Conventional wisdom is the entertainment business is recession-proof.\u00c2\u00a0 If you believe that, you probably believe Sarah Palin is our country’s foremost energy expert.<\/p>\n
The movie business was hurt by the last recession.\u00c2\u00a0 But at least their prices are cheap.\u00c2\u00a0 Ours are stratospheric.<\/p>\n
We’ve got high prices, a dearth of superstar talent and a financial meltdown.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you really think the concert business is going to emerge unscathed?<\/p>\n
Yes, superstars will sell every ticket.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, Madonna is not selling out, even though her handlers won’t say so.\u00c2\u00a0 You can get tickets for gigs.\u00c2\u00a0 People e-mail me the promotions.\u00c2\u00a0 And if Madonna can’t sell out, what are the odds for Joe Wannabe Band?<\/p>\n
Historically the concert industry has been one of rugged individualism.\u00c2\u00a0 Run by independent acts and their agents.\u00c2\u00a0 To a great degree, this is still true.\u00c2\u00a0 But along the way, there was a great consolidation in concert promoters.\u00c2\u00a0 Instead of regional fiefdoms, we have the international giants and JAM and…some more indies.\u00c2\u00a0 It is time for all concert promoters to unite and tell the acts TICKET PRICES MUST COME DOWN!<\/p>\n
The concert industry can’t fuck this up like the RIAA did with music sales.\u00c2\u00a0 The fan is the key to the business. The message has to be sent that the industry cares about the fan, that the fan is part of the process, and is welcomed into the tent.\u00c2\u00a0 True, this will be difficult with ticket holdbacks and the inability to get a good seat, but maybe now it’s time to be truthful about those scenarios too.\u00c2\u00a0 Posting online manifests of exactly what seats are available before the on sale date.\u00c2\u00a0 We need transparency and an olive branch, telling the consumer we’re rolling back prices as a payback, as a reward, as recognition of their loyalty.<\/p>\n
Who’s going to pay those inflated prices for sports tickets?\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t use that analogy any longer.\u00c2\u00a0 The company with naming rights goes under and what happens when the corporation buying those insanely priced tickets and luxury boxes get trampled by Andrew Cuomo?\u00c2\u00a0 If AIG can’t rationalize a sales conference, what are the odds it will be able to rationalize entertaining its clients in luxury boxes?\u00c2\u00a0 What are the odds corporations now owned by the government will devour front row seats like Chiclets?\u00c2\u00a0 What are the odds that conspicuous consumption will be lauded as opposed to pelted with aural tomatoes?<\/p>\n
Everybody knows ticket prices are too high and you can’t get one.\u00c2\u00a0 But, that’s only for a very few acts.\u00c2\u00a0 Can those acts sacrifice for the good of the public?\u00c2\u00a0 Can we all unite and lower prices?\u00c2\u00a0 Can acts and promoters reveal their TicketMaster kickbacks?\u00c2\u00a0 Is this an opportunity to air and clean the concert industry’s dirty laundry?<\/p>\n
Absolutely.\u00c2\u00a0 Acts now have to be built on the road.\u00c2\u00a0 Concertgoing must be a regular activity.\u00c2\u00a0 I call on Michael Rapino to lead the charge, to bully the agents and managers.\u00c2\u00a0 And for a campaign that can run with every concert ad.\u00c2\u00a0 A logo that charms the ticket buyer as opposed to the FBI sticker on a CD.<\/p>\n
The record industry fucked this up.\u00c2\u00a0 They thought happy times were going to last forever.\u00c2\u00a0 Instead, they’re never coming back.<\/p>\n
Now it’s the concert industry’s turn.\u00c2\u00a0 True, you can’t steal a live show.\u00c2\u00a0 But you don’t have to go.\u00c2\u00a0 Certainly not if the act’s only had one hit and it’s going to cost you hundreds of dollars to go out for the night.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve got to bring people in.<\/p>\n
Apple’s success today is due to innovation during the last downturn.\u00c2\u00a0 The concert business shouldn’t be pulling back, but using this crisis as an opportunity to get people out of their houses and into theatres to get their minds off their problems.\u00c2\u00a0 For a fair price.\u00c2\u00a0 To see quality talent.<\/p>\n
Your move.<\/p>\n
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Conventional wisdom is the entertainment business is recession-proof.\u00c2\u00a0 If you believe that, you probably believe Sarah Palin is our country’s foremost energy expert. The movie business was hurt by the last recession.\u00c2\u00a0 But at least their prices are cheap.\u00c2\u00a0 Ours are stratospheric. We’ve got high prices, a dearth of superstar talent and a financial meltdown.\u00c2\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-shows","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-my","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}