComcastTIX fees would match those of competitors - often about $13 per ticket); the plan is to update the site to also sell t-shirts, drinks, parking, and other concert related goods and services. I imagine it will also probably all be available via their vast cable system, eh?

Comcast has been selling tickets ever since it invested in Paciolan Systems Inc., of Irvine, Calif., a major player in the in-house ticketing industry, two years ago. Comcast then created New Era Tickets, which sold 6 million tickets nationally last year, mostly outside the Philadelphia market.
More info here.

AEG In Hot Water Over Freeze Out

(Via Encore) A recent lawsuit filed by The Forum Center in Inglewood California contends that the company entered into a contract with Anschutz Corp.(parent company of AEG) to handle its booking, but instead of providing sufficient bookings AEG used their privileged position to drive traffic away from Forum and towards the (Anschutz-owned) Staples Center.

In 2000, the agreement was signed by the two parties and a few years later a yearly guarantee of $500,000 was tacked on. The yearly gurantee was apparently still not enough to nudge Anschutz to increase bookings at the 18,000 space venue.

"In other words, AEG has paid $500,000 per year to put the Forum out of business as an entertainment venue," the lawsuit claims.

While it is possible that there might be some dirty dealings here, I am inclined to believe that the true culprit is the over-sized overstuffed Forum itself. As we've discussed here numerous times before, the ticket buying public is not interested in the supersized arena shows of yesteryore (sic). As the less popular (or more sorely neglected, let the judge decide) of the two venues, they are obviously going to feeling the pinch a lot more. The case might just boil down to zeitgeist.

OK, OK, I'm back

So yeah, a few days turned into a month, and then I thought maybe I'd just stay away, but there were social pressures and so now I'm back. News and views will recommence today. Stay tuned.

***on vacation***

Hey Kids

I forgot to mention, the website is on a short vacation. Be back in a few days!

Enjoy The Shows!

Lollapalooza and Lance Armstrong

Did you know that this year's Lollapalooza might not be happening if not for bicycle-superstarLance Armstrong? What? you ask. Well, Jim Derogaitis explains it all in his Sun Times profile of the masterminds behind this year's Lollapalooza, the two Charlies from Austin: Charles Attal of Charles Attal Presents and Charlie Jones of Capital Sports. Jones was a small-time promoter who rose to prominence on the Austin scene after putting together a large celebration for Lance Armstrong's 1999 Tour de France victory, and in 2002 he came together with Charles Attal to produce the now reknowned Austin City Limits festival. While it is an interesting story, it is ultimately sad to know that two people who amount to little more than "suits" who are taking the helm of some beloved musical institutions without any true curatorial love or care besides making big profits.

In a marked contrast to many concert promoters, Jones and Attal do not come across as enthusiastic or even particularly knowledgeable music fans: In a dozen conversations with this reporter over the last two years, neither has ever been the first to bring up a band or album he's excited about.

...................................

"These guys are real go-getters, really ambitious, and they want to be the biggest concert promoters in the world," Austin journalist Corcoran said in an interview. "Lollapalooza was a huge brand that had failed. They saw that, and they wanted to do something national -- something really big to break out of Texas and prove what they could do -- and they just followed the model of what they did with the ACL Fest."

Launched by former Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell in 1991, Lollapalooza started as a traveling day-long festival epitomizing the alternative-rock era. It grew as Farrell partnered with the Hollywood-based William Morris Agency, but petered out when the alternative scene waned in 1998. Revived in similar form in 2003, it fell apart again in 2004. Music-business insiders thought it was dead for good -- until Capital Sports bought a controlling interest from William Morris, which maintains a stake, and Farrell, who was convinced to stay on as a spokesman and consultant after the two Charlies wined, dined and flew him to Europe to watch the Tour de France.

Check out the rest of the article here.

Black Eyed Peas Freedom Campaign

Has the whole world gone mad? Yes!

You know how I know?



Just recently it was announced that the world's most benign group of breakdancing clothes-horses is advocating a cause. The Black Eyed Peas recently performed at a concert in Thailand to support the release of Burmese Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi. The concert, which is part of the Freedom Campaign initiative ( a joint project between Human Rights Action Center and U.S. Campaign for Burma) will also be simulcast in Burma where the author is under house arrest for promoting a democratic agenda. the simulcast marks the second time the people of Burma will ever be party to a concert calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the first time it will be broadcast from a neighboring nation.

Hmm, I think Art Brut's Eddie Argos has got it all wrong, I think The Black Eyed Peas will write the song that makes Israel and Palestine get along.

More info here.

BRIEF: Live Nation Swallows Up Everything In Sight

In an effort to...er..um...take overthe entire live music industry. Live Nation announces plans to acquire MusicToday, an industry leader in connecting fans with artists through VIP services, fan clubs, and ticketing. The six year old company handles such big name artists as Britney Spears, Usher, and Christina Aguilera, as well as providing services to venues, promoters, labels and even non-music stars like Teri Hatcher.

"Our mission is to build larger and more passionate communities of fans around our artist clients," said Mr. Capshaw. "Partnering with Live Nation will allow us to provide the artist with a full suite of services related to the live experience. We are now in the unique position to create opportunities for artist-fan interaction both online through our platforms and offline at venues, taking fan communities beyond the virtual world to the places where artists and fans converge. Together we will offer artists unparalleled marketing reach while championing new and innovative products for their fans."

Full press release here.

More info on MusicToday here.

Tickets Not So High After All?

Apparently after all that balking about ticket prices sales appear to be up.
According to a recent article in the Ithaca journal (with information culled from Pollstar I presume) ticket sales are up 20% for the first half of 2006. In addition to the usual suspects, comedy acts like Jerry Seinfeld and Larry the Cable Guy had great record sales as did rock band Fall Out Boy.

The robust market is a bit of a surprise. Last summer, many said that high ticket prices accounted for a drop in the number of tickets sold in the first half of 2005.

But this year, “the really huge acts haven't seen that much price resistance,” says Pollstar Editor-in-Chief Gary Bongiovanni.

Fans paid as much as $350 to see Madonna (not including third-party sales), with the average ticket going for $186. A typical Stones seat cost $170. By contrast, the average ticket last year for U2 — the biggest draw at this point in the 2005 season — cost $97.

Of course, we are all waiting for the drop off point which may be around the corner, with $750 tickets on a slow trickle for Barbara Streisand.

Full article here.

Gigantour Returns!!

(Via Pollstar) I'm mostly writing about this because it has a fun name. Sponsored by Xbox 360, Gigantour, the heavy metal concert tour created by Megadeth's frontman Dave Mustaine is headed back to stages this year. I don't understand why this tour exists when there is already the Ozzfest to contend with. But considering it features Anthrax, Dream Factory, and Anthrax maybe this is the festival for the heavy metal legacy/old school acts? I dunno.



The whole deal kicks off in September. To find out more about it click here (the website secretly kinda rocks)..

BRIEF: Deep Purple Holds Off on Mideast Touring

(Via Blabbermouth)In light of the ongoing Israeli assault in Lebanon, veteran rock act Deep Purple has decided to postpone their forthcoming tour dates there.

"It's in everyone's interest that a musical concert be a relatively peaceful event. Once they get things together and the situation settles down and the time is right, I'm sure we'll go back." Glover added, "It's a shame. I know the area quite well and Baalbeck is quite beautiful and very historic. I was actually looking forward to the concert."

In 1966, the band played a 9-week stint in Lebanon.

BRIEF: American Idol touring stays strong

Ask Simon Cowell about the reported slump in ticket sales nation wide and you might be met with a perplexed glare. While other acts might be feeling the pinch, the American Idol All Star tours have been riding high for years. This year, the group will travel through the country for 60 sold out tour dates.

"On one hand it surprises me, on the other it doesn't," says Jeff Frasco, the Creative Artists Agency executive responsible for the tour. "The television show is so popular, the audience is vested with the kids throughout the entire season, and they just want to see them."

Story here on Reuters.

BRIEF: Jowell gets tough

(Via Brooklynvegan) Realizing that strong urging alone is not really going to make the difference, British culture secretary Tessa Jowell gives promoters a timeline to shape up and get tough on scalping or pay the price.

In her most recent meeting with industry leaders she set out an action plan for the eradication of scalping. Action items include:

• An industrywide standard for ticket refund by original purchaser
• A website created by Concert Promoters Association where fans can exchange tickets at face value
• An established code of practice for primary and secondary ticket sellers.

"If it hasn't come up with a workable solution to stamping out the most unscrupulous touts by next summer, where there is clear evidence it's needed, we may consider targeted action and changes in legislation to ensure genuine fans are protected from exploitation."

I wonder what sparked the sudden show of force, maybe she heard about the scalper convention and got annoyed?

Full article here.

Virgin's Festival Comes Stateside

Richard Branson and co. have announced the launch of the first ever Virgin Festival in US modelled after V Festival which is already a ten year institution in UK.

The festival which is, of course, a promotional vehicle for Virgin artists and products (like Virgin Mobile and Virgin Airlines) will be held September at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course will feature such artists as Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Who, The Flaming Lips, Gnarls Barkley, The Killers and The Raconteurs.

"People expect the unexpected from Virgin," said Sir Richard Branson, founder and chairman of Virgin. "Our core philosophy of customer empowerment has created a real presence for Virgin in the United States. Virgin Festival By Virgin Mobile will enable us to expose an even broader audience to that brand philosophy. By creating a music festival that goes beyond expectations, we strive to make the overall live experience explosive and unique."

The festival sounds great , but I am a tad annoyed that I already got tickets for The Flaming Lips here in New York. I might have to sell my tickets and hop down to Baltimore. Flaming Lips AND The Who in New York would easily cost me more than the $97.50 cost of admission for the full day festivities in Baltimore. Thinking...thinking.

Also being the big nerd that I am, I am eager to see whether they use this as an opportunity to launch m-ticketing stateside...fingers crossed!

Full press release here.

Scalper Convention This Week

(Via BrooklynVegan) Apparently there is a professional ticket scalper convention going on right now where major promoters are rubbing elbows with ticket resellers both large (EBay) and medium (Tickettoolshed.com) and small (Fast Eddie and Crazy Joe).

Ticket Summit is a secondary ticket industry conference and trade show. It will host a consortium of experts and leaders within the ticket community, offering a chance to establish and foster relationships valuable to your business.

This conference is the illegitimate pre-party (the Slamdance of ticket selling if you will) to the real deal which is the National Association of Ticket Brokers conference taking place over this weekend. I hope the legit ticket brokers are taking detailed notes so that during their one real meeting (everything else seems to be golf and cocktails, honestly see the schedule here ), "Ticket Distribution in the 21st Century", they will be able to hammer out some solid ideas about how to deal with insane scalping and stupid high ticket prices.

Read more about Ticket Summit and NATB.

BRIEF: David and Goliath In Chicago

In the Sunday Sun Times, Jim DeRogaitis explored the ramifications of the Live Nation HOB purchase in Chicago, through a chat with the head of city's biggest independent promoter JAM productions.

Jam Productions co-founder Jerry Mickelson, sees trouble.

"I think it's bad for the consumer and bad for those of us who are in the live entertainment industry, because one more competitor has just been eliminated by Live Nation," he says. "It's not a healthy thing: Competition is good, but the way the concert industry is going, pretty soon, they'll be only one company."

The article also outlines the history of competition between House of Blues, JAM, and Live Nation.

Full article here.

The Numbers Are In!: Pollstar's Mid-year Report

Pollstar's mid-year concert report numbers are in; ticket sales are up and the Queen of Pop, Madonna, is on top.

Here are the bullet points :

• With a combined revenue of $1.012 billion, the Top 10 tours of 2006 have earned 38.5% more than last year's Top 10 at mid-year '05.
• The number of tours earning over $20 million has doubled this year to 12.
• The average tickets sold per city was up 1,233, or 22.7 percent, to 6,660.
• The average ticket price was up 16% compared to this period last year, continuing a decade long trend of yearly increases (with the exception of a price drop in 2004).
• Most new headliners are in the country music sphere, though Fall Out Boy did make the jump to a headlining rock act.
• Live Nation reported to Pollstar that it sold 10.6 million tickets worldwide in the first half of 2006. AEG reported 3.6 million sold and House Of Blues 3.2 million. Needless to say, if the Feds don't put the brakes on the deal, the purchase of House of Blues will make Live Nation an even more unbeatable force and a newly dominant force in the nightclub business.

Here are some questions:

• Where will the new headliners come from in the coming years?
• Will the ongoing litigation against Live Nation be enough to raise an eyebrow and slow the sale of House of Blues?
• With Live Nation as pretty much the only game in town in most markets will artists go direct instead of using agents to broker deals? (question stolen from Pollstar and rephrased)

Pollstar Business Analysis here
List of Top 100 Concerts here
Links to other superimportant lists and charts to geek out to here(login required)

Live Nation Is In The Merch Biz

Apparently the Live Nation shopping spree is nowhere near over. Today the company acquired majority stake in TRUNK LTD, a top merchandise company. TRUNK has exclusive licenses with a number of superstar acts including Aerosmith, The Beatles, Blondie, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd,The Grateful Dead, and The Doors to name a few. Additionally TRUNK LTD's CEO Brad Beckerman has been named President and Chief Creative Officer of Merchandising at Live Nation. This adds a whole new division to Live Nation, a company which is already a global leader in venue management and event promotion. The company is also making strides in digital content distribution. Most recently, the company purchased the House of Blues chain of clubs.

"Live Nation and TRUNK LTD share the same core consumer. Ourpartnership gives both of our companies the ability to enhance each other'sbrand," said Mr. Beckerman. "Music is the language of emotion; togetherLive Nation and TRUNK LTD will further enhance the emotional connectionbetween the artist and fan by extending the live experience beyond the show."

I'm still not entirely certain how merch fits into the grand scheme of things. I thought the focus was supposed to be getting butts into seats, but I guess that remains to be seen. I'm thinking this might be placed under brand identity; a rebranding of TRUNK and HOB could help to distinguish Live Nation as a brand and distance themselves from Clear Channel OR alternatively Live Nation might be trying to associate themselves with more popular brands towards the same goal of disassociating their name from CC . Then again with their exclusive deal to record live shows and make them available for sale to the public, I suppose they could just go ahead and open rock memorabilia shops.

Hmm, well I guess we'll all heare more about the plans for TRUNK in the forthcoming earnings call.

Zippo Tour Focuses on The Future

A recent article on Monsters and Critics profiles this year's Zippo's Tour. The tour is unique in that though it features major acts like Papa Roach (last year's tour had All American Rejects as headliners) the main focus is emerging local acts from every town where the tour stops.

"Zippo is a family-owned company, and they`re taking those family values and applying them to the local music scenes," Stephan adds. "What the Zippo Hot tour endeavors to do is use the online space to help connect kids and let them understand there is great music in their city and other cities. Zippo wants to be the brand behind helping facilitate that and become a part of their lifestyle."

Created through a joint venture between Fuse music television and the Zippo's lighter company the tour will hit cities with bands in every city competing for $100,00 in prizes and a support slot on Papa Roach's November tour.

If this is legit it sounds like a good idea, but part of me feels like this is a battle of the bands type scam. I hope I am wrong.

Full articlehere.

BRIEF: Show Shushing

Article in San Diego examines the rising phenomenon of incessant audience chit-chat. Though concert chatter is nothing new, with the spread of cellphones, the endless talk has reached what some feel is an intolerable high.

Just why people pay up to $100 or more per seat to attend a concert, only to talk throughout it, is a mystery. But talk they do, and not just in San Diego, Los Angeles or London.

At Atlanta's 7,500-seat Chastain Park Amphitheatre, artists including Rickie Lee Jones and R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe have scolded loudly talking fans.

During a 2003 Chastain concert to promote his ambitious “Greendale” album and film, Neil Young commented from the stage: “Once I made the mistake of playing acoustic in Las Vegas, and people talked through every song. I don't do that anymore. Nice to know there's a little bit of Vegas right here in Atlanta.”

Full article here.

Live Nation Second Quarter Earnings Call Scheduled

Hey Kids! Guess what's almost upon us? Yes, you guessed it! The Live Nation Second Quarter Earnings Call! It's scheduled for Friday, August 4th at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

For a quick refresher, here's my overview of last quarter's earnings call.

Here's my current quick list of items to listen for:

1) EVENT PROMOTION - Event revenues are up no doubt with the summer season in high gear and the purchase of Concert Productions International.
2) VENUES - Venue revenues are also without a doubt up, and with the sale of Broadway properties and the purchase of House of Blues revenues are poised to go even higher.
3) DIGITAL & BRANDING - I don't expect much change on the digital initiative side, but I am interested to hear whether they reveal any plans to change the direction of the House of Blues franchise, namely whether they plan to rebrand. This might be a good opportunity for them to define their identity and build relationships with the audience.
4) Also, do you think they will touch on any of the ongoing antitrust litigation? I'm guessing no, but I'll be keeping a sharp for any discussion of board restructuring.

OK, I'm off to dust my party hat for another celebratory call. These are high times for Mike and the gang....

Press release here.

Mobile Ticketing Gets Going

The recent issue of Billboard (July 15) features a full page article about the roll out of the newest trend in concert ticket sales, mobile ticketing or 'm-ticketing'. Through this system concertgoers can get tickets sent directly to their phone as a screen bar code which can be scanned at the venue entrance. Not only does this system cut out the paper waste and the cost of getting tickets sent through mail, but best of all it thwarts scalpers since it cannot be transferred from phone to phone.

"The mobile phone is without doubt the next step for us to create close relationships with our customers," Live Nation U.K. managing director Stuart Galbraith says. "The technology not only gives us the ability to access customers directly, they also don't have to wait for the mail or read their eamil to know they have their tickets."

The method has been tested in various European markets (in UK through a parnership between Ticketmaster, Nokia and Live Nation and in France by Vodaphone and marketing company Enpocket) and its most large scale use to date has been the O2 Wireless Festivall where ₤100,000 worth of m-tickets were sold within the first week of sales. However this summer's busy season will be the true test of m-tickets abilities, and Galbraith hopes that m-ticketing will soon be available in all 9 Live Nation venues throughout the UK.

I'll no doubt be keeping my eye out for more news about m-ticketing and am particularly interested to see whether its popularity will increase sales in backup cellphone power (for those last minute outages).

BRIEF: Wayne Coyne Loves His Audience... a lot

My love for Wayne Coyne just grows and grows. In a recent interview, The Flaming Lips' front man said that he wanted to give everyone in the crowd vibrating underwear in an attempt to make the live experience a..um.. full body experience. He says he's already tried it on his wife and a few employees.

"See, I believe in doing things," he explained. "That's the problem with most artists: They just dream and dream and dream. You gotta do stuff."



This man is a total visionary. Where do I sign?

Full article here.

Live Nation Grabs HOB

(Via Brooklyn Vegan) In further Live Nation news, Michael Rapino and co. continue the company's forward march with the unexpected acquisition of House of Blues Entertainment. The company which consists of ten clubs and eight ampitheatres throughout the country, will be purchased for $350 million in cash.

Live Nation Chief Executive Officer Michael Rapino commented: "We have great respect for the House of Blues employees and what they have accomplished and we look forward to welcoming them into the Live Nation family."

"This represents a compelling opportunity to grow our brand and accelerate the expansion of our club business, both in the United States and abroad," said House of Blues Chief Executive Officer Greg Trojan. "Together, we will be able to take live music to a new level, delivering more music on more dates in more local venues."

The transaction should be complete by the close of 2006, in the meantime I'm hunting down more information about how much this merger will increase Live Nation's marketshare. It seems like it's leaning towards monopoly-time in the midsize concert market.

Full article at billboard.biz.

BRIEF: Hootie expands their Homegrown Concert Series

Man, these stars are so magnanimous this season! In an effort to further the efforts of their foundation, top-selling artists Hootie & the Blowfish have partnered with Live Nation and Hard Rock Cafe to expand their Homegrown Concert Series. The concert was established in 2003 as a way to draw attention to the plight of schoolchildren in their hometown of Charleston, South Carolina who suffer from yearly budget cuts. This year the concert will travel to 12 cities through South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, aand Michigan with the band encouraging the audiences to donate new school supplies which will be provided to schoolchildren of the areas surrounding each stadium.

Full article and more info about the concerts here.

Keane Channels Touring Angst into New LP

Despite the whirlwind year British trio, Keane, had in 2005 with a best-selling album and a tour with U2, touring left the band frustrated and by the end they were barely speaking to each other.



"I think we were pretty spent," said drummer Hughes as he sat in a hotel bar with the rest of the group. "It seemed to us like we'd been touring a long time and we'd stopped communicating and sort of started to shut ourselves off a bit just to survive, and you enter a sort of crash mode."

Though one would expect the band to scatter in opposite directions as soon as they stepped foot back in Sussex, they rather headed back into the studio. Much like The Zutons, they channeled the angst of touring into more music.

I understand that the creative process is different for different artists, but if rappers from the projects in Brooklyn can make millions rapping about dancing with girls in St. Tropez, rock bands should be able to roll with the punches and find inspiration wherever they go. Touring is not a new phenomenon,and neither is post-tour fatigue. Look alive people, there are songs yet to be sung!

"We've always evolved as people making music," said (drummer, Richard) Hughes. "It's just that the first five or six years of it, no one was watching ... now it's sort of in full view."

Full article here.

Who Can You See For Just 99 Cents?

You can see The Who! Through a deal with Hard rock Cafe' (promoters of the event), you can see The Who's Hyde Park performance for less than a clam by visiting http://www.thewholive.tv. A portion of the revenue from these purchases will be donated to a number of charities including the Teenage Cancer Trust, the Michael J. Fox Foundation (Parkinson's Research), the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation (for underprivileged children) and the Robin Hood Foundation (funding poverty-fighting organizations in New York City).

I don't know about you, but I have a feeling that this may be another example of a promotion company trying to develop a new revenue stream through delivering live streams. Live Nation and AEG have already rolled out their systems, but it remains to be seen whether there is a substantial market for this product, especially as the cost gets slowly wratcheted up.

Full Pollstar article here.

BRIEF: Dave Matthews Gets Clean

A year after Dave Matthews Band was fined for dumping human waste from their tour bus into a river (and actually hitting a passing by riverboat), the band have announced a new environmentally friendly touring plans. Through Native Energy and Clean Air-Cool Planet the band will be offsetting 100% of their carbon emissionss. For those of you who (like me) have no idea what that means. Let's learn together!

According to Offsetters.com, this means that the band will be use a meter to keep track of their CO2 emissions and then make an exact dollar donation to the abovementioned organizations sustainable energy projects. Native Energy is a Native American run organization that helps companies build renewable energy systems and Clean Air Cool Planet educate and advocate on
general reduction of carbon emissions.

"As artists we need to act now to slow global warming. Carbon offsets are one thing we can do to help and we felt working with NativeEnergy was a good place to start,” says Dave Matthews Band.

For more info about the hideous effects of carbon emissions on our environment watch, An Inconvenient Truth (but I warn you, you might need a cup of coffee it is a little dry).
For more info about Native Energy click here.
For full article click here

BRIEF: Innovative Ticketing: In Ticketing

In San Jose, a new company has joined the ticket selling market chock full of great new ideas and a lower service rate. Founded by Steve Weisz, a devoted concert-goer, In Ticketing is devoted to cutting costs for the fans while introducing innovative new systems like print at home tickets and paperless will call. Additionally the company has shown a commitment to the environment with many programs including tickets made from hemp and flax seed hull stock (!).

As part of their push to make tickets more affordable to fans, In Ticketing typically charges half of Ticketmaster's fees. For a Goo Goo Dolls show this summer at the Concord Pavilion, the fees for Ticketmaster are $10.10 versus $5.99 for the same delivery method through In Ticketing, a company spokeswoman said.

In the beginning they started small, investing a mere $195 and offering a limited range of web-hosting and ticketing services to a handful of independent promoters. Drawing on their tech savvy, however, the pair quickly expanded their scope to include privately branded fan club ticketing as well as venue and box-office management services.

While I'm not very familiar with Ticketmaster systems, it seems like the ease and accessibility of In Ticketing's systems will undoubtedly light a fire under the big guys. And with $16 million in revenue last year, In Ticketing may soon be giving them a run for their money. I'll keep an eye out.

Full article in Silicon Valley Business Journal here(scroll down a bit) . More info about In Ticketing at their website here.

BRIEF: Ditty Bops Bike Tour

One more to file under GAS. Now, I told you a few weeks ago about Peter and The Wolf's boat tour, now we have The Ditty Bop's Bike Tour. The Los Angeles based band will be touring through the United States on sponsor provided bikes while a van follows them with their gear. According to the band's website:

This summer we are embarking on a bicycle tour of America in support of cycling, clean air, and our new album "Moon Over the Freeway". Our new record was just released on May 23rd. On May 25th we departed by bicycle from LA and set out toward NY. You too can help in our adventure by joining us on our rides or emailing us with unique places to play, stay, or visit en route to New York City.

Fans can keep track of the ladies' progress (along with pictures and video !)on their blog
http://thedittybopsbiketour.blogspot.com and even plan to ride along with the band.


(The band in Colorado)

Full article on Pollstar here.

Ozzy and the aging industry

(Sorry I didn't blog yesterday. I have no excuse for my oversight. I will blog twice today and hope that you forgive me. )

In a recent issue, the New York Times profiled Ozzy Osbourne as an entry to a discussion about the "aging concert industry".

" But this year the Iron Man and his tour are confronting an uncomfortable reality: rust. Mr. Osbourne, who broke more than half a dozen bones in an accident a few years back, plans to play just 10 of this year's 26 dates. "Ozzy needed to take time out," said Sharon Osbourne, his wife and manager. (Mr. Osbourne was in tour rehearsals last week and unavailable for comment, his spokesman said.) "It just becomes like a routine. The thing is, you never want to get like that. He's got to be as excited as everybody else." But it is increasingly unclear how many more years a man of his age can stay with the tour in any capacity. "It's a worry to me," Ms. Osbourne acknowledged.

She's not the only one. The $3-billion-a-year concert industry is worrying right along with her, about Ozzy and all his contemporaries too.

This summer, a remarkable number of the projected best-selling tours are led by people eligible for AARP membership. Tom Petty is 55. Jimmy Buffett is 59. Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend are both 61. Madonna, whose tour is the hottest so far this year, is a youthful 47. "

While I've blogged a bit about the impending changes in the industry with veteran acts slowly coming off the market, the fatalism (Randy Phillips of AEG warns that we are going to "run out of headliners" soon) is a bit ridiculous. While it is true that The Rolling Stones may only have a few short years left on the touring circuit, it is also true that the number of people who want to pay the exorbitant ticket prices at gigantaur arenas to see them is also dwindling. Audiences are ready for a new and dynamic concert, something that is not so centered around one big ticket headliner (Ozzy will playing the parking lot at Ozz Fest!) and is more about purchasing a remarkable experience. I think these changes (if implemented) will dovetail with the pasing of legacy acts from the market. If promoters actually have to rely upon multiple shows to make up the money so be it. Anyone from Myspace or Guitar Center will tell you that there are more bands popping up all over the place than ever. A vast number of promoters (for example the people of Superfly Productions, creators of Bonnaroo Festival) and performers are reimagining the live experience and we can't even predict what's forthcoming. So much more is possible. I'm excited. Those who lack imagination can fade away.

SOLD! (but not to you): The battle for tickets

Rolling Stone, Mick Jagger, once sang "You can't always get what you want" and it may prove true if you're gunning for a premium ticket to one of their upcoming shows. In what's being touted as a deterrent to ticket scalpers, Ticketmast has started to offer some tickets to some shows by way of its new online auction system.

Here’s the basic principle: The most desirable seats for popular shows are offered in timed auctions to the highest online bidders, with no limit on how high prices can go. Ticketmaster introduced what it calls “dynamic pricing” three years ago for tickets to a boxing match in Los Angeles, and there have long been isolated auctions for front row seats benefiting charities. But the practice started to catch on more widely only last year when Ticketmaster clients began putting more tickets for more shows up for auction.

While thus far only the hottest tickets are being auctioned this way, Ticketmaster anticipates that tickets will be sold this way more and more, as the tickets are being sold at "the price people are willing to pay". Some competitors believe that Ticketmaster is bascially "scalping its own tickets". However LiveNation and Ticketmaster believe they are putting the power in the hands of the consumers by letting them pay what they deem is fair for tickets, but with the most expensive Rolling Stones tickets going for $450, it seems that to the craziest and/or the richest always go the spoils. Nothing new about that.

Full article here.

Negligence in NOLA

In what I assume is a sure sign that things are slowly getting back to normal in New Orleans, a NOLA club, Utopia, is being sued for negligence which lead to the death of jazz pianist, Hector Ruiz. According to the suit filed by Ruiz's sister, the musician was brutally beaten in the club on May 19th by another attendee and then thrown out by the club's security. Ruiz later suffered a fall which left him unconscious. He never regained consciousness.

As I mentioned in my blog post about the Great White case, I am very nervous about these negligence cases being brought against venues and individuals. This is not say that as soon as you cross the threshhold of a club, the club should be completely absolved of any responsibility, but I don't think that a precedent should be established where clubs get punished every time a couple of bonehead junior high drop outs make a bad call. Anyway, I will reserve more judgment until I get further details on the case, but as a person who has been to New Orleans ( a place of rampant alcoholism with the motto 'Let The Good Times Roll') many times, I'm feeling pretty certain that this may be nothing more than an unfortunate mistake.

BRIEF: Tickets By The Handful

New York City is a huge theater town--perhaps the biggest in the world. From Broadway to off-Broadway to cramped basements of Chinese restaurants, there is no shortage of shows to go and see. With all this competition, you'd imagine that audience members would be extremely discerning and shows with poor reviews would be empty and close quickly, but that isn't always the case. One of the major reasons why bad shows live is the season ticket subscription. Theater lovers buy season tickets that entitle them to view every production that goes up during the season. In Pennsylvania, Live Nation promoters are taking a similar approach to filling seats at concerts; selling ticket packages based on musical preference for lawn seats .

With a savings of $10-60 it looks like a pretty good deal and a brighter idea than lowering tickets across the board. I believe sports teams do something similar. Not only can they knock out seats for 2-3-4- or even 5 concerts in one fail swoop, but with people coming for multiple shows I think it will increase concession revenue. As you know, dear reader, I am definitely in favor of initiatives that will encourage people to go out to see more live music, so I am interested to see whether this catches on in other places. I'll keep you posted!

More info here.

BRIEF: Apple on Touring

Fiona Apple talks about touring and her upcoming tour in a recent AP interview. The notoriously introverted and tempestuous singer discusses some of the challenges to getting back on the road after a long break...such as connecting with the fans and remembering the actual words to songs.

Q: What was the hardest part of getting back into the routine of a tour?

A: Trying to just remember my own songs, because for the whole time (off) I wasn't doing anything. Pretty much when I'm done recording and taking songs on the road for the first time, I never play them again.

--

Q: There have been times when you've gotten upset on stage. Does that still happen to you?

A: I get upset on the stage all the time. I use the stage as a place to vent everything that I've got going on in my head, so there's always a little bit of being upset up there for some reason. That's just the place where I take stuff out.

While I consider myself a bit of a fan of Ms. Apple's music, the picture this article paints is of a careless and selfish performer and not someone whose show I 'd want to shell out 40 bucks to see. I can only hope that Ms. Apple's true weakness is not on the stage but in accurately speaking about her work. While she is sitting and going over her lyrics for shows, she might do well to go over the speaking points her publicist gave her as well, yikes!

Full interview here here

Veteran Artists Passing The Torch

Now I know I'm not one to normally gush about bands, but I went to see Awesome Color perform on Friday night and it was...well.. stellar (ha! I bet you expected me to say awesome, huh?).



What's even more impressive is recent interview of Thurston Moore in Time Out New York, where he explains that he was essentially told about the band from a fairly reliable source, accidentally missed their show, and then signed the extremely young act to his new label, Ecstatic Peace, sight unseen because he liked their name. Just his luck that the band acutally lived up its name. Awesome Color, whose album comes out tomorrow, will be touring with Sonic Youth for a month (go see them!). While the story is a tad unconventional, the sentiment is absolutely admirable.

At last year's Billboard Road Work Conference, the bigwigs from AEG and Clear Channel were wringing their hands wondering where their next arena filling acts were gonna come from, while simultaneously doing very little to support young acts and young people in general at the conference (their were only like 10 people who were in their 20s in a room of hundreds !). One extremely solid thing promoters can do to ensure the vitality of the concert business is to encourage and provide incentives for veteran acts to select younger acts to take out. I mean how much skin off Mick Jagger's nose would it be to have a top-drawing club band on the road with them. None at all, the fresh faced youth could give them a healthy pump of blood, in fact. David Bowie is another performer who has been vehement about supporting young acts and while some people go too far and say that the only reason TV On The Radio are succeeding is because of Bowie's valiant efforts, his extremely vocal support cannot be discounted.



I certainly hope veteran acts (AND MANAGEMENT AND BIZ EXECS!!!) across the genres take a cue from Moore and Bowie and make a concerted effort to pass the torch to take younger generation. The future of our industry relies on it.

Network Live in Japan

In a further push to bring concert footage to people throughout the world on every platform imaginable, Network Live, the concert distribution venture between AOL, XM Satellite Radio and AEG, will be collaborating with Dreamboat and Dentsu Casting & Entertainment for Japanese of their content.

Network Live's poster boy Bon Jovi will be the first artist distributed through this new partnership and B'z, Japan's top rock duo, will follow suit, as they've signed on as Network Live's newest international artist.

"From the very beginning, entering the Japanese market has been crucial to our overall strategy of building out a global multi-platform network. As with all our distribution agreements, we were seeking the right partner to help us execute our vision," said Andy Brilliant, Executive Vice President of International for Network LIVE. "With Dreamboat and Dentsu Casting & Entertainment, Network LIVE is fulfilling our promise of delivering high-quality, engaging, live content to consumers on global scale -- across platform and device."

While I am inclined to trust Andy because he has a more awesome last name than me, I am still curious as to whether distribution of concerts across cellphones, computer screens, and televisions is the wave of the future that the promoters are banking on. Japan will be a good market to keep an eye on as the project begins to expand. The Japanese have long been trendsetters when it comes to new technologies and new uses of the many gadgets that overcrowd our pockets and handbags. Dentsu is the largest advertising conglomerates in Japan and one of the largest in the world, with powerful news outlets, marketing subsections and distribution networks. Dentsu's forthcoming marketing model may very well set the standard for Network Live's push throughout the world. We'll have to stay tuned.

Dixie Chicks Route Away From Red

A few weeks ago after seeing The Dixie Chicks in an extremely sympathetic piece on 6o Minutes, I wondered whether people might start viewing the purchase of new Dixie Chicks album as a political act. After hearing about the abuse and scorn the cute little blondes received (some people actually threatened their lives!) and seeing their sad little faces on the cover of TIME, even I considered just going out and buying the CD or clicking and grabbing it on ITunes. A few weeks later as their album sales have soared while ticket sales slump in many areas, I'm beginning to think that my theory might have some legs.

Amidst rumors that they were going to have to cancel their tour outright, the band have rerouted their tour away from many of the midwest dates and tacking on more dates in sympathetic parts of the continent, namely the Northeast and Canada .

As of Tuesday afternoon, tickets weren't on sale for 12 of the tours originally planned cities, including in Houston; Jacksonville, Fla., Memphis, Tenn., and St. Louis (see the list of tour dates here).

However, other cities such as Chicago, New York and Philadelphia were reportedly selling briskly, and a second date has been added in Toronto, after the first show sold out in about eight minutes .

The group's spokeswoman issued a statement saying no shows have been canceled.

I guess that while some people might be willing to put their money where their mouth is in support of The Dixie Chicks stance, with the ballooning price of concert tickets the band is gonna have to count on a little more than just pity and politics to get people out to the shows.

Full article here at WNBC.com.

BRIEF: The Gang's Not All Here - New lineups on nostalgia tours

With reunion tours and nostalgia acts making up so much of the big-ticket summer touring circuit, you'd expect that what you're paying for is a pure little taste of your musical past . Unfortunately that's not always the case, while the songs may be a blast from the past , that guy could be someone totally new.

Today's Atlanta Journal Constitution breaks it down by percentages, and lets you know whether they really truly got the old band back together.

Some of the bands have never stopped, but others have reformed, often without some of the key members that made those hits you remember.

So who are these people calling themselves Foreigner or the New Cars? Let's take a look.

BLONDIE

The hits: "Call Me," "The Tide Is High," "Rapture," "Heart of Glass" and four more Top 40 hits from 1979 to 1982.

Percentage of original members remaining: 80%

Read the rest here.

The Dipping Point: Ticket prices reach the point of diminishing returns

A recent article in The Detroit News, goes out on a limb and suggests that perhaps ticket prices have reached the point of diminishing returns. Citing the fact that ticket prices have "soared 82 percent between 1996 and 2003 -- far exceeding the rate of inflation" while concert attendance continues to fall off, they make a fairly solid argument that it may finally FINALLY be time for promoters to wratchet down the prices and bring the fans back.

Prices have increased at the same time the number of tickets sold has slowly but steadily declined. Some industry analysts believe the rate of increases in concert ticket prices has peaked or will soon.

"At a certain point, which we may have reached, you are going to have diminishing returns," said Owen Sloane, a Marina del Ray, Calif., entertainment lawyer with Berger Kahn, who has negotiated contracts for Elton John, Kenny Rogers and Bonnie Raitt, among other clients.

"I think most people in the business feel that the prices are too high, and you're basically cutting out a lot of people."

Live Nation and Clear Channel are facing a class action suit in Detroit for the same questions of collusion which are plaguing them in Denver, and the article seems to favor the argument that concentration of ownership may be one of the most glaring reason for the exorbitant rise in concert ticket prices. While Live Nation does an excellent job of producingthousands of high quality shows every year, they must learn that the best way to improve their product and keep prices in line with what the customer will be pay is by engaging in a bit of friendly competition. I hope to hear news of a major shake up in governance in the weeks to come. The business will benefit and it will do wonders to build trust in their brand (which is one of the major initiatives for the forthcoming year anyhow!)

Full Detroit News article here .

BRIEF: Free Prize Inside! Tickets with a treat

Ticketmaster and other online ticket sellers are offering special benefits to buyers these days in an effort to encourage sales and push more of the artist's merch.

"It's not just an answer to declining record sales. The concert business has been flat, too," said Ray Waddell, senior touring editor at Billboard. "This creates awareness about the event, the artist. It's a way to bring excitement to the whole thing."

The marketing technique focuses on likely fans, providing them with something they presumably want.

Full article here at Austin360.

Touring Breakdowns of A Different Kind

(From Gigwise) Whether you're playing to sold out 5,000 person rooms or to a tiny crowd of 50 every night (if you're luck) one thing ties all acts together, the dreaded tour burnout. In a recent interview in The Star with Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan, he revealed that he suffered a massive breakdown after last year's tour with Oasis,

“I had a fucking mental breakdown after coming back home. I was scratching at the walls. I didn’t know what to do.

“I was like a caged lion. It was horrible. All that partying and touring took a massive toll on my mind.”


A few months back rock veteran and superstar David Bowie announced to New York magazine that he was taking the year off.

I’m taking a year off—no touring, no albums. I go for a walk every morning, and I watch a ton of movies. One day, I watched three Woody Allen movies in a row. I like going out to the Angelika: If the first one’s only okay, I’ll sneak into one after the other.

Though performers these days aren't the ticking timebombs of yesteryear (save dear Pete Doherty, no artist should underestimate the value of pacing one's self. Of course once you're done pacing you better get up and put out more kick ass stuff. No excuses!

BRIEF: Concerts Not Worth The Trip

The high cost of gas coupled withe the high cost of concert tickets has many saying "no way" to the long drives to the ampitheatre. In an attempt to lure audience back to the venues, promoters are offering cheap seat deals, but it remains to be seen whether it will be enough. Ultimately it seems that the solution will require that the artist create a hybrid schedule of large venues in major cities and midsize venues in smaller towns, bringing the artists to the people.

Full article in Montgomery Advertiser here.

(Sorry guys, I'll try to stop harping on the cost of gas in every post).

CC and Live Nation in Antitrust Trouble

Despite their best efforts, Live Nation and Clear Channel have once again found themselves in hot water. In a suit filed last week in Denver, the two companies have come under fire for railroading performers, unreasonably jacking up ticket prices, and undermining competition. According to the proposed class action suit, Live Nation tied radio play and use of their venues to performers' agreement to use their promotional services.

While this case is limited only to ticket holders in Denver and the surrounding region, if they win it could have wider-sweeping ramifications. Clear Channel had been under scrutiny for some years because of these allegations and the spin off of Live Nation was due at least in part to these concerns, ostensibly closing the case.

Though I am sometimes known to defend Live Nation as a good promotion company (gasp!hiss! hiss!). The fact does remain that Clear Channel and Live Nation are WAAYYY too closely intertwined (see Live Nation's BoD here - all the top brass of CC have seats). If there's no funny business they should have no problem truly going their separate ways. Right guys?

Full Reuters article here

Summer Festivals are Eco Friendly !

Very exciting news. It seems every major US rock festival has made a massive commitment to sustaining our environment. Perhaps in light of the war and rising fuel costs and the ever looming threat of global warming evidenced by last year's massive hurricanes, major concert promoters from the obvious Boonnaroo and Lollapalooza to the less expected Warped and Austin City Limits tour have decided to make their events entertaining and educational.

Here's a short list of the great summer initiatives:
* Boonaroo will offer commemorative shirts made of hemp; biodegradable cutlery and plates; sitewide recycling; and natural energy sources
* Warped tour will be going 100% biodiesel with its fleet of 18 buses, 14 production trucks, and half its backstage generators
* Charles Attal's Austin City Limits bought "green power" for Zilker Park through Austin Energy's Renewable Energy Program
* Lollapalooza has been welcomed to Chicago due in part to a stated commitment to improving Chicago's city parks.

I look forward to eco-responsibility becoming the hip new thing!

Full MTV.com article here

BRIEF: Gas Again

Reuters presents yet another article on the myriad ways in which rising gas prices are burning bands, this time with a focus on developing acts. As we all suspected (or maybe even knew...depending on who's reading this) the big guys aren't really feeling the pinch the way some of the rest of us are.

"We used to budget tours at about 30 cents a mile for gas, and now we're up to about 60 cents a mile," says music business manager Jamie Cheek, certified public accountant at Flood, Bumstead, McCready, McCarthy. "If I have an act that's about to go on a 40-day tour and they've got five trucks and five buses, and a 40-day tour could be over 20,000 miles, that's almost an additional cost of $6,000 a vehicle. So if I have 10 vehicles, that's an additional $60,000."

That money comes directly out of the artist's bottom line, Cheek says. "But the flip side of that is, if it's five trucks and five buses, that's a big tour, and chances are if I look at the overall budget, fuel is maybe 2 percent to 3 percent of my overall costs," he points out. "If your overall expenses are $5 million for the tour, $60,000 -- though I don't want it to be there -- is not going to stop me from touring."

While the article predicts that arena artists may raise ticket prices to cover some of these exorbitant expenses, on the club end things are not budging. Most promoters and clubs I've spoken to are rarely willing to give higher guarantees because of the rising cost of gas, and fans (who often have to drive to the shows themselves) have not accepted that EVERYTHING is going to cost more.

Full article here

Rock The Bells:Hip Hop Festival Grows and Grows

The Rock The Bells festival was created a few years ago to address the absolute dirth of quality hip hop shows and the total absence of hip hop festivals (yo, what happened to the HoB tours ofthe 90s??) .


This year's festival will take place over two days, August 5th in San Bernardino, California and August 6th at Sleep Train Ampitheatre in Northern California. The festival features Wu-Tang Clan, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Redman, De La Soul, Living Legends, Del Tha Funky Homosapien, and many more (including rapper, Supernatural, who plans to beat the Guinness world record for longest freestyle rap by rapping for nearly 9 hours straight). The event will also feature the other elements of hip hop with stages for turntablism, b-boying, and graffiti.

The promoters plan to tour the festival later in the year.

Articles here and here

Brief: Live Nation acquires CPI/ Cohl

Concert industry trailblazer Michael Cohl will now sit on the board at Live Nation as part of a an agreement following Live Nation's recent acquisition of controlling interest in Concert Productions International. Cohl brings over 30 years of experience in the promotion business and is widely known as a pioneer in the area of global touring. Cohl has produced 5 of the top 10 highest grossing concert tours of all time. Live Nation's head of global touring is Arthur Fogel, founder of TNA, and in adding Cohl to the board, Live Nation has brought together two of the heaviest hitters in the industry.

Full press release here.

Two Promotion Companies to Watch

Independent Indianapolis-based promotion firm Live 360 is breaking into the St. Louis market and further into the midwest, providing some healthy competition for Live Nation. Helmed by former Co-CEO of Clear Channel Entertainment, Dave Lucas, the company boasts a roster of employees (almost all poached from Live Nation and CCE) with "over 100 years combined music industry experience." Upcoming concerts include Rob Zombie and All-American Rejects.

"There will be a bit of competition between all of us, but everybody will get their piece of the pie," says Live-360 CEO Dave Lucas.

Article here.

Starland Ballroom in New Jersey is the fourth most popular venue in the world. With a wise shift to the younger demographic through elimination of alcohol sales at all ages and booking increasingly popular emo/pop-punk bands, the popularity of the venue has grown in leaps and bounds. Asbury Park Press profiles the men at Concerts East who make the magic.

What the clubs found in the early 2000s was a shift in who was buying concert nightclub tickets.
"The music industry is not aimed at people over 21.....It's really 10 to 20 years old because those are the kids who are buying stuff and in particular merchandise — it's serious money. I remember we had one band in here who in two days sold $7,500 in merchandise. Every little girl lined up bought a T-shirt and a hat."

"The post-punk movement has been good to Starland," Pallagrosi (co-owner of Concerts East) said.

Full article here.

Live Nation's Cannonball: Pool Becomes Venue to One Neighborhood's Chagrin

High times at McCarren Park Pool- pic from Pool Project

Here in my very own neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn we have a massive 7,000 person swimming pool just waiting to be used. Trouble is it was closed a few years back and has since fallen into grave disrepair. In the past few years local activists have banded together to call for the pool to be rehabilitate to its former glory. A local dance company staged a massive fundraiser performance inside the pool and our local Live Nation outpost Ron Delsener (who run the Warsaw, a large club only a few blocks away) put $200,000 up to have the area cleaned-up.

In appreciation of this donation the city has given Delsener use of the pool for a summer concert series. Acts like Bloc Party and Deerhoof will be rocking out in the pool, but not every one is stoked.

Williamsburg choreographer Noemie LaFrance, who will present the second annual installment of her "Agora" dance series at the pool this September, said ...she is .. pleased that the company's involvement is currently limited to this summer. "This community is really not interested in having corporate America insert itself in our resources," she said.

For my part, I can say that while I am interested in alternative venues, I don't think I want Delsener to get use of the pool for any longer than the summer. Not only do they have full use of a theater two blocks away, but there is also a really great underused ampitheatre on the east side of Manhattan just screaming to be exploited. While Greenpoint is a major hipster haven, I still think that this pool stands to service much much more of the hood's population than a few concerts by indie rock flavors of the month.

So though I do like some of of the bands Live Nation is bringing to the pool I'm not going to be paying to see any of these shows. I doubt I'm missing much since there will be so many great FREE concerts all around the city during that time. I sure hope next year round this time, I'll be sunning next to the refurbished pool!

Article in NY Daily News
McCarren Pool Project

MTV talks about gas and gigging

MTV discusses how a few bands are challenging soaring gas prices

Band Sailing to Battle Gas Hikes

Seek and ye shall find. Just as I was lamenting the lack of news about how rising gas prices are affecting touring bands, I stumble across this article discussing a couple of artists who are planning to boat to their gigs!

One group of bands has planned a two-week August tour by sailboat, traveling along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, which runs along the East Coast between Cape Cod, Mass., and Miami. The plan was hatched by musicians Red Hunter, lead singer of the indie-rock band Peter and the Wolf, and indie musician Jana Hunter.

"It sort of started as a joke — we were playing pool and drinking beer and talking about how cool it would be … but then Jana e-mailed me and told me she thought she'd found a sailboat," said Red Hunter.

The only way this could be more awesome is if the gigs were on the boat as well. ..Hmm, don't steal my idea! Peter and Wolf's myspace lists all the places where they've already received press for this novel idea (MTV, ABC, and PopMatters are just a few), and though I am certain their star is already rising, the fact that they are touring with (Asthmatic Kitty recording artist) Castanets probably won't hurt either. I-- for one-- will definitely go see them on the boat tour!

Full ABC article here , links to other articles on Peter and Wolf Myspace page here.

Pioneering Agent: Ian Copeland Dies

(Via Billboard) Trailblazing booking agent, Ian Copeland died today at age 57 after a battle with melanoma. Copeland, who grew up the son of CIA agent, is best known as founder of Frontier Booking International (FBI) where he worked with such seminal hitmakers as R.E.M., The Go-Go's, Black Sabbath, The Police, and Oingo Boingo. Many credit Copeland with helping to carve out a real touring circuit for rock acts. In 1995, after leaving the booking business Simon & Schuster published his memoirs, “Wild Thing: The Backstage, On the Road, In the Studio, Off the Charts Memoirs of Ian Copeland.”

Copeland who was, of course, an avid music lover when on to become the proprietor of Backstage Cafe', a Beverly Hills venue which was a favorite among many top musicians.

Copeland is survived by his two daughters Chandra and Barbara, his mother Lorraine, his brothers Miles III (founder of IRS Records) and Stewart (drummer for The Police) and his sister Lennie.

Touring influences The Zutons

While other bands blame hectic touring schedules for long delays between albums, other bands take the touring in stride. In a recent interview with Billboard, frontman/songwriter Dave McCabe of The Zutons spoke about being influenced by their recent touring and life on the road.
"The [title track], I actually wrote that on a plane in America. It's about transport -- waiting for someone to pick you up and they don't turn up on time," he tells Billboard.com. "[It's also about] people being ignorant when they do turn up, [coming] with attitudes and bringing it with them."

Other songs, including the upcoming U.K. single "Valerie" and "Oh Stacey," came out of meeting people at U.S. shows supporting Keane and Muse.

The next time we hear a band complain that their album would have come much sooner or been much better if it weren't for the hectic touring(ahem Yeah Yeah Yeahs), we might point them in the direction of The Zutons. While I'm sure the public is not scrambling to hear songs about the contents of the hotel mini-bar, life is happening all around us if we open our eyes and there are millions more songs just waiting to be written. No excuses!



Full article here

Oversized pavilion gives away free tickets

In a further indication that massive arenas are headed for extinction, The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, a 16,500 person venue in Texas is giving away free tickets to a number of shows in an effort to fill seats.

Full article here

Live Nation Gets Wired

True to their word, Live Nation is well on their way to wiring all 120 of their ampitheatres in the coming year. Alas, they are not doing it so you can catch up on your telecommuting during the Jimmy Buffett show but rather so that they can broadcast that Buffett to the world through television, mobile phone, satellite and other mediums. This wing is known as Instant Live.

"Live Nation is involved with more than 29,000 live events reaching more than 60 million fans a year," said Live Nation Chief Executive Officer Michael Rapino. "Our venues are natural platforms for transformation into live studios, particularly given recent advancements in recording technology which have dramatically reduced costs. Lower production costs coupled with the proliferation of distribution channels hungry for live content, have created a unique opportunity for Live Nation to help artists
connect with their fans in a brand new way."

The infrastructure was first tested out during LiveAid, and I understand that it also provides the audience members with a CD or DVD copy of the show immediately following the performance so they can walk away with a great memento. I am curious:

1) How the artists are cut in on this deal
2) Since the infrastructure is so low on the Live Nation/InstantLive side, how much of a cut are they taking and is it fair
3) What is the price point at which they are finding a fair amount of audience members willing to buy this
4) If they are available immediately following the show, are they at all aesthetically pleasing.

My initial reaction was that this is an idea drawn from the idea that the concert industry is in a battle to the death with television and video games and the internet for people's valuable and extremely limited attention, but on second thought it does appeal to sentimentality. I look forward to hearing how this project progresses through the next few quarters. It might be a model that can work for some of the larger club bands. I could definitely see bloggers paying for clear show recordings and posting some tracks from the night underneath their reviews of the show.

Full press release here.

Other Digital Concert Delivery platforms

O'Reilly digital blog has a brief overview of the available digital concert delivery services out there.

Concert Tickets for A Song

In this article from the Orange County Register, the writer predicts that with many heritage acts taking the summer off, this might be the year for newer artists to prove they--too--can pack the ampitheatres. From country acts like Keith Urban to new pop stars like Shakira, these acts are breaking through to arena sized venues.

On the negative side, there also seems to be a glut of these younger artists filling the large clubs and ampitheatres (see my musing on Pink's club tour below), to the point that it is causing a backlog at agencies where they have more bands that want to tour than venues to place them. The one saving grace is the package show; from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young with Steely Dan to Counting Crows with Goo Goo Dolls to the countless radio shows, there are many opportunities for agencies to double up their artists and get them out there.

Many artists are also reserving low-priced seats for the lawn areas.

"That's something that's overdue," (Pollstar's Gary) Bongiovanni says. "Everyone in this industry realized that as they were pushing the price of the reserved seats up, they were also raising the price of the lawn seats past what their real value is."

While the better tickets will still likely be at a premium, every concert-goer at a package show will go away with more bang for their buck, and that might just be the ticket to more sold-out shows.

The Biggest Tickets

BusinessWeek profiles the most expensive concerts this summer.

This interesting article not only lists the hottest tickets this year, it also explores some of the mechanics of how ticket prices are set. They quote Sam Craig, the director of the media & entertainment program at NYU's Stern School of Business,

"The sky is not the limit, it is about getting demand and supply in equilibrium."

According to the article, Ticketmaster and other ticket outlets have a system for gauging ticket value: they are letting customers bid by seat. This is supposed to keep the bidding out of the hands of scalpers, but it doesn't mean the tickets are going to be any cheaper. If anything I think it is just moving the scalping business onto the internet.

Full article here

Pink to Do Club Tour

OK, now I'm confused and a little peeved.. If people who can sell out ampitheatres and play large arenas as part of sold out radio shows want to play large clubs do the bands that play large clubs get bounced to small and mid-sized clubs? I don't know, but I guess we'll find out. Pop star, Pink, is set to do a club tour this go around. She'll be playing such small rooms as Fillmore in San Francisco and 930 Club in Washington DC.

She said to MTV: "It's the only time I can ... let go and stop thinking and worrying and analyzing and processing,"

And performing in smaller venues makes it even more special for the singer: "Small gigs, that's where it's at, you can feel everyone's sweat, it's just so close and intimate. It's stinky, it's smoky, it's good."

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I don't think MTV regulars should be cluttering up the clubs unless they are gonna take up and coming indies along as support. It's like driving backwards in a Hummer and running over all the compact cars for fun.

Full article here

Gas Prices Put The Brakes On Touring

I've been eagerly waiting for someone to write this story on behalf of all the poor little struggling touring bands who've been absolutely beaten over the head by these astronomical gas prices.

While I've yet to see anything in a US press outlet (I think I'll have to write it myself!), here's news from Australia where artists are finding it to be almost a financial impossibility to tour (with gas at nearly $6 a gallon!). In addition to gasoline, it's important to remember that even plastic CD cases are made from petrochemical bases (I completely forgot about that--no joke!) .

Mr Watters (Stuart Watters, chief executive of the Association of Independent Record Labels) said the price of petrol wasn't just affecting the cost of touring, but the price of CDs themselves.

"CD cases are made out of a petrochemical base, and that's already gone up," he said.

"With CDs, they're already charging $25, so it's always problematic to try and ask for an increase in price."

In Oz, a group called VROOM has formed to provide resources to touring artists. I hope groups will come together to facilitate more cost-effective and enjoyable touring stateside. We'll see.

Full article here.

Tom Petty calls do-overs

(Via LiveDaily) Tom Petty and his camp nipped ticket re-sellers in the bud this week when they cancelled all tickets that were being re-sold at marked up prices. According to Petty's manager, a number of tickets were made available for pre-sale to members of the fanclub, Highway Companions. However some people decided to make it suck for everyone by violating the rules and re-selling the tickets at inflated prices.

"Those tickets have now been canceled along with the associated Highway Companions Club memberships," Dimitriades wrote on the website. "We will make these tickets available to club members who comply with the conditions of club membership and are willing to pick up their tickets at a special fan club Will Call window on the night of the show. In order to accomplish this, a new Internet on-sale of these tickets, open only to fan club members, will be announced shortly."

In an oversaturated market like the music business, it is exceedingly important for bands to make special effort to reward their true fans if they want to have successful tours. It is ashame that a few fans (or more likely scalpers posing as fans) tried to take advantage of this kind gesture, but I'm glad to see Petty was able to catch it early. I'd hate to see these special fan perks eliminated.