Kevin Lyman Speaks The Truth
There are multiple stories here:
1. The shit has finally hit the fan in the touring world. From big to little, from the Eagles to Country Throwdown, from has-beens like Bizkit to Top Forty artists like Christina Aguilera, cancelled shows and tours have become de rigueur instead of the exception. And then there are those dates where the show still goes on, but you can get in free, with oldsters like Foreigner, Styx and Kansas, and even Bon Jovi is offering two for one
The newspaper tells us the economy is improving. Shit, Apple sales are through the roof. But people just don’t want to go to the show. Not to see these acts at these prices.
2. Kevin Lyman is trying to do something new, and good. He’s trying to build something as opposed to developing new ways to rip off the public, with gold circles, meet and greets, mortgaging your future to go to a show. But the public is so jaded, has been ripped off so many times, that they’re not about to take a chance, they don’t want to experiment. Their idea of experimentation is signing up for a new social network. To go to a gig, to endure the Ticketmaster process and its bogus additional fees, to actually show up and find long lines for the bathroom and overpriced food…the product must be really damn good. And the only product that good is old stuff, and people aren’t necessarily eager to see that in droves either. With radio calcified and MTV dead, promoters now have to build acts, and that’s what Lyman is trying to do.
3. He may go on too long, but he’s speaking the truth in this video! Lyman is reaching out to those affected, giving them special privileges if they come to another gig. Isn’t that amazing in a business that keeps on delivering less?
We’re all in it together. Lyman expresses this. There’s no subterfuge, just reality. He’s imploring his audience to help him, to stick with him. And the only way you achieve this is by establishing trust, which comes from the truth.
4. Major labels build flashes in the pan, acts can’t make much money selling recordings, it’s supposedly all about the touring but now that’s faltering? The labels are paying for years of rip-offs, people feel justified in stealing, after paying twenty bucks for crappy CDs with only one good hit. Argue all you want, but file-traders have no guilt. And now the same thing has happened in the touring sphere. After years of abuse, people are crying NO MAS! They’ve seen all the acts. And the ones they haven’t, they don’t want to take a chance on. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but I’m not blaming Kevin Lyman, he’s trying to solve the problem. But it’s tough doing something new. He needs our support. Hell, at least the people on this tour CAN ACTUALLY PLAY!
