Bob-

I have felt compelled to write to you since you wrote the letter regarding Kenny Chesney last June.

I for one, who has been managing his career since day one, 15 years in total now, appreciate the fact that you take notice of his arena rock style shows and his deep connection to his fans.

Kenny spends all of his downtime creating the following year’s tour. He changes everything. I mean from the video walls, to the set, the lighting, opening acts, etc. He never wants to give the fans less than they were given the year before. And he wants the fans to be able to afford to come see him. And while our tickets aren’t the cheapest out there, they are still much lower than some of the competition out there.

Kenny could quite simply (and much more money netted in our pockets) "dial it in", never change a thing and give the fans a great show, but that’s not what Kenny’s about. He’s 100 percent about his fans. Don’t misunderstand me, we are in business and do enjoy the fruits of our labor, but money has always been secondary to Kenny.

In an arena setting, a fan can purchase a ticket from 55.00-65.00. At an amphitheater, the lawn seats go in the mid-30.00 range, with a limited reserve going in the low 70.00.

In a day in which scans are going away, we want to be out there 20 years from now, rockin’ the people out and helping people to forget their problems for 2 hours.

Again, I and he appreciate you taking notice of the brand we’re building. Kenny was never the guy who was supposed to make it in Nashville. Believe me, I lived through the darker days of managing Kenny Chesney and remember the comments under people’s breath and being left out of the "cool crowd". But one thing Nashville didn’t count on was his incredible work ethic and his amazing ability to connect with those fans.

This is not sour grapes either, we feel very blessed and fortunate to be doing what we get to do. No chips on our shoulders here. Just two guys getting to live the dream.

Bob, anytime you want to see a show, we would love for you to be our guest. We’ll even leave off the Ticketmaster convenience charges.

Regards,
Clint Higham

P.S. No I didn’t dress him at the CMA’s.

On the front page of today’s "Wall Street Journal" there’s an article entitled "TV Campaign Is Culture Shift For Starbucks: Facing Lower Sales, Company Built On Buzz Turns To National Ads".

My only Google regret is I didn’t buy stock.

I heard about Google from a computer newbie. How many years ago was that, four, five? She said she entered the term in Google and I laughed to myself. Didn’t she know to use HotBot, or at least AltaVista? In HotBot there was even a drop-down menu that allowed you to search for the exact term!

But then I heard about Google again. And again. I needed to check it out.

The homepage looked like a cartoon. Something that would appeal to a second grader. It didn’t scream power-user, it was friendly in the same way as AOL, and didn’t we all hate AOL?

But I tried it. And damned if it didn’t come up with the right result. Again and again and again.

I don’t go to the Google homepage anymore. I just use the tiny window in the upper right-hand corner of Safari. I’m Googling dozens of times a day. And not only do I get the right result, it’s fast. In a way no band’s site ever is. I like Google so much that when I’m looking to buy something, I use their ads, and feel good about it. I feel I’m giving something back. How fucked up is that? Feeling all warm and fuzzy about contributing to the coffers of a tech giant!

Google does no TV advertising. And it’s ubiquitous, it’s by far the search engine of choice. We’re believers. Because we know it’s great and it hasn’t been sold to us. Kind of like with a band. In the old days.

When you ram something down people’s throats, your most diehard believers abandon you. You’re usurping their job, spreading the word. You cause a backlash. You might get a momentary spike, but your longevity is decreased. But people want the money and they want it now!

Don’t know if you’ve been following the Starbucks news this week. Traffic was down for the first time ever. This is a crisis, for Starbucks is a public company.

Maybe that’s why recording artists should never be promoted by public companies, their interests diverge. The label is beholden to the street, not the act. They don’t envision the same career path. Sell those Alicia Keys records now to boost the stock! If we saturate the market, shortening her career…well, we’ll just have to find another act to flog in the future, if we’re even here.

That’s what we’ve had in the last two decades in the music business, certainly since Charles Koppelman’s SBK Records. Burn it out now, generate cash now, fuck the future. Wilson Phillips had one hit album, Charles sold out completely to EMI, and no one ever wanted a Wilson Phillips record again.

Starbucks isn’t quite sure who to blame. Is it the housing market and rising fuel costs, or the dreaded competition, Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s.

Fearing the latter, under pressure from the street, Starbucks is starting this national TV campaign, its first. Now, not only do we have to see a Starbucks on every corner, to the point it’s a national joke, evidenced in "Best In Show", the company with the arrogant, self-centered customers is going to bang us over the head, telling us how fucking great they are, that we should buy their overpriced products.

People drink Starbucks coffee because it makes them feel good, feel part of the club. Sure, they want the caffeine, but there was a lifestyle element, that is going to be undermined by this television campaign.

Is there anybody unaware of Starbucks? Anybody who’s going to be reached by this campaign? If there is, once they show up at the coffee emporium, you won’t want to go there, just like a nightclub dies once the hoi polloi starts attending.

Unlike coffee, great music has no competitor. Each act is unique. And each act’s career must be nurtured. Once you get a toehold, you’ve got to grow slowly, letting your music and your fans expand your base. And once you swing for the fences, once you try to get everybody on board, you undermine your base.

Howard Schultz, Starbucks’ majordomo, used to know this. A decade ago he wrote "(B)y its very nature, national advertising fuels fear about ubiquity." Ubiquity, that’s what kills acts. You think it’s breaking them, all those advertisements. Just ask John Mellencamp, whose live business tanked after he did the Chevy ad, that’s playing ad nauseam.

And to quote Mr. Schultz again, from his 1997 book, "Pour Your Heart Out":

"In this ever-changing society, the most powerful and enduring brands are built from the heart. Their foundations are stronger because they are built with the strength of the human spirit, not an ad campaign."

Bingo, that’s the music business.

TV Campaign Is Culture Shift For Starbucks

Is Celine Dion gonna give birth on stage? Does every attendee get a blow job by either George Clooney or Angelina Jolie, customer’s choice? Is John Lennon gonna come back from the dead to duet with her on "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night"? If not, why the fuck do I have to pay $500 a year in advance for tickets?

Let me tell you how it worked. The record labels signed the acts. Then they promoted them at radio. And the concert promoter performed cleanup, he picked up the crumbs and made his slice selling tickets to see these acts live. Sure, the experience was great, but the action was in the record.

Then the labels got greedy. Raised their prices. Had only one good track per CD. And radio consolidated and became calcified and people tuned out. End result, the labels are in free-fall. You don’t need me to tell you this, just read the newspaper, or check SoundScan.

Simultaneous with the decline of the labels came the consolidation of the concert business. And the concomitant run-up in ticket prices. Concertgoing went from a regular activity to a once a year event. (Ask Michael Rapino for the statistics, Live Nation patrons go to fewer than two concerts per year.) But with higher ticket prices and rich baby boomers indulging themselves and their progeny, grosses didn’t tank. Although ticket counts didn’t go through the roof.

Now, we’ve got dinosaurs on cleanup tours and a bunch of acts with MySpace pages that almost no one wants to see. Would you say we’ve got a problem? I would.

The labels are completely lost. Rather than returning to their core revenue stream, selling recorded music, they’re trying to hone in on the acts’ other revenue. The labels are marginalizing themselves. What did Craig Kallman say? Atlantic will sign fewer acts in the future and hype them more? Isn’t this what Guy Hands is saying too? Have they never heard of cable television and its infinite choice? That you need a product for every niche?

And radio… Stations aren’t interested in the future, they don’t want to change, they just want to sell a ton of ad time and run the value of their outlets down to zero.

So who needs to break acts? The concert business. But all the concert business cares about is dollars. It’s the carney business one step removed.

There’s no investment in the future. It’s about how much money can we grab now. And as bad as the promoters are, the agents are worse. They want their ten percent. They make deals, they don’t turn them down.

So this giant edifice has been built to fuck the customer in the ass. No one cares about the customer.

Not only are the ticket prices too high, and the venues too big, there’s the dreaded TicketMaster fees. And the public doesn’t know that it’s not really TM’s fault, but the rest of the industry’s, which wants more hidden profits, in the case of the promoters, not commissioned by the acts. It’s like breakage clauses in recording contracts. It’s all historical and unfathomable to the public.

But now we’re selling tickets more than a year in advance? What’s the rationale? Do you know what your schedule is in January ’09? Of course not!

Why don’t you put your money down on Cornell, so your fourteen year old can attend when he finishes high school. And if he’s not accepted? Well, Cornell will give you your money back, sans interest.

That’s what this ticket sale is about. Not making sure there’s enough money in the marketplace, but collecting a sum, that in the aggregate, throws off millions of dollars in interest, which TM, AEG and Celine can split. No harm, no foul, right? What’s the interest on $500 anyway? Not even the TM fee!

Do they think this cumulative screwing of the public will have no long term effect?

Just ask GM. Or Ford. Never mind Chrysler. Not only are they a shadow of their former selves, they might even go out of business. All because they produced a shoddy product the public didn’t want. Took almost forty years, but now Toyota is the world’s number one brand. Because they last! If you invest $25,000 in an automobile, don’t you want a good return for your money?

But the concert industry will say there’s only one Celine Dion.

Let’s just assume that’s true. Where’s the next Celine? I can’t see her. What is the industry going to do after she’s gone, after the Stones no longer tour. When Bono spends more time as a VC at Elevation Partners. Well, the record labels are going to generate new hit acts. Huh? That ain’t happening. But that’s the concert industry, fuck the future, give us our money now!

The reason people don’t complain about video game prices is because the games are good! Not only do the CDs only have one good track, when you go to the show you’re treated like shit. Charged ad infinitum, for everything from parking to refreshments to merch. All overpriced. And unless you’re very close, the sound isn’t good and you’re watching on the big screen. You can say you were there, but soon being somewhere else is gonna give you more cred.

You can’t screw your customers for years and expect no backlash. Ask the major labels if you need chapter and verse. The concert industry is the custodian of music now. And believing that you can’t steal a concert, they’re just raping and pillaging, as if they’re immune.

No one’s immune. Not even Microsoft.

Then again, Bill Gates is a hell of a lot smarter than those inhabiting the concert business. And he added a ton of value to the computing experience. What value have TM, the agents and the promoters added to the show? The show is about the act. And great new acts are scarce. If you don’t see trouble ahead, you’re not looking.

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Bob – Do I have this correct? Celine Dion is asking me to make a commitment NOW to a show on January 30, 2009? She wants the use of my money for 14 months? She wants $1000 a couple up front; $400-$500 in the middle – for the privilege of locking in more than a year out? I couldn’t tell you what I’m doing 14 days from now, let alone On Jan. 30, 2009. Total insanity. -Debbie

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You think that Clapton and Winwood at 250.00 is a scream. Well it only gets better. I received an email today from AEG notifying me that I am a preferred member (don’t know how) and I am eligible to purchase advance tickets to see Celine Dion on October 20, 2008 for prices ranging from $62 – $512. Shit, if I cared, which I don’t, those greedy bastards would have my money, perhaps as much as 500 + bucks times the amount of friends I want to go with, in their coffers for near a year – multiply that by 20,000 bums in seats. That’s greed? What like Celine needs a guarantee that she will sell out the ice rinks – NOT! Crazy crazy industry!

Garrett

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Celine Dion…..Vancouver Canada, Next October….
$82.00 to 520.00. She and Rene can go fuck themselves.

Darrin Buchanan
www.rocksquad.net
Vancouver, BC

"I don’t know anyone who listens to CDs in order anymore."

Mick Jagger

"Wall Street Journal" – Thursday, November 15, 2007

What I find funny is fans.

On one hand, thank god Radiohead and Jay-Z have them, that’s what keeps them in business. But, if you cross their favorite, if you say anything negative about the act they adore, they inundate you with e-mail excoriating you for your ignorance.

Jay-Z left money on the table. If people didn’t want files instead of CDs, we wouldn’t be in this pickle to begin with. But the reason Jay-Z didn’t sell his music on iTunes is because Universal, his parent company, is at war with Apple. Unfortunately, it’s Jay-Z’s who’s taking the hit.

Why didn’t he act like Tom Petty back in the seventies, refusing to be the first on MCA to sell his record for a buck more? Willing to go into bankruptcy to avoid this fate?

As head of a label, you’d think Jay-Z would take the long view. See that buying complete albums is a thing of the past. Figure out how to make it in the new world. I mean when even Edgar Bronfman, Jr. wakes up to the new reality, it makes Jay-Z look like he’s living back in the nineties.

So you love albums. More power to you. I don’t want to tell you how to listen to your music.

But those days are through. The future is a steady stream of product. The key is to keep your fan base happy, keep the relationship up, so you can sell a steady stream of…not only music, but concert tickets and merch. Who’d want to marry a person who you only dated once every three years? Even if the date was a week long. Even a month!

There were no albums before 33 1/3 RPM records. The medium begat the art form. New art forms are going to emerge as a result of the Internet era. Why be so close-minded. Maybe Jay-Z can release his next album as a serial! With a new track every week. Driving us to iTunes, where we might buy even more IDJ music.

And, there’s no abolition on buying complete albums at iTunes. Make something good enough, and people will pop for it.

But to leave them out of the loop, to make them buy it your way or the highway. Shit, what did that hamburger chain say? Have it your way?

If only Jay-Z and the record labels paid attention…