Re: Concert Promotion

I’ve been saying the same thing for years. In the US, without Don Fox’s committment and belief I would not have broken BTO, Bryan Adams, Loverboy or Michael Buble. The same can be said for promoters around the world.

The problem is there seems to be an agency vs promoter battle. It is all about control. The agency wants to be the go to entity, but I’ve always believed that the person INVESTING the MONEY should have a large say in ticket price, imaging, ad spend and where to play.

However, too many managers have one mantra. GET THE MONEY!!!

I get it. We are all percentage guys. The big guarantees are tempting, but if it leads to empty seats and papering, what is it doing to an act’s longevity as a major attraction?

I view my promoters as partners. If they make money, then my act will be making money. Just like the label, they are part of the team.

I do not believe that my artists’ money should hinge on parking fees and concession sales. Those are false indicators.

My road staff and the promoter go over seating charts with a fine tooth comb. We try to scale the house correctly for the MARKET. Not the nation.

When you have a promoter as a partner, you know where to be on a tuesday night to maximize ticket sales. The Saturdays take care of themselves.

I talk to my promoters all the time. I’m always surprised how many managers don’t. The promoter is investing in you and hopefully investing in the future. I know this sounds "old school" and it probably is.  But is there anything wrong with all parties winning?

Bruce Allen                                             

Bob,

The only reason I have been able to stay in this business for over 40 years is because of the relationships I have with managers that believe in me.

Most of the agents today only talk to promoters for two reasons:

1. To get the biggest guarantee possible.
2. If there is a problem with the show, they can blame the promoter.

I really feel like promoters are treated like second class citizens.
Basically we’ve become the Rodney Dangerfields of the business…We get no respect!

Things have got to change if we all want to keep our business thriving.

Don Fox
Beaver Productions
New Orleans/Memphis

So I’m out to dinner with a concert promoter.  He can’t understand the adversarial relationship between promoters and acts.  According to him, the promoter is the band’s BEST FRIEND!

Think about it.  Who else is going to invest so much money in the band’s career?

That’s what we’ve come to.  The labels are bankrupt, if not financially, artistically.  The acts they build can’t sell tickets and they don’t want to invest much.  Let’s make it simple.  If you make Top Forty music, the label will put money into you, but fans won’t come see you live, because they don’t believe you’re real, they know your record was made by committee, the same people who make all the other Top Forty hits.

No, fans want to see credible acts.

And the only people paying these acts is the promoter.

Classic acts can’t sell a record.  So the promoter is their only source of revenue.

Most new acts can’t sell tracks because they’re not exposed on radio or TV, they depend on the promoter’s bucks.

So why is there such an adversarial relationship between acts and promoters?  Why is the person paying treated with so little respect?

The act is paid a guarantee, oftentimes exorbitant, and dictates ticket price.  The promoter knows you can’t charge $49.50 plus surcharges for a lawn ticket, but in order to meet the act’s demands, that’s what you end up with.  And the customer says no and the act won’t help the promoter sell tickets by dropping the price.  This is a business?

Actually, it’s fascinating looking at the landscape.

There’s the occasional instant superstar, like Lady GaGa.  But most of the instant arena acts don’t last.  If you think Justin Bieber will continue to sell tickets, then you’ve never heard of the Jonas Brothers or Miley Cyrus.

And it’s so hard for acts to develop.

Maybe, just maybe, the concert promoter is about to become king.

Last year was instructional, sure, Live Nation’s income took a hit, but so did Sarah McLachlan’s credibility.  Play to empty seats and suddenly no one wants to see you again.  Like my buddy Don Fox says, let the acts play to empty seats, that’ll revolutionize this business.  You’d be surprised who doesn’t sell out, despite the ads trumpeting the unavailability of tickets.

He with the money ultimately wins.  When are concert promoters going to realize this?  When are they going to learn to say no instead of yes?  Robert Sillerman rolled up the old promoters into SFX fifteen years ago.  Isn’t it time to stop overpaying to keep the ball rolling?

Sure, Live Nation’s stock would nosedive if they started saying no, but that’s the best way to realign this business.  This promoter talking to me tonight used the NHL as an example.  The league shut the doors, they just couldn’t make money with the financial system in place.  The players said they could construct their own circuit.  But they couldn’t.  They could play in Europe for less and they ultimately came back to the bargaining table with a realistic concept of what they were worth.

We need to do the same in the concert industry.  Promoters need to stop paying so much to make so little money.

And promoters must be able to promote.

This promoter tonight talked about making a guarantee.  TO THE CUSTOMER!  If you don’t like the show, you can leave before the third song and get all your money back.  At these prices, we’ve got to give people insurance.

And we’ve got to lower the prices.  Because who can afford them?  You can go to one show a year.  And that’s not healthy for our business.  Suddenly, concert attendance is like going on vacation, a once a year event.

We don’t want concert promotion to go the way of recorded music.  Somehow the labels didn’t realize that it was best to get everybody paying a little for a lot, especially when they participate in 360 degrees of revenue.  Allow people to check out new bands and they might go to a show, and buy a t-shirt.

Actually, that’s what’s truly happening now.  Word on the new acts is spread online.  You can hear their music for free on YouTube. Tickets are cheap.  You go because you want to be part of the collective, you want to be first.  This is the way the business used to be, before grosses were trumpeted in newspapers and greed killed the paradigm.

You’ve got to set the promoter free.  He’s got to be your friend.

Why should an act trust Doug Morris or Jimmy Iovine or Lyor Cohen yet abhor Michael Rapino and Randy Phillips?  Michael and Randy are paying the acts more money, and will continue to do so long after their record contracts have expired.  And good luck getting those record royalties you’re due.

Bill Graham promoted shows.  And people came to his concerts because he was promoting them.  That’s the power of a great promoter.

It just can’t be a banking deal.  Because acts are relying on the promoter to sell tickets.  Without radio or TV, who else can do the job?

That’s Steve Jobs.  Responsible for the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.

Not responsible for broadband, Napster, CD burning, hard-drive swapping and the rest of the elements that contributed to the demise of the old recording industry.  As a matter of fact, Jobs was last.  Macs came without CD burners.  And Rio released the first MP3 player.  All Steve Jobs did was make the experience easier and more elegant.  And provided a way for the rights holders to get paid via the iTunes Store.  Yes, before then, music online was FREE!  There was nowhere to pay.

But you know all this.

It’s only Jon Bongiovi who does not.

That’s what happens when you surround yourself with yes-men, you lose contact with reality.  You start to believe you’re a grand pooh-bah with all the answers when really you’re an uneducated nitwit with too much money and fans lost in the same old century you are.

Too bad Bon Jovi is not informed.  If he were, he could make a difference.  Instead, he’s revealed himself to be in bed with Doug Morris and the rest of the music industry antiques who just don’t get it.

I’m not saying an act has to know everything.  But if it knows nothing, it shouldn’t open its mouth.

Bon Jovi is old school.  New school acts are Net-savvy.  They have to be, that’s where their fans are.  You reach people online, you cement the relationship with them via Facebook, Twitter, e-mail…  It’s much more efficient than the old way.  You know who your fans are.  And they’ll give you all their money if you treat them right.

But like the RIAA before him, Jon Bongiovi wants to place blame.  Wants to find a scapegoat for the end of an era.  As if overpriced CDs could go on forever.

Yes, in case you missed it, in yesterday’s "Times", the English version, Jon Bongiovi said:

"Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business."

Funny how when Bongiovi finally decides to say something negative he gets it wrong.

In an era where electric cars are not only imminent, but available, when modern communications allow you to speak to friends across the world for free, Jon Bongiovi is lamenting the fact that we all don’t buy vinyl records and get spoon-fed by radio.

The landscape might be murky now.  But we’re going to a better place.  Where bland, written by committee confections like Bon Jovi’s work will be the exception instead of the rule.

With one dumb statement Bon Jovi has become a laughingstock.  This quote is all over the Web.  My inbox is filling up.

What did they used to say in the sixties?  You’re either with us or against us?

Turns out Bongiovi is against us.  He doesn’t want more music for more people at a cheaper price, which the Internet affords, he just wants to maintain his private plane lifestyle.

He’s what’s wrong with America today.  Ignorance.

You find it rampant amongst adults.

But not with kids.  They read the news all day long online.  They know which way the wind blows.  They know Steve Jobs is a hero, not a zero.

Kids don’t go to see Bon Jovi.

They’re into something new.  Or something old of value, true classic rock.

It’s not Steve Jobs who killed the music business, it’s the audience.  An audience that had been ripped off for years, sold overpriced junk, who used new technologies to get what they wanted for free.  If anything, as stated above, Mr. Jobs should be lauded for establishing a way for rights holders to get paid!

Some day in the future, Bongiovi and Jobs are going to die.

And who do you think will be remembered?

The guy with the feathered hairdo from New Jersey or the college dropout who revolutionized society by providing tools?

That’s all Steve Jobs did, provide tools.  Now people can use computers to create music, they don’t need a rich uncle with a recording studio.  Tunecore makes labels unnecessary.

If you don’t think we’re in a better place now than in the heyday of Bon Jovi then I sentence you to twenty four hours straight of "New Jersey".  Hopefully, after that, you’ll see the light.

The truth is slippery.

But the key is to keep trying to unearth it, to not be afraid of the future but to embrace it.

Bongiovi is living in a vacuum.  And if he keeps coming out with heinous comments like this, his career will be living on a prayer.

Wake up mama, turn your lamp down low…

If you went to college in the early seventies, you know these words by heart.  It’s Gregg Allman’s opening line from the finest concert album of all time, "Live At Fillmore East".  And last night, the band performed that album from start to finish, I’d say note for note, but the Allmans are known for nothing if not improvisation.

The dressing rooms at the Beacon are stacked.

We started on top with Derek and Butch.  Trucks that is.  Derek had Duane’s Gold Top around his neck, in honor of the night’s festivities.  Butch told us the vagaries of running Moogis, the inability of some fans to even remember their own e-mail addresses, and then Warren Haynes strode in next door.  Like this was a job.  Right from the street to the stage.

And after a peek in on Gregg we took our seats.

Well, first we admired the edifice.  In an era where everybody’s cutting corners Jim Dolan spared no expense.  He refurbished the place into a palace.  You feel that someone actually respects music.  And the vibe resembled nothing so much as that venue in the East Village, that heart of rock and roll that’s no longer beating but was the epicenter of the scene forty years ago, the Fillmore East.

And the fans are milling, and ultimately sitting, then the band hits the stage and breaks into those opening notes and when Gregg starts to sing EVERYBODY SINGS ALONG!  It was like we were in church.  A church you needed a secret password to enter, one that didn’t exclude people, but just required them to be in the know.

The band really locked in on "Elizabeth Reed".  Noted as "Liz Reed" on the set list.  You remember the story, right?  Of how it was a headstone in a graveyard down south?  And as the twin guitarists waxed and wailed something was clear, we were listening to MUSIC!  To paraphrase Robert Plant, YOU REMEMBER MUSIC, right?

Robert spoke of laughter.  And I didn’t hear any ha-ha’s, but everyone had a smile on their face, because of the experience.

There’s been all this horseshit written that the Grateful Dead broke big because they let people tape, that they were fan-friendly.  No, the real reason the Dead were gigantic was the MUSIC!

They were always good, but when they finally got their act down on wax, with "Workingman’s Dead" and "American Beauty", the masses clued in and there was no stopping the juggernaut of an act that was about PLAYING!

You wonder why this business is in the shitter?  It’s not about playing anymore, it’s not about music, it’s about SHOW!  As in SHOW BUSINESS!  And if you focus first on business, the gig has got no SOUL!  And without soul, you ain’t got shit.

It’s not about hearing the hit.  It wasn’t until ’73 that the Allmans even had a hit.  But they were legendary and selling out stadiums before that.  Because of the MUSIC!  You went with your buddies, got stoned and melted with the sound.

The Allmans were tighter than the Dead.  And Gregg could sing better.  Which may be why they were bigger.  But the Dead had a warm vibe, Jerry had charisma, whereas the Allmans were all about the work.  They hit no wrong notes, they were a freight train that came roaring through town, you ran down to the tracks, you didn’t want to miss it.

People can you feel it, love is everywhere

I got turned on to the Allmans in Dave McCormick’s dorm room at Middlebury College.  Dave played three records over and over again.  "Layla", "In Search Of The Lost Chord" and "Idlewild South".  We’d roll a doobie, before that band broke big and we even called it that, turn out the lights and watch the zilch drip flame into a bucket of water, energized by the music.

You’ve got to know, at this point "Midnight Rider" wasn’t even a staple!  No one knew it.  We discovered it as part of the album.  As the third track on the first side.

But as much as we loved "Idlewild South", we were not prepared for "Fillmore East".  Which came after the venue was closed by the soon to be legendary southern rock band.  Bill Graham knew what we did not.  Outsiders were surprised that this yet to break act closed the hall, but Bill was right.

And eventually I went back to the beginning, I bought the debut, with the killer version of "Trouble No More", which the band played last night.

But the track I needed to experience, and filling the whole fourth side it was an experience, was "Whipping Post".

I’ve been run down, I’ve been lied to

All these years later the story of abandonment made sense in a way it did not back at Middlebury.  But the sound had been updated too.  Derek wasn’t just channeling Duane, he was adding his own spin.

And eventually David Hidalgo of Los Lobos came out to wail too.

And when the band settled into the drum solo it became painfully clear…this show was gonna end.

But the experience wasn’t over.  This was show 191, by time they’re done later this month it will be 201 sold out shows at the Beacon, there’s a plaque backstage, with rolling digits counting the gigs.

You can go too.

And it’s best at the Beacon.

But it’s good everywhere.

Because it’s music.

This is how it used to be.  People didn’t want to be stars, they wanted to be musicians.  They practiced and gigged and practiced and ultimately got good enough to gain acclaim.  They got record deals and lost them, they drove in vans with bald tires, but when that engine was finally tuned, and all eight cylinders were humming, the sound was undeniable.  People came from far and wide to bask in the music, to partake in the elixir.

No one was fake.  There were no hard drives, no auto-tune.  You had to be able to sing and play.

And these cats did it so well that money started raining down upon them in prodigious amounts.  I remember that picture in "Rolling Stone" with all the Allmans’ guitars belted into the airplane seat.  Yup, the axes had their own ticket, they were just that important, the band didn’t want to give United a chance to break their guitars.

And there was booze and drugs, more women than anyone but Gene Simmons, who came after, could remember.  It was pure.

You want to know how we know?

Because most of the acts from back then are broke.  They’ve still got to work to survive.  Tickets were under five bucks.  Record royalties were miniscule.  It was primarily about the lifestyle.

And the audience was an integral part of that lifestyle.  Without the audience you had nothing.  It wasn’t about perfecting the sound on record so much as plugging in on stage and giving it your all, feeding off those in attendance, trying to blow the roof off the joint.

There are no short cuts.

You can make a record with Dr. Luke, but that doesn’t mean anybody wants to see you live.

You can win "American Idol" and be famous, but so is Snooki, and she can’t sing, she’s got no talent whatsoever.

Don’t confuse fame with talent.  Talent is honed.  Over years.  When no one is looking.  When your parents tell you to go to school and your girlfriend tells you you’re a shithead.  Nobody believes in you but yourself.  But your belief is so strong that you can’t give up. Then people you never knew suddenly believe you’re God.

Yup, that’s how it works.

I’d like to tell you there’s a star in the Allman Brothers Band, but that would be wrong.  Every player on stage is an integral part.  It’s not about preening, but playing.

And it’s about playing once again.  There’s a host of acts most people have never heard of selling out clubs and theatres to dedicated fans who go to every gig, which they can afford to because tickets are so cheap.

This is our only way out.

It’s not about Jimmy Iovine wearing Beats headphones on "American Idol", it’s not about the penumbra, it’s about the CORE!

Last night the Allman Brothers tied me to the whipping post.

And it felt so GOOD!