I just got off the phone with Michael Marion. He runs the Verizon Arena in Little Rock.

He does paperless for every show.

EVERY SHOW!

The 4,000 best seats, that’s the only way you can buy them.

If he scales the house down from its usual 18,000 seat capacity, he reduces the percentage of paperless tickets, like with Robin Williams, who played to 4,000, 1,500 were paperless.

Why?

BECAUSE HE WANTS PEOPLE TO COME TO MORE SHOWS!

That’s the goal of paperless. Building the business. Better fan experiences lead to repeat attendance, benefiting everybody.

So how did this happen?

Michael heard from Ticketmaster this was an option. He’s run the building since its inception, a little over a decade ago, and for the past four years every single concert has been paperless.

Ticketmaster provided the infrastructure.

But there wasn’t that much involved, just switching out the scanners.

The public?

IT’S THRILLED!

Michael surveyed Taylor Swift fans. 88% said they’d do paperless again.

As for your grandma buying tickets, or having to go to a funeral… Just call the box office, tell your story. Michael’s the last resort, and only a couple of cases have gotten to him. Everything gets worked out. He tells grandma, and according to StubHub, grandma buys all the concert tickets, to send the kids down with her credit card and a copy of her I.D. Then they get in. Ditto if you can’t go yourself. You give this info to your brother or best friend.

This is a non-problem. And it’s proven to not even be a tempest in a teapot by Michael Marion’s experience.

But what about the learning curve?

Yes, there was one. Two or three shows.

What about the lines?

You can be scanned at any entrance. There’s no delay.

And the sliver lining is there are fewer tickets for Marion’s building on StubHub than at any other arena in the country. He’s beaten them at their own game.

But what about scalpers buying a ticket and then bringing four people in with him?

You can’t stop everybody. And L.A. and New York are more complicated. But in the rest of the country, this is not an issue.

Then again, there’s an anti-scalping law in Arkansas.

But the issue is not brokers outside the building, people buy their tickets online from brokers in Connecticut and other states.

But now they don’t.

But what about gift cards?

No can do. It’s got to be a real, regular credit card.

What if your credit card gets canceled or replaced?

They’ve got a window for that.

Marion does eighteen or nineteen concerts a year. These country acts come through every eighteen months. He wants to make sure patrons can afford to come again next time, that they had such a good experience they want to come, and can afford to come.

So why hasn’t everybody followed Marion’s lead?

Because they’re afraid to be responsible, they don’t want to have to answer to the acts for mistakes/problems.

But come on, if Taylor Swift, Michael Buble, Journey and Jimmy Buffett, all of whom sold out, Buffett in 90 minutes, have had seamless experiences with paperless, do you really think you’re gonna have a problem?

Paperless is the answer.

It’s not for every seat in the house, but the best. The most expensive. The ones everybody wants, including the scalpers.

Does it eliminate the scalping problem entirely?

No, but it goes a long way.

P.S. Marion/Verizon makes clear that the paperless tickets are non-refundable. Information is key, best to be clear.

P.P.S. Only those at the center of a conflagration really know what’s going on. To rely on government to solve scalping issues is ridiculous. This is a problem that needs to be solved in-house. Furthermore, if you think all those tickets on StubHub are from non-professionals, individuals caught in a bind, I’ve got a bridge to sell you. Furthermore, if we can kill speculation by amateurs as well as professionals, that’s even better.

P.P.P.S. Just because StubHub/brokers yell loudly, that does not mean their take is correct. There aren’t always two sides to every story.

P.P.P.P.S. We’re going to paperless. It’s just a matter of when. Does the touring business have to be the record business, see untold hurt before it begins to change? Frustration at the inability to get good seats is the number one concertgoer complaint, shouldn’t this be addressed?

P.P.P.P.P.S. There are no pre-sales in Arkansas because of legal issues. I say good riddance. You can still do I Love All Access, but all regular tickets need to go on sale at one time, everybody’s got to have a fighting chance at getting the good seats. Inequality generates a bad taste in the U.S. The concert business should have no part of it.

1. Empower Your Fans

They’re the key to your success, not the mainstream media. Fans are forever, newspapers are not, never mind the reporters who write for them. Your fans believe in you, have time for you, are dedicated to you, reciprocate.

Fans want information. Which they can spread. Encourage fan sites. Give exclusives. Give interviews. These are your partners.

2. Say Yes Not No

No only applies if you’re a superstar. And there are very few of those left. Let me be clear, say yes to your fans, to the Internet, don’t say yes to intermediaries, like corporations or hustlers who say they can do something for you, which they almost definitely will not, and if they do will extract compensation far in excess of what you desire to pay them.

There are no rules. Do it your way. Stumble upon new ideas, forge new pathways, there’s no right way, only your way.

3. Be Three-Dimensional

Mystery is history. The more you reveal, the more people can bond to you.

Social media is a running dialogue that pays dividends long after you wish. It’s a walk into the wilderness that could leave you very lonely. So don’t start unless you plan to finish. It’s a commitment almost as strong as your music. Only try to goose it with contests and stunting occasionally. But giving away something people want always works. Give away a free house concert, a free guitar lesson, and don’t do this to increase your reach, but to motivate your fan base.

The best tweets are not self-promotional. Sure, you can say you’re here or there occasionally, but if you’re using the channel as a sales/promotion outlet, people will tune out. Twitter is where you’re real. Post thoughts and ideas. Pictures of what’s interesting to you. Social media is about coming down from the mountaintop to engage, just like everybody else. But in your case, people are insatiable in their desire to know more about you.

4. Live

Is free and should be promoted ad infinitum. Every one of your shows should be on YouTube and available on the Internet for streaming and downloading. Make every one different, change the set lists, improvise, and your fans will be hooked.

The web is all about getting people to come back. And they’ll only come back if you change your site and deliver something intriguing. Live tracks are a reward for those who already come see you and buy your stuff. They’re thrilled you’re giving back. And they won’t stop talking about you.

That’s how you succeed today. By having third parties hear about you from your fans. Which is why you want your fans talking about you constantly, to wear down the resistance of third parties. Don’t pressure your fans to convert others. Give them the tools, the music, and they’ll spread the word.

Come on, who hasn’t been on a car or plane ride with their seatmate boring them to death about their passion. But then, if you hear about this same passion from another person, you check it out.

5. Mistakes Count

In other words, make them. We’re all imperfect. If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not taking chances. When you screw up, people love it and are endeared to you. Your screw-up evidences your humanity.

6. Don’t Shoot Beyond Your Limits

If you make klezmer music, you’re not gonna get on Top Forty radio. Be realistic. If you’re making cutting edge, dissonant music, few people will be interested, certainly at first. If your goal is to be ubiquitous, make music in a genre that dominates, like Top Forty/rhythmic or country.

7. Don’t Be Sour Grapes

Nobody likes a complainer.

8. Don’t Always Be Positive

This is hogwash spread by religious zealots and self-help book writers. Express your disappointment and frustration, just choose your moments. People love to sympathize, and they gloat in your triumph down the line.

9. Honesty & Transparency

Scalping and other ticket shenanigans are for the ancient classic rockers and the here today, gone tomorrow Top Forty stars. The more information you give people, the more they understand. Go to all-in ticketing. Those fees are promoter profit, not kickbacks to Ticketmaster, only acts can change this perception, to the benefit of the industry at large. Go paperless. If you’re not doing your best to get your hard core fans into the show, with their rumps in great seats, you’re doing it all wrong, you’re part of the problem, not the solution.

10. If You’re Not Going To Play Your Hits Say So

People might pay to see you once, but not again. If you’re not delivering what people expect, be sure they know. And play smaller halls and charge less.

11. Tastemakers

If they’ve got credibility and a loyal audience they can get you tons of look-sees almost instantly. But you’d better be ready when you get the attention. Justin Bieber broke Carly Rae Jepsen. Howard Stern boosts careers on a daily basis. Stern has a reputation for being honest. If he endorses something, if he says it’s worth checking out, his audience does so. If you’re a classic rocker or a Gen-X’er there’s no better place to promote your product. But Howard does not take you from zero to sixty, you’ve already got to have a head of steam.

Just because someone has an audience, don’t believe they’ll give you a ride to commercial heaven. Most talking heads are meaningless. Get on morning television and you think you’ve made it, but you’re part of an inner circle of jerks unaware the rest of the world is laughing at you.

12. Friends

You’ve got to have them. They’re the ones who will get you gigs. Yup, you’ve got to have a good relationship with not only your fans, but other bands, so you can trade favors. If you think you can make it alone you’re wrong. It’s okay to have enemies, but if you have no allies, you’re going to be defeated.

13. Charts

Are for dummies. It’s a full time job keeping your position. And no one’s on top forever. You live in the heart of your fans. That can’t be quantified. Other than in your income, which no one other than yourself will ever truly know.

14. Criticism

Be wary of it. Don’t try to be what others want you to be. They’re never satisfied. You’re best off being yourself. People don’t know what they want until you give it to them. Unless you’re giving them what they’ve already got, which puts a time stamp on your career. Ignore people who say your songs aren’t political, that you can’t play your instrument, that you’ve got to do it their way. Unless, of course, you’ve got no traction. But if you’ve made it, ignore the naysayers. They just want to turn you into a faceless ideal they’re going to put on the scrapheap. Artists are not remade. Artists are singular. Artist go against the grain. Artists are leaders.

15. Advice

Don’t heed it if it doesn’t feel good. Resonate with your inner tuning fork first and foremost. But don’t be afraid to question yourself, don’t be afraid to learn.

Stiffs.

The power of the individual is underestimated in America. For every person who feels powerless there’s another who confronts the headwinds and wins through sheer determination.

Not that there’s not talent involved.

And I’ll argue Clive Davis did not find his niche at Columbia. He takes a lot of credit for signing those Monterey Pop acts, but it wasn’t until Clive took hold at Arista, after Patti Smith, when he embraced Barry Manilow, that Clive truly became who he was.

The Doors without Jim Morrison?

Nothing.

Apple without Steve Jobs?

We’ll see.

Sure, Sammy Hagar successfully replaced David Lee Roth in Van Halen, but anybody who thinks the Sammy years are better loved Sammy to begin with. And there’s an exception to every rule. But in this committee-run business we forget how important individuals are. Like Rick Rubin.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Clive knew it was about material. Like that old Orson Welles advertisement, no album was released before its time. If the songs weren’t ready, the deadline slipped. Better to put it out when it’s done than hit the Christmas selling season. An album, when executed properly, is for the ages, not a few months of selling.

And as Clive prepared the album, he promoted the artist. He introduced him or her, and usually it was a her, at tastemaker events, letting the artist shine, giving her his imprimatur. Clive didn’t give this treatment to all his artists, just a special few. And everybody paid attention. Because Clive earned it.

Not that I liked most of these records.

Not that I don’t think Clive took undeserved credit.

Clive was not Mr. Ears. Most of his records were forgettable. But one thing you’ve got to give him credit for, he was unmistakably, one hundred percent Clive.

And he was the exception. Most originals didn’t work for the man. They played alone. Which is kind of funny in today’s mainstream music world, where a faceless label is in control and every producer wants a record deal. If you can’t do it alone, you probably shouldn’t be doing it.

Clive was an impresario. A whirling dervish who demanded attention.

Although as Clive has headed into the sunset the paradigm he was a manipulator of has evaporated as well. Clive believed in free promotion. He spent heavily, but on hair and makeup for TV, it was about getting the media to do his work. And when Clive was happening the mainstream media was still king. All we had were the newspapers and TV. Can you imagine everybody in the nation watching the same TV channel today? But that’s how it was in the eighties, when Whitney Houston broke.

So Alicia Keys puts out a single and it stiffs.

Clive never would have allowed this. Artists chafed under his direction, but that was the deal you made, he was king, he was in charge. Without Clive, Alicia Keys is an attractive piano player with middling songs. Clive made her a superstar. She was nothing at her previous label. It took Clive to make her.

So now she’s doing it just like everybody else. Tying in with corporations, like Adidas, going the clothing route, as if that had anything to do with music.

That’s commerce. And once you let commerce get in the way of music, you’re screwed. If you’re tying in with Fortune 500 corporations to spread the word, you’re unaware that you’re cheapening your image and your music, what is unfortunately known today as your “brand.” Music, when done right, sits above commerce, inhabits its own ethereal space, when you tie in with the man you become subservient to his agenda.

Clive knew you had to enter the agora with a stone cold smash.

You could learn a lesson from this. All you white boys playing indie rock wondering where your success is. “Fallin'” was a track so superior you had to run to the record store to buy it. I know I did. Even though it was a rip off of a James Brown cut and the rest of the album was mediocre.

And once you’ve entered the marketplace, once you’ve succeeded, you’ve got to maintain the quality, you’ve got to be the same person. Change and the audience is flummoxed.

That’s what happened with Mariah Carey. Fresh-scrubbed hedonist turns into club rat and suddenly everybody’s scratching their head and wondering who she is.

Who is Alicia Keys?

I won’t say without Clive she’s nothing, but I will say her career is a shadow of its former self.

They scalped their own tickets.

Rolling Stones tickets remain unsold after price hike

Where do you think the touts got those seats?

THE STONES THEMSELVES!

This is how it works. The band gets $26 million for four gigs and a private. But that’s not enough. They’ve got to make more. So they take a bunch of their seats, mark them up and sell them to the scalpers.

The scalpers just need to make their investment back. They don’t care if the band plays to an empty arena.

So the Stones play Barclays and the Prudential Center and how many seats do you think are available to the general public, at the public on sale? A few thousand. Most of the ducats flew out during the massive pre-sales. Friends and family, AmEx… And to the scalpers.

How many did the scalpers get?

Probably 2,000 a show.

How much did the scalpers pay?

Probably double face value. Or a $500 markup. That’s a million bucks extra per show. Assuming the scalpers bought the tickets that cheaply.

The Stones could have gone paperless. Could have charged their high prices and played to full places. But they got greedy.

So what happens now?

More shows. Assuming everybody’s health is in order.

But at what price?

Business sucked at the tail end of the last tour. Are enough people really interested in overpaying them to see them now?

This truly could be the last time.

And it’s all about the money.