Live Nation: We Want In On Ticketmaster, StubHub<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nWhy IS that?<\/p>\n
First and foremost, there are not enough acts people want to see.<\/p>\n
It’s funny to watch.\u00c2\u00a0 The majors have laid off not only employees, but acts.\u00c2\u00a0 Check Columbia’s roster, Rick Rubin has sliced and diced.\u00c2\u00a0 And there was that consolidation at Capitol.\u00c2\u00a0 And the whacking of the acts over at Warner.\u00c2\u00a0 FURTHERMORE, the acts that are left can’t seem to gain traction, we just can’t get everybody to pay ATTENTION!<\/p>\n
I mean I used to go to one or two baseball games a year.\u00c2\u00a0 Back before there were so many teams and so many playoffs that excellence was buried by product.\u00c2\u00a0 I mean I can’t believe in baseball anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 And the major players make it damn hard to believe in music.<\/p>\n
IF you want to go to the show, IT COSTS YOU A FUCKING FORTUNE!<\/p>\n
Same deal with CDs, if you think about it.\u00c2\u00a0 Buy a couple that suck and you vow to never purchase one again.\u00c2\u00a0 Greatest advertisement for P2P and single downloads ever.<\/p>\n
You go to the show and you get no respect.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re treated like cattle.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got the dreaded "General Admission" which is supposed to make you FEEL THE MUSIC but is really a way to squeeze more bodies into the venue.\u00c2\u00a0 Unless you’re big and burly and come with body armor, you’re never going to get close.\u00c2\u00a0 And if you do, you’re going to be part of a mass of stinking humanity so bad that you can’t wait to get home and take a shower.\u00c2\u00a0 Greatest advertisement for staying home in front of the flat panel EVER!<\/p>\n
And the prices of everything from drinks to t-shirts is exorbitant.\u00c2\u00a0 I mean you’ll pay a premium, but not this much.\u00c2\u00a0 Unless your daughter or date is nagging you.\u00c2\u00a0 And, when you’re done, YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GO AGAIN!\u00c2\u00a0 WHO CAN AFFORD IT?<\/p>\n
Now if you’re nearing retirement, whether it be the Stones or the Eagles, you don’t give a flying fuck about ripping off your constituency.\u00c2\u00a0 You figure you’ve earned it.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re not investing in your career, THIS IS YOUR CAREER!\u00c2\u00a0 This is the last heist before you’re done.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s what gets people to pony up the big bucks, fear you’re never going to do it again.\u00c2\u00a0 Which ain’t even working so well for the Stones anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 They can’t go clean at these ridiculous prices.<\/p>\n
But the number of acts who can really draw on this basis, superstar status and age, are very few.<\/p>\n
Then you’ve got the flavor of the minute.\u00c2\u00a0 Hannah Montana.\u00c2\u00a0 I guess maybe it’s like seeing an ice show, a one time event.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s got very little to do with music, and if you think there’s longevity built in, you haven’t checked Hilary Duff’s grosses.<\/p>\n
So, you’ve got high-priced gigs at each end of the spectrum…\u00c2\u00a0 The legends and the insta-idiots.\u00c2\u00a0 In between?\u00c2\u00a0 A vast wasteland…<\/p>\n
Used to be there were three act bills.\u00c2\u00a0 People went to see the opening acts.\u00c2\u00a0 Back before the acts were on the bill totally as a favor, oftentimes not even appealing to the same demo, and were completely ignored.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, you get people paying attention to the openers at festivals, this is a new revenue stream, but the acts that play?\u00c2\u00a0 They return to their day jobs and stay there.\u00c2\u00a0 Doubt me?\u00c2\u00a0 Check the status of the acts that play Coachella.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re nowhere.<\/p>\n
And maybe it’s not their fault.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe they don’t suck.\u00c2\u00a0 But where are those not in attendance at the festival gig GONNA FIND OUT ABOUT THEM?<\/p>\n
Certainly not on MTV.\u00c2\u00a0 And, if they were on MTV, it would probably kill their career.<\/p>\n
And whatever radio there is, that with a modicum of listeners doesn’t play anything risky.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about stretching the listener’s mind, it’s about ASKING THE LISTENER WHAT’S PALATABLE!\u00c2\u00a0 Call-out research rules.<\/p>\n
And on the Web, you have an almost incomprehensible cacophony.<\/p>\n
Sure, you can’t steal a t-shirt, you can’t P2P a concert.\u00c2\u00a0 But the live business that’s supposedly so healthy today is heading for a steep decline.\u00c2\u00a0 BECAUSE THERE ARE NO ACTS ANYBODY WANTS TO SEE!<\/p>\n
Used to be there were stadium gigs.\u00c2\u00a0 Multiple times a summer.\u00c2\u00a0 Now no new act can sell out a stadium.<\/p>\n
As for an arena…\u00c2\u00a0 John Mayer did them after his FIRST COLUMBIA ALBUM!\u00c2\u00a0 So much for artist development.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe if Mr. Mayer wasn’t whored out in every medium known to man we might care.\u00c2\u00a0 But I don’t give a shit how talented he might be, I’ve got to see him on TV, in magazines, in Gap ads, fucking the tart of the moment.\u00c2\u00a0 God, doesn’t this guy know that sensitive people DON’T PARTY ALL NIGHT EVERY NIGHT?\u00c2\u00a0 That it’s not solely about your bank account, but WHO YOU ARE?<\/p>\n
You’re gonna tell me it was always this way, that money always ruled.\u00c2\u00a0 Let’s just say you’re right.\u00c2\u00a0 Well, it wasn’t VISIBLE!\u00c2\u00a0 Now it’s about the gross, not the quality.\u00c2\u00a0 The whole EXPERIENCE is different.<\/p>\n
So you’re a fan, you go to the show all the time.\u00c2\u00a0 Big fucking deal.\u00c2\u00a0 I know people with Dodgers season tickets.\u00c2\u00a0 We need to make EVERYBODY a music fan.<\/p>\n
How do we do this?<\/p>\n
Get music in everybody’s hands.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t force them to pay CD prices and sue them if they desire the product so much they get it another way.<\/p>\n
Have trusted filters.\u00c2\u00a0 The new MTV is a trustworthy Website that tells us what to listen to.\u00c2\u00a0 But, either sites are tools of the man, like MTV.com, or incomprehensible, uneven, untrustworthy clubs of boys who couldn’t get laid in high school and are getting their revenge now, like PitchforkMedia.com.\u00c2\u00a0 How about a review of the WRITERS at PitchFork?\u00c2\u00a0 How about letting us know WHICH WRITERS to trust.\u00c2\u00a0 But no, criticism is for the acts.<\/p>\n
And less whoring out.\u00c2\u00a0 Hate to tell you, but it’s about MUSIC!\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not about how you look, your endorsement deals or who you’re fucking.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about how the music makes you FEEL!\u00c2\u00a0 Do endorsements and you’re inherently less trustworthy, less believable.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t tell me you’re starving, don’t tell me everybody else is doing it, all I’m saying is THERE’S A COST!\u00c2\u00a0 The more you’re sold out, the less people believe in you.<\/p>\n
Music’s got to be cool again.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s got to be in the forefront of people’s brains.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s got to drive the culture as opposed to being a mentally-challenged stepsister of TV and movies.<\/p>\n
First, we must respect the music itself.<\/p>\n
Then we must respect the audience.<\/p>\n
We must not talk about the dough, but how the tunes have changed our lives.\u00c2\u00a0 How what the act is SAYING is important, not what they’re wearing or making.<\/p>\n
We’ve got to start at the bottom and work our way up.\u00c2\u00a0 Little acts, taking years to break.\u00c2\u00a0 You’d be surprised, this is happening in the college world, amongst teens and twentysomethings.\u00c2\u00a0 They have killed radio and the major labels.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re going to reinvent the wheel.\u00c2\u00a0 Because they’re sick and tired of the way the baby boomers have fucked it up.\u00c2\u00a0 That group who grew up on music, adored it, and then used it for its own financial purposes.<\/p>\n
If you’re in this business to get rich, GET OUT!\u00c2\u00a0 If your main desire is to get closer to the music, to midwife great tunes, CLIMB ABOARD!\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t work backward, figuring out how much to charge so you can fly private…\u00c2\u00a0 Think about growing your act to the point that so much money is thrown off YOU CAN BUY YOUR OWN DAMN PLANE!<\/p>\n
Some people have it right.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Coran Capshaw.\u00c2\u00a0 The Dave Matthews Band respects its audience.\u00c2\u00a0 Has relatively cheap tickets and an endless supply of product.\u00c2\u00a0 How come no one else follows this formula?<\/p>\n
I don’t give a shit if you like Dave’s music.\u00c2\u00a0 His career has been handled properly.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas seemingly every other act and the major labels and big promoters are behaving like it’s a close-out sale and everything must go.\u00c2\u00a0 No, everything must stay, except for your sorry ass.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re still gonna be here.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re still gonna want music.\u00c2\u00a0 Feed us, respect us.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ll pay.\u00c2\u00a0 Make music the destination of the entertainment dollar.\u00c2\u00a0 Music shouldn’t be an event, it should be an EVERYDAY EXPENSE!<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where the average concertgoer attends fewer than TWO SHOWS A YEAR? Yup, that’s what Michael Rapino said yesterday at the Goldman Sachs clusterfuck. Live Nation: We Want In On Ticketmaster, StubHub Why IS that? First and foremost, there are not enough acts people want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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-937","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-f7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937","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=937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}