That’s why I’m here.  In Nashville.  I’m speaking at the International Entertainment Buyers Association.  Or, I just did.  You missed it!

What a fascinating crew.  So many of the buyers are from fairs.

I just got a long lecture on the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.  A bunch of ‘ropin and ‘tyin and then live entertainment, twenty nights straight!  They’ve had Rascal Flatts, ZZ Top, the Jonas Brothers, Taylor Swift…

In other words, there’s a whole ‘nother world out there between L.A. and New York.  Which might want to see people like Phil Vassar.  Who performed just before me in the ballroom.  I’m a fan.  But he looks like a guy you’d be sippin’ a beer with down on the dock.  No harm meant, it’s just that I expected some wiry guy who barely ever saw daylight.  Or maybe it’s just that it’s a disconnect to experience someone so talented, who can sing and write, who looks completely normal.  It’s a beautiful thing.

The way the band plays.  The way Phil works the audience.

You see in country music, being able to play is not enough.  You’ve got to entertain!  You’ve got to sing for your supper.  Or, as Chubby Checker said last night, it’s all about the audience.  Yes, he was angling for gigs, but it was fascinating to see him work this inside crowd.  He got ’em up on stage twisting, singing along, laughing, having a good time.  And a good time is what it’s all about, right?

Well, I’m not sure it’s about a good time anymore.

Is it a good time buying a car?  It’s so expensive.  You’re afraid of being ripped off.  If you make a mistake, you’re not going to be back in the market for years.  Kind of like buying concert tickets.  Huh?

I just had a fascinating conversation with gentlemen who run an amphitheatre in Virginia.  They spoke of the problems outside the metropolis.

They have a deal with Ticketmaster because so many of their customers pay cash.  Ticketmaster has outlets, where they take cash.  Yup, you may hate the ticket fees, but Ticketmaster is not always the bastard.

Then again, like Live Nation in New Jersey, these promoters charge a parking fee on every ticket.  A buck.  It’s a pass through, goes straight to the city, for cops, other infrastructure.  So when customers arrive, they don’t have to pay, they just park.

But getting customers is not that easy.  Because people just don’t know about the gig!

That’s their number one problem, getting the word out.

And they said that radio, newspapers and TV don’t work.

In other words, they’ve got a marketing budget, they just don’t know where to spend the money!

The days of tying in with a radio station and having the word get out are done.  Now we’re in the murky land of social media.

Yup, these guys have been FORCED to employ Facebook and Twitter.  Because that’s where the people are.  No one’s paying attention to old media.

You’ve got to have someone under twenty five working all these angles.  He could be your number one employee!

And then there’s pricing.

They talked about a Coldplay show, not theirs, where lawn tickets were ultimately blown out cheaply.  People complained.  Sure, they were mad at Live Nation, but they were really mad at the act!

Ticketmaster may have shielded the artists for a while, the public may have been too stupid to know performers have been scalping their own tickets, but the artists are now taking the hit for discount tickets.  If you paid thirty dollars to sit on the lawn and somebody else paid ten, you’re pissed!  You may never want to see Coldplay again.

So who’s going to fix this problem?

It’s got to start with the acts.  The days of exorbitant guarantees are done.  The acts can’t afford the blowback.  I can’t get the tickets I want, they never went on sale, and now someone paying less than me is sitting closer than me?  Huh?

So far, promoters have been taking the hit.  Live Nation is selling discounted tickets to fill their buildings while the artist has sat on the sideline and laughed.  No longer.

That’s the story of 2009.  How the act suddenly has less power.

Kind of like the movie business.  The $20 million paydays are through.  There’s just not enough money left.  DVD sales have tanked.  If Live Nation, if no promoter can survive, who is going to pay all these acts?

We don’t have a promoter crisis, we’ve got an act crisis!

Sure, the promoters have issues, but the acts are not immune.  They’ve got to give promoters tools to work with.  Like lower guarantees and a share of the upside.

The major problem is getting people in the building.

Some day there might be a site telling everybody who’s in town.  But so far, no Internet location has broken through.  Because every listing site is about money first and the customer last.  Too much advertising, too much focus on profit.  The Google way used to be the music business way.  Build it first, figure out how to monetize it last.  Be a great band first, figure out how to make all the dough last.

Speaking of dough, these Virginia promoters had multiple jobs.  The days of grand slams in concert promotion are done.  The margins are too thin.  One of these guys is both a promoter and a manager!

The glory days of the music business are history.  They’ll only return when the glory days of music come back.  That’s in process.  But it’s going to take a very long time, especially if the usual suspects have their way…baby boomers who focus on getting rich first and care about the consumer last, if at all.