Fierce and independent.\u00c2\u00a0 That not only describes Jon Stoll, but Arny and Jerry over at JAM, all the cats who said no to Bob Sillerman.<\/p>\n
Can you imagine turning down millions?\u00c2\u00a0 Double digit millions?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what these guys did.\u00c2\u00a0 They all loved cash, but it wasn’t the most important thing.\u00c2\u00a0 They loved music.\u00c2\u00a0 And they needed to work.<\/p>\n
Jon Stoll will work no more.<\/p>\n
Whenever we were in the same room, Jon would seek me out.\u00c2\u00a0 Something was always bothering him.\u00c2\u00a0 Didn’t everybody SEE?\u00c2\u00a0 That they were taking the wrong path, that it was bad for business?<\/p>\n
But Jon wasn’t only a complainer.\u00c2\u00a0 With a gleam in his eye he’d tell you about his new project.\u00c2\u00a0 Not boasting, but proudly putting forth what started in his heart, and had come to fruition.<\/p>\n
Last year in Aspen, it was Jon who complained most loudly about the secondary market.\u00c2\u00a0 He wasn’t like those idiots in the U.K., too stupid to know their own business, wanting a piece of what others had created with their ingenuity, he was worried about the FAN!\u00c2\u00a0 We had to take care of the fan!<\/p>\n
That’s what the late sixties and seventies were about for concert promoters, all of whom were independent.\u00c2\u00a0 How could they create a show, a package, so enticing that people would line up to get in?<\/p>\n
And line up, they did.\u00c2\u00a0 Back in those days, the hardest part was GETTING A TICKET!\u00c2\u00a0 Music drove the culture.\u00c2\u00a0 You had to be at the show.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only to be able to tell your buddies, but to feel the buzz.<\/p>\n
Speak with the guys who promoted shows back then.\u00c2\u00a0 Their eyes will glaze over.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve got enough stories to keep you up six nights in a row.\u00c2\u00a0 They hung with the acts, they had wild experiences.\u00c2\u00a0 They weren’t corporations, but PEOPLE!<\/p>\n
It’s a different business today.\u00c2\u00a0 Focus on "business".\u00c2\u00a0 Unlike the days when Frank Barsalona was in partnership with promoters, there’s a clear division between agents and promoters today.\u00c2\u00a0 Agents, instructed by acts and managers, rape promoters.\u00c2\u00a0 And most promoters have to do their damndest to steal back, or employ subterfuge to make a profit, like the insane add-ons to TicketMaster fees.<\/p>\n
You can’t have a team of artists.\u00c2\u00a0 You can no longer create acts on TV (Checked Jordin Sparks’ SoundScan?\u00c2\u00a0 Did you see all those Idols being dropped from BMG?)\u00c2\u00a0 Great artists, lasting artists, are sui generis.\u00c2\u00a0 One of a kind.\u00c2\u00a0 Unique.\u00c2\u00a0 And the more out there they are, the more risks they take, the more the public likes them, the longer their careers.<\/p>\n
It used to be the same with industry infrastructure.\u00c2\u00a0 It was not about being a company man, but following your instincts, your dreams, not limiting yourself, not doing what was expedient, but NECESSARY!\u00c2\u00a0 Bill Graham yelled ad infinitum.\u00c2\u00a0 But it was part of his charm.\u00c2\u00a0 You believed he was JUST THAT PASSIONATE!\u00c2\u00a0 And he had to be, his income was not guaranteed, only by his own wits could he stay in business.<\/p>\n
The music world just lost an original.\u00c2\u00a0 One in a long line of originals.\u00c2\u00a0 A colorful risk-taker, with personality.<\/p>\n
You can’t steal the concert experience online.\u00c2\u00a0 Touring is the one bastion that has survived the Internet quite well.\u00c2\u00a0 But consolidation has done nothing for the fan.\u00c2\u00a0 One only hopes that there’s room for entrepreneurs, to follow in Bill Graham’s footsteps.\u00c2\u00a0 In Jon Stoll’s.<\/p>\n
Jon Stoll wasn’t there in the beginning.\u00c2\u00a0 He was too young.\u00c2\u00a0 But he was bitten by the bug.\u00c2\u00a0 And found a way in.\u00c2\u00a0 He needed to find a way in.<\/p>\n
54 is way too young to die.\u00c2\u00a0 But in his time here on Earth, Jon packed in a lot of living, a lot of good shows.\u00c2\u00a0 He didn’t hold back, he went full throttle.\u00c2\u00a0 Let him be a beacon for the younger generation.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re never truly closed out, there’s always a way in.\u00c2\u00a0 If you follow your heart, if you’re not worried about doing it the same way as everybody else, if you’re not afraid of giving the middle finger to the corporate bullies, as long as you grip the fan in a bear hug, loving him every minute of the day.<\/p>\n
\n