I don’t watch this stuff. Life’s too short. Politicians bloviating and the only people who really care are the press reporting on it.

Welcome to today, where people are in their silos and don’t even realize it!

Beyoncé should boycott the Grammys! That’s what Mikael Wood claimed on the front page of the “Los Angeles Times” Calendar section yesterday. Hate to tell you Mikael, but most people have already boycotted the Grammys. Sure, ratings went up a bit, but that’s like saying a classic rock act got a million streams instead of 700,000. Almost nobody heard it and nobody cares! Come on, has anybody talked to you about the Grammys in the past few days? Certainly not since Monday.

You see the world has changed. It’s all niche, and what happens in your niche is irrelevant to me.

Peter Paterno e-mailed me this great skit from last week’s SNL:

“The Big Hollywood Quiz”: https://bit.ly/3Ygq4Jf

If you watch anything this week, watch this, because it encapsulates the world we now live in. Furthermore, I don’t watch SNL, because I know if anything great happens I’ll hear about it, and this proves the point!

So the media keeps promoting mass, when mass is history. Which begs the question…what else are they out of touch on?

Now forget the latest political shenanigans, I NEVER watched the State of the Union address. But I am interested in the analysis, to a point anyway. And last night, hiking in the mountains, figuring the speech was over, I dialed up the news in the SiriusXM app to hear…

Sarah Huckabee Sanders giving the Republican response to Biden’s speech.

It was like she was living in an alternative universe.

The first thing I wanted to ask her, the same thing I want to ask the hosts on Fox News…DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THIS STUFF?

I mean actors spew words they don’t believe all day long, the people on Fox aren’t a whole lot different.

But here’s the dirty little secret… NOBODY IS WATCHING!

Sure, Fox gets better ratings than MSNBC and CNN. But add up all their viewers and you end up with a tiny fraction of the public. But the rest of the media reports what goes on there like everyone is paying attention, AND THEY’RE NOT!

As a matter of fact…

I still read the news, I want to know what is going on, but the red light is no longer flashing, I’m relaxing until 2024, because what we’ve got now is gridlock. The Republicans may control the House, but they can’t get anything done. Oh, they can prevent stuff from being done, but isn’t this why Trump got elected in the first place?

Let’s call a spade a spade, Trump won primarily because people hated/didn’t want Hillary Clinton. A smart woman so compromised in her public persona that she said her favorite book was the Bible and I don’t know a single person who believed it. As for the Bible-thumpers, they were never going to vote for her anyway. I voted for her, I believed she’d be a good president, but I can understand why people were against her.

As for Trump… He snookered me, I never thought he was that stupid. He made his name rebuilding Wollman Rink, he had a real estate empire, he was always in the news, I didn’t realize he was intellectually challenged until he took office. Offensive, maybe. But far from smart? WHO KNEW?

Now we all know.

Except for maybe 30% of the population, who have drunk the right wing kool-aid. And that number is shrinking. And that’s the point.

The Republicans are on a losing streak. But instead of questioning why and adjusting, they continue to do the same old thing.

Sanders calling Biden crazy? This is like Trump embracing the term “fake news.” You can criticize Biden all day long, but crazy? I think not. You see a great percentage of the public believes Trump is crazy. And Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert. They might not agree with Mitch McConnell, but they don’t think he’s CRAZY!

Heckling Biden… Not the first time this has happened during the State of the Union, but how do you think this plays outside Georgia, outside the ever-shrinking lunatic base? People know how to behave, they know decorum. What kind of idiot behaves like this? Not someone you can get behind.

So you’ve got the nincompoops, who even deny what is on the record, in Greene’s case saying she didn’t use the term “Jewish space lasers.” But you’ve also got a fierce right wing underground that will primary you if you don’t heed their insanity. Ultimately driving you further and further from the average American.

Let’s be clear… The average American cares about economics. Their income, their family. China? Maybe. Immigration? To a degree. But as they say, all politics is local. And to take it further, all politics is individual.

And all those polls about  the state of the country, approval ratings… Come on, who would be thumbs-up in today’s America, no matter which side you’re on. Almost nothing can get done. So people don’t hate Biden, they hate what is going on.

As for Biden… Can we stop debating his 2024 campaign?

He’s not gonna run. But as soon as he declares this, he’s a lame duck. So he’s going to wait until the last possible moment. Sure, some people are sharp in their middle eighties, but too many are not, they’ve lost at least a step, therefore not only Republicans, but Democrats don’t want Biden. But we’ve got all these articles about how last night’s speech set Biden up for his next campaign. I mean don’t you have something better to talk about?

As for all this woke stuff. Sure, it plays with some of the public. But the dirty little secret is very few people are on this train. Most Democrats don’t agree. But the Democrats are a big tent party, where everyone gets a voice and everyone isn’t necessarily on the same page.

Not that I’m letting the Democrats off the hook. They don’t know how to set an agenda and stick to it when it comes to campaigning. The Republicans get their ducks in a row and the Democrats squirm.

So Sanders is playing the culture wars card.

That worked years ago, do you really think it will work now? And even if it works to a degree, does it work enough to get a Republican elected president in 2024.

Come on, the Republicans are the do-nothing party with no agenda. You think the average person doesn’t get this? There was the McCarthy speaker fiasco… People just want to stop the insanity! As for raising the debt ceiling… Sure, most people don’t realize it’s about money already spent, but most people do understand the right is only hurting the economy demanding things most people don’t want that the party won’t get anyway.

I mean there’s a spotlight on Congress every day. And now it’s funny, because the Republican Party in the House is nearly powerless. As for all these investigations into Joe Biden. Yeah, Biden’s a billionaire skirting tax laws… Come on, Biden and Trump have almost nothing in common other than they’ve both been president. Tit for tat might play with the base, but the base is not enough to win elections.

And these Republicans in Congress are confused as to who the base are. They’re working people, blue collar, people who used to be Democrats. Talking about taking away or reducing entitlements doesn’t play with these people. Look what happened with Obamacare, people want it. As they do Social Security! You can’t serve two masters. And one thing the Democrats have reinforced is that the 2017 tax bill benefited the wealthy and increased the debt.

Yes, the Republican Party used to be about the fat cats. I’m a winner, don’t penalize me, don’t restrict me, everyone should lift themselves up by their bootstraps just like me. And although a lot of this wealthy money is still in play, and a lot of poor people delusionally believe they’re going to be rich and don’t want to have to pay taxes when they achieve this status…most people believe the rich are getting away with it, not paying their fair share.

Once again, it’s not all or nothing. But in politics, a percentage point here or there makes all the difference. The Republicans are on a losing streak, the Red Wave was barely a ripple, but they continue to play the same cards expecting a different result. Isn’t that the definition of insanity?

As for what Biden has done… You’ve got to give him credit, at least he’s done SOMETHING! Beaten the gridlock. As for Ukraine… Americans are still suspicious of Russia, they understand the threat. And why should we be so concerned about China but not Russia? And the dirty little secret is all our electronics are made in China. That is changing, slowly, but… People are scared of Russia in an emotional way they are not scared of China.

Common sense? I’m all for common sense, but I wouldn’t associate it with the Republican Party. Don’t they get that people are laughing at them?

Then again, Democrats are too stupid to realize that the president gets to appoint Supreme Court justices, and by not having Hillary many lost abortion rights. And many are concerned about this. And as the years go by and women are forced to have babies because abortions are unavailable… They’re not going to sidle up to the Republicans.

But it’s not only politics. Evolve or die. Google owned search, but now with ChatGPT/AI, Bing has a fighting chance.

And speaking of fighting, the labels lost power by fighting file-trading, they thought the CD was forever… Do you even own a CD player today?

As for all this hatred of TikTok and social media… Rail all you want, but they’re here to stay, they’re what the public wants! They couldn’t kill alcohol consumption with Prohibition, and the truth is people want to connect, and they want to go down the rabbit hole of their personal niche. But people in D.C. are so deep in their own B.S. that they don’t really know what is going on in America today.

Trump proved this back in 2016. That being coarse and speaking English was no longer taboo. But that was six years ago, we’ve seen that movie, what movie is unspooling now?

We are truly living in a Tower of Babel society. Realize this. And know that what you see in your own little world… Might not reflect what is going on in the rest of the world.

You can’t get a ticket, it must be somebody’s fault.

You didn’t get into Harvard, even though your grades were poor. You can’t buy a Mercedes-Benz, even though you don’t have the cash. Why is it only with tickets that the public is irrational?

Well, unfortunately, it’s not only tickets. If people are so misinformed on ticketing, it scares me to think what they believe when it comes to politics, something critical in our country and their lives.

Scalpers. They get the difference between the face price and what the fan is willing to pay. Why should the scalper get this uplift as opposed to the act, which is drawing the customer to begin with?

So, acts used to scalp their own tickets. Yes, you’re shocked, positively shocked! Well, how would you feel if someone else was piggybacking on your business, taking your money out of your hands? Well, why don’t the acts price the tickets at what they’re worth? Obviously people are willing to pay this price. Because the act doesn’t want to look bad.

So, the acts employ what was then called “platinum ticketing,” or “golden circle.” Selling the best seats for a premium, along with a few benefits. Maybe going to soundcheck, meeting a member of the band. But it turns out those extras were not the incentive, people just wanted good seats, so in many cases those extras faded away.

So, that took care of the best seats. But what about the medium seats, the seats you were happy to get, maybe at the front of the lower bowl? Well, the scalpers sold those too, so, the platinum ticketing of today was instituted. I.e. dynamic pricing. If demand is high, the price goes up. Because why give the spread to the scalper?

As for the crappy seats in the upper deck… The scalper doesn’t bother with them. The customer is thrilled to be in the building. Caught up in the mania he or she may buy extra tickets to sell, but good luck even selling them for face value. The mania has exceeded the reality.

But how many shows are instant sellouts?

Not most. And the promoter is at risk. And the promoter must stay in business.

This is especially risky in clubs. Which are open more nights and have a plethora of developing talent. These clubs count on sellout dates to make their nut. And believe me, if you can sell out the club, you’re getting a better deal.

So you can’t get a good ticket and you hear it’s Ticketmaster’s fault. So you blame Ticketmaster too. Ignorance on parade.

As for the fees… Forget that seemingly every other industry has them, they exist because the act takes almost all of the face value on the ticket. The fees were established to create a pool of money that was not commissionable by the act.

And it’s not only the hoi polloi who can’t understand this, it’s Congress and the President too. It’d be like having these same people weigh in on surgery. Do you think they know as much as the MDs? OF COURSE NOT! But when it comes to ticketing…

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Amen Harvey!

LYV’s margin 5.87% (source Sep 2022 Quarterly report)
AAPL margin 22.99% (source Sep 2022 Quarterly report)

LET’S GET THE PITCHFORKS READY WE’RE GONNA STORM 1 INFINITE LOOP!

Ps - Apple’s typically more than 30% but supply chain issues and inability to keep up with demand are kicking their asses.

Dan Millen

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I agree with Harvey. As a promoter working with international artists, I can do nothing that affects the public face of the concert without the consent of the Artist’s agent. And of course, via their Production and Tour managers, the Artist controls the production, marketing and organisational side of the concert as well. A foolish promoter might try to cheat the Artist in one way or another by hiding charges or cutting production and safety corners but they won’t last long if they do, as it will become obvious to the Artist’s team. That doesn’t mean that promoters don’t use various forms of ‘creative accounting’ to survive on versus deals that disregard the need for a promoter to cover their risk and overhead. That’s another story…

As a promoter, I propose a scaling to the Agent which the Agent approves or not. And a wise promoter will listen to the Agent anyway as the Agent has a wider experience of what prices work for that Artist and their fans. The agreed scaling might be less or more ‘dynamic’ – that’s a discussion depending on the Promoter’s judgement of the market and the Artist’s line on democratic ticket pricing versus maximised income. A discussion that hopefully happens before the show is confirmed, otherwise the Promoter might find that they’ve offered based on a higher ticket (and possibly sponsorship) income than the Artist agrees to.

Nick Hobbs

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This quote says it all:

“if I can go online and buy a car and have it delivered to my house, why can’t I buy a fucking ticket at the price that the artist wants it to be? So it’s that simple.”

WHAT!!!?  Does he understand the law of supply and demand?

Has this guy ever tried to buy a car that everybody wants?  You can’t get that car because demand far outstrips supply, and when I do finally get it, I waited forever or I paid a premium. And did the manufacturer make some money off of that premium? Probably.

And don’t even get me started on the false equivalencies here.

If there is one thing I have learned from reading your letter for many years, it’s that this is a very complicated situation and simplistic tirades like this will just complicate the matter even further. Probably because most people think it’s that simple.

I don’t know what the answer is but I can guarantee you Congress can never solve it. It is way too complicated for our legislators, as I imagine a large number of them have about the same depth of understanding of this problem as Antonoff.   .

“ignorance abounds”

Charlie Vanture

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Remember before dynamic pricing? The market still set the ticket price but all of the additional money went to the ticket brokers instead of the artists and hard working people who produce the concerts.

Justin Basch

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From: Zach Sutton

He’s wrong about the Canadian government as well. Yes there are grants – but no they don’t give a sh.t.

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Sounds like Jack is part of the problem. Thanks!

Brian Reiser

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“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!” – Upton Sinclair

Evan Sanchez

“Jack Antonoff talks concert ticketing issues: ‘it’s not ’cause of artists'”: https://bit.ly/3Yfgpmf

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From: Harvey Goldsmith

Subject: Jack Antonoff’s comment at The Grammys

I read Jack Antonoff’s comment about ticketing issues, made at The Grammys over the weekend

“it’s not ‘cause of Artists” he says.

How wrong he is.

The Artists, through their representatives, totally control every aspect of Live Touring. From what is on stage, backstage and indeed the ticket price.

Promoters may recommend ticket prices, but the Artist always makes the final decision.

Ticketing Companies will suggest a whole tariff of ways to fleece the fans.

However the Artist always has the final say.

Those Artists that always blame everyone else are the same ones that sanction the problem.

It is totally in the Artist’s remit to say whether ticket prices should be “as printed” on the ticket or not.

The Promoter can negotiate the Ticket Commission, but often the artist will demand its share if there are surplus profits.

The exception being if the Promoter has its own separate deal with the Ticketing Company.

At the end of the day only the Artists can stop the madness that besets us.

Some already do, but not nearly enough.

Harvey Goldsmith

Now that’s what I call music!

The show was the anti, a negation of the Spotify Top 50, everything you read and hear, in this world women overwhelmed, songs were king (queen!) and there were no hard drives, all authentic instruments, and no dancing, although there was shimmying!

Funny to see music at the Troubadour. It used to have tables and seats downstairs, long before most people were born. You see back in the sixties and seventies we took our music seriously, you sat and contemplated the sound, which I did in the upstairs bleachers last night.

You see usually a concert is torture. Unless you know the music by heart. Anything unfamiliar and people tune out, start to talk. But it used to be different, you got there for the opening act, you knew there was a reason they were on the bill. You wanted to be exposed, turned on to something new.

And Lucinda Williams is old. But unlike all the new hitmakers, she’s sustained. She has a career. A catalog. A body of work. She put her head down and did the work as opposed to promoting herself everywhere and becoming a mini-corporation. Remember when music used to be enough?

Not that Lucinda was even there. But her songs were. And the cliché is true, it’s all about the songs. Try singing a lot of what’s in the hit parade, you can’t!

And it was a cornucopia of women. We keep hearing women are getting the shaft, not enough country airplay, or they’re selling their bodies, their looks, to get ahead. That was not what was happening last night. Furthermore, most of these women played an instrument. From guitar to clarinet. It was an alternative universe, where the women could not only hang with the boys, but supersede them.

It started with Grace Potter, almost unrecognizable in her Tina Turneresque ‘do. Grace holds nothing back, she knows how to deliver.

And from there…

We got Sara Watkins. Artists we’ve all heard of, like Brandy Clark, Bethan Cosentino, Lori McKenna and Lucius, as well as a bunch that have not broken through to national consciousness, from Madison Cunningham to Sierra Ferrell… But just because you (or I!) didn’t know them previously didn’t mean they were not up to snuff, did not belong on the stage.

I sat paying attention. Riveted. It wasn’t a church service, heavy, rather it rocked, it swung, it was hypnotic, this was the experience, we were back to where it all began, albeit with a lot more women. Reminded me of seeing Little Feat in the venue back in ’74. The band had four albums in the marketplace, even a song on the radio, yet the venue was not sold out, but it wasn’t about the gross, rather the music. The band played! Talk to any band that made its bones on the road, they all have a night playing to five or six people, or none at all, that’s where the pros are separated from the amateurs. This music thing is actually very hard, and if you’re not going to be a lifer it’s best not to even begin.

It was like a barn dance, sans the dancing of course. In that everybody was in the groove, having fun, the music lifted us above the rest of the world.

And two-thirds of the way through the show some men took the stage. Mumford & Sons… Marcus Mumford sang sans microphone, his voice could fill the hall, it sounded more authentic that way. And the Milk Carton Kids. But the surprise was one man band Abraham Alexander, making his Gibson talk and sing while he pounded the big bass drum. This was the twist, the difference, we used to live for. We didn’t want the same old thing, we wanted to be surprised!

And speaking of surprises…

Molly Tuttle showed why all the buzz is deserved.

And Dwight Yoakam…

With his long coat, skinny jeans and cowboy hat pulled down low… Dwight showed us what a star can do. He lifted the whole joint, telling a story about arguing with Don Imus over a charity record song, putting himself down, and strumming that Epiphone at full tilt, rocking the place down. Meanwhile, acting like he was just one of us, when it was clear he hovered above.

Yes, it was a tribute concert. Not to be confused with a tribute record. It was about a vibe, a feel. You were along for the ride. You were not searching for imperfections, differences from the originals, nobody was phoning it in, everybody was glad to be there.

Where almost no one else was.

Across town the nonagenarian Clive Davis had his annual Grammy party, a tribute to the past, whereas what was happening in the Troubadour was positively new. A renaissance of sorts. These acts were not in search of hits, where would they be played? They were on their singular hejira, leaving an ever-growing fan base in their wake. Work hard enough, stay true to yourself and people get it, even if it takes decades.

Like Lucinda Williams.

How is it that decades later, someone without a hit, although a few covers, has a reputation, is more revered than those who ran up the hit parade?

It’s a long hard road. And those willing to drive all night and endure and sustain the hardships are the ones who last. We don’t need experts in marketing, we need people who know how to write and play.

You had to be there!