{"id":3102,"date":"2010-07-03T06:34:05","date_gmt":"2010-07-03T14:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2010\/07\/03\/3102\/"},"modified":"2010-07-03T06:36:31","modified_gmt":"2010-07-03T14:36:31","slug":"lilith-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2010\/07\/03\/lilith-disaster\/","title":{"rendered":"Lilith Disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lilith Fair co-founder Terry McBride on the tour’s travails: ‘No matter what the media says, there won’t be any more cancellations’<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Read the comments.<\/p>\n

Terry McBride is making a classic twenty first century mistake.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s playing to the media, not the fans.<\/p>\n

Yes, Lilith got caught in the Tour Crunch Of 2010.\u00c2\u00a0 It played by the old rules when we’ve suddenly been ushered into a new world.<\/p>\n

It’s become a walk-up business.<\/p>\n

Remember the Dixie Chicks?\u00c2\u00a0 They were excoriated by the press, dropped from country radio and then went on a sold-out tour.\u00c2\u00a0 How could that be?\u00c2\u00a0 They sold all the tickets months in advance, before the fracas occurred.<\/p>\n

Then Celine Dion leaves Vegas and puts shows on sale over a year in advance.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you know what you’re doing fifteen months from now?\u00c2\u00a0 I certainly don’t, unless it’s a holiday, and then I sure don’t want to go to a show.<\/p>\n

And feeding this frenzy we had high prices and scalpers and ultimately V.I.P. packages, all based on the premise that it was hard to get a ticket and everybody wanted to go.\u00c2\u00a0 But suddenly, when Miley Cyrus went to paperless ticketing, it turned out demand, if not skimpy, was far less than perception.\u00c2\u00a0 Gigs no longer sold out.\u00c2\u00a0 Mothers were no longer pissed.<\/p>\n

And I don’t want to get into a long discussion of career arcs, who’s hot and who’s not, then again, I must say if you’re hot, your tickets sell, but very few acts are that hot today.<\/p>\n

So:

1. Risk<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s inherent in business.\u00c2\u00a0 We wanted to remove it from the concert world.\u00c2\u00a0 If you truly believe in your show, stage it. Because you won’t truly know what demand is until the very last minute, because concertgoing culture has changed. Only diehards need to buy in advance.\u00c2\u00a0 Others wait to see what their plans are, who’s going, what the price is.<\/p>\n

2. Price<\/span><\/p>\n

Ever notice that all movies are the same price?\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, 3-D has gone through the roof, but the numbers are not good <\/p>\n

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\n(Free registration: http:\/\/www.btigresearch.com\/2010\/07\/01\/dear-movie-industry-should-boise-consumers-really-spend-53-more-to-see-last-airbender-in-3d\/<\/a>).\u00c2\u00a0 <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Is every act in it for himself or are we in it together?\u00c2\u00a0 Especially now, when very few acts can drive enough business to meet the guarantee.\u00c2\u00a0 Prices need to come down so people come to the show on a regular basis.\u00c2\u00a0 This is not only good for Live Nation, but business at large.\u00c2\u00a0 People get into the habit of going and they’re willing to take a risk.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, going to a show is getting married.\u00c2\u00a0 Can we turn it into a date?\u00c2\u00a0 A bad date is troublesome, but you shrug your shoulders and move on.\u00c2\u00a0 A bad marriage?\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to get a divorce, there are money issues, it’s hell.\u00c2\u00a0 If going to the show is hell, how often do we expect people to go?<\/p>\n

3. Price 2<\/span><\/p>\n

If there’s price protection at every electronics store, how come we can’t have it in the music industry?\u00c2\u00a0 If you buy a ticket and the price goes down, we refund the difference.<\/p>\n

4. Trust<\/span><\/p>\n

Without it, you’ve got no business.\u00c2\u00a0 When your product is hot, people will line up to buy it.\u00c2\u00a0 I.e. Dell.\u00c2\u00a0 Then Dell outsources customer service to Bangalore, makes defective computers and denies it and business goes elsewhere, in this case to HP.\u00c2\u00a0 (Never mind that Dell didn’t see the model change to retail sales at physical establishments once PCs had become a commodity.)<\/p>\n

5. Value<\/span><\/p>\n

Just because you put up a show, that doesn’t mean people want to go.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s got to be a good proposition.\u00c2\u00a0 The bill has to be desirable.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t build a show by favors, but what will bring people through the door.\u00c2\u00a0 And, if fewer people are coming, bring in a co-headliner.\u00c2\u00a0 The ancient acts do it at the sheds, why can’t newer acts do it too?<\/p>\n

6. The Media<\/span><\/p>\n

You can control mainstream media, but you can’t control fans.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like there’s a black market in information, only in this case, the black market is the real market.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got relationships with writers, they bend over backwards to be nice to you, desiring further access.\u00c2\u00a0 Then you’ve got the fans, on Facebook, tweeting, and it’s only what they say which is truly important, because they’re the ones buying the tickets!\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not saying you should ignore mainstream media, I’m just saying it should be secondary to social media, placating the fans.<\/p>\n

7. Social Media Stunts<\/span><\/p>\n

Terry McBride and Lilith should have special timed offers on Twitter.\u00c2\u00a0 One VIP ticket for free a day.\u00c2\u00a0 Or auction off a meeting with Sarah or every star with the proceeds going to charity.\u00c2\u00a0 Or auction off a signed guitar.\u00c2\u00a0 Make it quick, leave the mainstream out.\u00c2\u00a0 Get fans to go into a frenzy and tell each other.\u00c2\u00a0 Also, why isn’t Terry giving away performances in homes in every market?\u00c2\u00a0 Come on, some act on his bill would be willing to show up and play in a living room to build excitement.\u00c2\u00a0 For a new model guy, Terry’s positively old school here.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to drive people to the show today.\u00c2\u00a0 And you do this via the Web, via social media.<\/p>\n

8. Stop Selling<\/span><\/p>\n

Desperation is a turn-off.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t beg the customer to come, but you can relax and give the appearance that you’re all in it together.\u00c2\u00a0 Terry looks like Nixon.\u00c2\u00a0 Or Roger Clemens.\u00c2\u00a0 No one believes Roger Clemens is innocent, even though none of us know for sure.\u00c2\u00a0 Everyone thinks Lilith is in trouble.\u00c2\u00a0 How do you combat that perception?\u00c2\u00a0 Not by telling me what a great car the sudden acceleration Toyota is.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, did you notice when Toyota got in trouble, they focused on price?\u00c2\u00a0 If your tour is in trouble, maybe you should do the same thing, because businesses across the nation see that that works, that everybody’s got a price.<\/p>\n

9. Stop Blaming Live Nation<\/span><\/p>\n

They paid for your tour, without them you’re nothing, or at least a hell of a lot poorer.\u00c2\u00a0 LN’s got tons of its own issues. But by pointing your finger at them, absolving yourself of power, you’re just playing the blame game, you look like you’re in the second grade.\u00c2\u00a0 You got in business with Live Nation, defend them!\u00c2\u00a0 Terry does a halfway good job of doing that here, but I don’t want one more act complaining about Ticketmaster or parking fees.\u00c2\u00a0 Lower YOUR fees and put limits in your Live Nation contract.\u00c2\u00a0 Go to all-in ticketing.\u00c2\u00a0 Reduce parking and beer.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, the latter is difficult, but let’s be clear, fees are the profit center for Live Nation and they can’t eliminate them until you lower your guarantee.\u00c2\u00a0 So, either you’re part of the problem or part of the solution.\u00c2\u00a0 Either you’re willing to take less up front and work with Live Nation as a partner or you’re greedy, no different from the bankers on Wall Street.<\/p>\n

10. Demand<\/span><\/p>\n

Your album can’t come out after the tour begins.\u00c2\u00a0 No way.\u00c2\u00a0 Demand is just not that great.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, we may go completely topsy-turvy, the tour might be months after the record release, when demand has been established.\u00c2\u00a0 Almost no acts get recorded music traction anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re using this to create demand, you’re screwed when the release date slips or your album stiffs.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no buzz on Lilith.\u00c2\u00a0 Sarah doesn’t have a hit record.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no URGE!\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe all these acts should have done a one off album in advance.\u00c2\u00a0 Gotten them all in a room and recorded a bunch of covers.\u00c2\u00a0 You can stream it on YouTube, embed it on your Facebook page and buy it on iTunes.\u00c2\u00a0 (Or acts should emulate the jam bands, instead of making it about rote performances of recorded hits, make every show unique and different, with new songs and improvisation, so either you were in attendance or you missed it…sure, it ends up on YouTube and RapidShare, but it’s not like being there, then again, watch it or see it after the fact and you want go to next time…P2P and the Web are your friends!)

11. If You Build It, They Will Come<\/span><\/p>\n

Then you’d better be building one hell of a show.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the U2 model, the album’s far from successful, but they go on tour with bells and whistles.\u00c2\u00a0 Or the superstar of yore reunites, like the Police.\u00c2\u00a0 Today even the Eagles no longer go clean.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody has to create demand.\u00c2\u00a0 Is it a hit single, cheap prices, magic marketing, an incredible bill…\u00c2\u00a0 All of these elements are now key.\u00c2\u00a0 Screw up a bit and you’ve got a Pontiac Aztek instead of a Scion xB.\u00c2\u00a0 And isn’t it funny that Pontiac is out of business.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, a few mistakes and you’ll be gone too.\u00c2\u00a0 At least car companies try, they refresh models every few years.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you want to buy an ’82 Cutlass?\u00c2\u00a0 Then why do you think people want to overpay to see you perform your old hits every year at the amphitheatre?<\/p>\n

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Lilith Fair co-founder Terry McBride on the tour’s travails: ‘No matter what the media says, there won’t be any more cancellations’ Read the comments. Terry McBride is making a classic twenty first century mistake.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s playing to the media, not the fans. Yes, Lilith got caught in the Tour Crunch Of 2010.\u00c2\u00a0 It played by […]<\/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":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-O2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3102","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=3102"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3106,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3102\/revisions\/3106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}