I’m positively stunned at the movie grosses.\u00c2\u00a0 It appears that during the recession, people want cheap, escapist entertainment.\u00c2\u00a0 But the best movie doesn’t compare with live music.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is why we in the music industry are going to steal the movie business’ thunder, we’re going to unite and show the public the power of live music.<\/p>\n
We’re gonna start with one night.\u00c2\u00a0 A weeknight.\u00c2\u00a0 A relatively dark night.\u00c2\u00a0 A Monday or a Tuesday.\u00c2\u00a0 On said weekday in every venue in every city there’s going to be talent, performing live, for the exact same price of a movie.\u00c2\u00a0 Ten bucks.\u00c2\u00a0 Paid in cash.\u00c2\u00a0 No ticketing fees, no facility fees, no bullshit.\u00c2\u00a0 Ten bucks.<\/p>\n
And who is going to perform?<\/p>\n
Let’s start in L.A.\u00c2\u00a0 Stevie Wonder is gonna play Staples.\u00c2\u00a0 Prince is gonna play the Hollywood Bowl.\u00c2\u00a0 My buddy Billy Gibbons and his band ZZ Top are going to play the Nokia.\u00c2\u00a0 Kanye West is going to play the Palladium.\u00c2\u00a0 AND THEY’RE GOING TO DONATE THEIR SERVICES!\u00c2\u00a0 To a good cause, the industry that pays their bills.<\/p>\n
If you want to get rich, be an athlete.\u00c2\u00a0 Except for a few superstars, musicians are now the itinerant troubadours they’ve been for ages.\u00c2\u00a0 Getting off on the good times, the sex and the dope.\u00c2\u00a0 The reward is playing.\u00c2\u00a0 The NFL might get everybody to tune into the Super Bowl, but no musical act can get that kind of coverage, that number of eyeballs, no matter how the deck is stacked.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s endless music, and everybody’s got his own favorite, which is why we’re going to have a multitude of bands playing.\u00c2\u00a0 But this benefit is for the business itself, to keep it alive.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s time for this industry to do a benefit for ITSELF!<\/p>\n
Don’t tell me about the lines, about people camping overnight, about those who can’t get in.\u00c2\u00a0 THIS IS WHAT WE WANT!\u00c2\u00a0 This is how you generate publicity.\u00c2\u00a0 This is the story the press wants to cover.\u00c2\u00a0 Much more than the endless I’m sitting in front of my computer and can’t get good seats from Ticketmaster.<\/p>\n
Think of the heat, think of the ink, think of the publicity!<\/p>\n
This is a big tent.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re going to let everybody in.\u00c2\u00a0 With the only agenda being to promote music.\u00c2\u00a0 The Grammy Museum will be free.\u00c2\u00a0 Mitch Bainwol will answer questions in a club.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve got to be accessible.\u00c2\u00a0 If Jimmy Iovine, Lyor Cohen and Doug Morris get so much ink, how come they can’t come down and greet the people?\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe a festival at UCLA, like the Festival of Books at the end of April, where you can meet and greet every industry player known to man.\u00c2\u00a0 Kind of a Bonnaroo for the business.\u00c2\u00a0 A Fan Fair.<\/p>\n
But our primary mission is to grow live music.\u00c2\u00a0 Plain and simple.<\/p>\n
Concerts are too expensive.\u00c2\u00a0 Too many shows are about choreography rather than musical excellence.\u00c2\u00a0 We want to illustrate the sheer joy of music, naked and unadorned.<\/p>\n
Then, every Monday night thereafter, there are going to be ten dollar concerts.\u00c2\u00a0 Hopefully in all of these same venues.\u00c2\u00a0 The following Monday, Van Halen plays L.A. and Metallica plays San Francisco.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe each act has their Guitar Hero games on display for fans to test out.\u00c2\u00a0 We want to INCLUDE people.\u00c2\u00a0 This business has become about EXCLUDING people.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t get a ticket unless you want to pay a fortune and you still can’t get up close and personal.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s got to go.<\/p>\n
We’re starting with stars.\u00c2\u00a0 I know you wannabes\/starting bands want a chance, you want to make it.\u00c2\u00a0 But it’s important that we put our best foot forward.\u00c2\u00a0 Name musicians live in every metropolis.\u00c2\u00a0 From Miami to Minneapolis, from Detroit to Denver, Boston to Austin to New Orleans.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not asking much of you acts.\u00c2\u00a0 Just get in your car and drive downtown.\u00c2\u00a0 Better than staying home and watching television.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, you won’t get paid your usual fee.\u00c2\u00a0 But do you want to make money in the future?\u00c2\u00a0 Then you’ve got to help save the business.\u00c2\u00a0 Music must be as accessible as movies.\u00c2\u00a0 A whim of a decision instead of something you plan a year in advance.<\/p>\n
In ensuing weeks, Ticketmaster issues the tickets sans surcharges.\u00c2\u00a0 Concession prices can remain the same.\u00c2\u00a0 T-shirts can even be an exorbitant thirty five bucks, but the music, the music itself must be CHEAP!<\/p>\n
Can’t we all come together?\u00c2\u00a0 At least once a month?\u00c2\u00a0 Leaving the petty agendas and the politics out?\u00c2\u00a0 Can’t we put the music first?\u00c2\u00a0 Consider it charity for yourself.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather than donating to a foundation, turn on the lights in your building that evening.<\/p>\n
Our only agenda is showing the greatness of music.\u00c2\u00a0 The public gets to attend the shows of their choice.\u00c2\u00a0 But truly, the highest price that can be charged is fifteen bucks.\u00c2\u00a0 Like going to the ArcLight.\u00c2\u00a0 And every show across America must be the same damn price.\u00c2\u00a0 And all those acts in "retirement" have to come out too.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody from Fats Domino to Simon & Garfunkel before their next cleanup tour begins.<\/p>\n
Come on!\u00c2\u00a0 Only Gene Simmons got into this business for the money.\u00c2\u00a0 The rest of you were enraptured by the music.\u00c2\u00a0 Can’t you get the public on the same page?\u00c2\u00a0 Can’t you turn everybody into a club rat?\u00c2\u00a0 Can’t we get everybody to go out and see live music on a regular basis?\u00c2\u00a0 Or do we have to wait until the labels fail, independent promoters are broken and every ticket is sold on TicketsNow and StubHub?<\/p>\n
Don Henley and the Eagles too.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t go to D.C. and play for the Washingtonians, give back to the public.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve got endless riches of acts.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s time for everybody to come out of the woodwork and come back.\u00c2\u00a0 In an organized fashion.\u00c2\u00a0 So the public is overwhelmed.<\/p>\n
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I’m positively stunned at the movie grosses.\u00c2\u00a0 It appears that during the recession, people want cheap, escapist entertainment.\u00c2\u00a0 But the best movie doesn’t compare with live music.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is why we in the music industry are going to steal the movie business’ thunder, we’re going to unite and show the public the power of live […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"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":[3,2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-shows","category-music-business","category-the-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-sr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1763"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1764,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763\/revisions\/1764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}