From: Steve Stewart<\/p>\n
Subject: Re: Too Much Springsteen \/ Ticketmaster Boycott<\/p>\n
Date: July 26, 2022 at 8:05:14 PM PDT<\/p>\n
I have a quick Ticketmaster story for you, Bob – Back in the mid-90s, when I was managing Stone Temple Pilots, I was in close touch with Kelly Curtis, who was managing Pearl Jam. Kelly\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tour accountant, The Goon, figured he could do an end-run around Ticketmaster and the high service charges they slapped on every ticket. The STP guys were concerned about high ticket prices as well, and always pushed for a percentage of tickets to be sold for about $16 (this was the 90s!), as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153gesture\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to their fans. The issue was the service charges ended up being more than 25% for these modestly priced tickets.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So, Pearl Jam decided they were going to boycott the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153evil” Ticketmaster and not play any of their venues (which were most all of the sheds and larger venues across the country). They took a stand in the press, started a boycott, and ended up booking shows in some really unusual (and inconvenient) places. I remember stories of fans driving more than 3 hours to muddy fields in WA state – which turned out to be a nightmare for many.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I thought there might be a better way, and figured I would go right to the root of all this \u00e2\u20ac\u0153evil\u00e2\u20ac\u009d – I called and scheduled a meeting with the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153devil\u00e2\u20ac\u009d himself, Fred Rosen, who was running Ticketmaster at the time. When I sat with him a few days later, I asked him why he hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t put anything in place with any of the other managers who had joined the boycott. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the only one who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s called me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. I was floored. Instead of trying to work (or even communicate) with Ticketmaster, they chose to boycott and build their own makeshift venues – at a huge expense to the artists and their fans.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Fred was as accommodating as could be, and asked me what he could do. I told him that his service charges accounted for more than 25% of our low priced tickets. Could he make the fee a percentage of the ticket\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face value, rather than a flat dollar amount? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Done.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Could he roll the other fees fees back on the lower priced tickets and push them up on the higher priced tickets (as the higher priced buyers could better absorb them)? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Done.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d All that in 15 minutes – and it saved us the monumental expense of building staging, sound, lighting, fencing, generators, parking, prota-potties, security, concessions, etc. in the middle of nowhere. We could play fan-convenient amphitheaters with low ticket prices and Ticketmaster still made money on the deal. Everybody won!<\/p>\n Eventually, the boycott fell apart, as the other artists realized that Ticketmaster was willing to work with them – if they would only ask.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n You are right about the money – Ticketmaster is no more evil than your record label or your local hamburger stand – they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in business to make a profit. They depend on artists to fill their seats, and know where their bread is buttered. Managers and agents are well aware of ticketing prices and potential costs and profits. No one is forcing them to accept deals they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think is in the best interests of their artists. Touring accounts for a very large portion of a top level artist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cash flow – and in my experience, most artists will look for the best paying offer – why wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t they?<\/p>\n Managers and agents work for the artist, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re only signing deals with the artist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s explicit approval. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen situations where I know scalpers were making more in a night than individual band members (band members have to cover expenses) and scalpers are getting \u00e2\u20ac\u0153market\u00e2\u20ac\u009d value for tickets rather than what artists might think their tickets are worth. I used to walk the venues every night and actually ask people what they paid to get in – the answers were always shocking to me – 10-20X face value was not uncommon in those days.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Is it greed? Would you sell your house for $500K more than what you think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth, if that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what someone was willing to pay? I bet most would. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just human nature, and will probably always be\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n -Steve Stewart<\/p>\n _______________________________________<\/p>\n From: john dittmar<\/p>\n Subject: Re: Springsteen’s Silence<\/p>\n Date: July 23, 2022 at 9:25:22 AM PDT<\/p>\n Hey Bob,<\/p>\n The folks tossing this Bruce ticketing issue around are missing a significant point regarding ticketing controls.<\/p>\n Unless Landau did his deal directly with Live Nation brass, it’s the booking agent’s responsibility!\u00c2\u00a0Agencies, more than lawyers or anyone else for that matter, deal with the ticketing world every day and should advise\u00c2\u00a0management accordingly. You’re right; Landau and Bruce are grizzled veterans; hard to imagine they have intimate knowledge of how the tech works.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A dirty little secret\u00c2\u00a0is that most managers, regardless of age, don’t fully understand the system. It’s part of an agent’s job to know the ticket system and how it can positively\u00c2\u00a0(and negatively) affect the client. That expertise should then provide a breakdown in clear terms to\u00c2\u00a0management\u00c2\u00a0before any ticket is on sale. It’s part of having a good team around the client.<\/p>\n Maybe the agent red-flagged this, maybe not. However, the buck does stop with the manager, so again, you’re right; it’s on Jon and Bruce’s doorstep.<\/p>\n PS, this will blow over soon, but hopefully a good lesson for all.<\/p>\n _______________________________________<\/p>\n From: John Butler<\/p>\n Subject: Re: The Playlist Fallacy<\/p>\n Date: July 27, 2022 at 4:09:17 PM PDT<\/p>\n Bob,<\/p>\n This is wonderfully written and I thank you for sharing it with everyone. In my post Spotify life I have been evangelizing about never relying on the editorial team to be the arbiters of an artist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s success ever. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been talking to a wall since I left. I loved the ability to suggest and put artists in our frontline lists, find gold in the never ending soil of new releases each week and spread them out among our worldwide team. That was a privilege but to me it was only the beginning of the journey!\u00c2\u00a0 Just like getting an add on a radio station was the beginning of your job (have to thank my old boss Jack Satter for that promotion wisdom!), the same is true.\u00c2\u00a0 What was a label, artist, manager going to do or not do with what we may or may not do in a list?\u00c2\u00a0 We could put a song in a list and sure the streams may come but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s downhill without the real artist work.\u00c2\u00a0 I can tell you in my post Spotify life how much I advise my colleagues and industry partners to not give god status to the lists, be a good partner, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sell your soul for the playlist. Often it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s falling on deaf ears..it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to change and the industry is very willing to look at editorial playlists as a plug and play feature of the business. They are not.\u00c2\u00a0 Not a single one of my editor peers at Spotify would ever claim that they do \u00e2\u20ac\u0153artist development\u00e2\u20ac\u009d so don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do that to them. A lot, maybe even more than shared here, of streams are produced by people just looking for good music amongst the deep soil of releases. In fact Bob, one of the last playlists I launched at Spotify is called Just Good Music<\/p>\n