In October, I told you that independent British band Radiohead came up with a cool way to create buzz about its latest CD. The band uploaded In Rainbows to its web site and allowed fans to download it for whatever price they wanted to pay. Some paid nothing; others paid “full price.”
The music business isn’t what it used to be. Compact disk sales are down, and a lot of people download digital music illegally. That is, they acquire it without paying for it. They make copies and pass them along to friends. They download music from peer-to-peer sites that have no licensing agreements with artists and labels. The practice is so widespread, there’s no way to stop it. (This is scary, but it won’t work, either.)
I think Radiohead’s “free download” gimmick works for established bands, mainly because they can make money from concert ticket sales and merchandising (apparel, ringtones, endorsements, etc.). If bands aren’t making much money selling music, they have to find other ways to put food on the table while practicing their craft.
That’s why I wasn’t surprised to read about a music industry push for bands to get a cut of concert ticket resells in the secondary ticket market. Rather than criminalizing this market, artists and managers want a cut of the action. They seek to create an organization called Resale Rights Society to collect profits from ticket sales on sites like eBay. Good idea, but will it work? From the Guardian:
As record sales have plummeted, the live scene has boomed in recent years with new artists and reformed supergroups playing to wider demographics in better quality venues. A Mintel report in July said the market was worth £743m a year…But ticket websites have criticised the proposal, insisting they provide a legitimate service that merely reflects the market value of tickets and claiming that the new levy amounted to a tax on consumers.
Eric Baker, chief executive of Viagogo, said: “We don’t understand the concept of taxing fans to buy tickets that have already been paid for…”That someone who bought a Robbie Williams ticket should pay an additional tax to Robbie Williams if they resell the ticket is completely nonsensical.”
If you need concert tickets, there’s no shortage of places to buy them. Forget Ticketmaster. Look at all these outlets, some legit, others not (think online scalpers). And check out eBay. Also, some people join band fan clubs just to get access to presale tickets, which are sometimes password-protected. These people turn around and sell the passwords to presale ticket access. It’s unfair to fans who’ve paid for club membership for exclusive access, but what can you do?
Although some concert ticket resellers are legitimate, others are not. The Internet has created a sort of Wild West territory of unregulated secondary markets. More power to the people trying to establish law and order, but they’re swimming against the tide. (Mix metaphors much?)
I used to go to concerts back in my youthful days. Not so much anymore. But a few months ago, I was excited to hear that Hanson was still making music, and I decided to write about the group. That led me to attend Hanson concerts in DC (where I went backstage and met and interviewed the band) and Charlotte, NC (where I was invited inside the club before doors opened to chat with the brothers).
Those episodes whet my appetite for more. Now I want to see Lenny Kravitz (whose new album comes out in early 2008), Rissi Palmer, and others in concert (and, to be perfectly frank, get a backstage invitation).
1) What’s the most recent concert you’ve attended?
2) What’s the greatest concert you’ve ever attended?
(Photo source: Lollapalooza)
Rest easy, everybody! 
{ 34 comments }
Most recent concert: Heart (with the greatest voice in rock and roll, Annie Wilson). Dare I mention, it was the night the Boston Red Sox clinched the 2007 Eastern Division Championship.
Greatest concert: Rod Stewart, September 26th, 2001. Less than a month after 9/11, Rod fans filled the Garden. Tons of Rod tribute (in costume) fans, tons of Celtic (Scottish football, not Boston basketball) fans, and just a lovely tribute to the Anglo-American friendship.
Why not just charge more for the tickets to begin with? If they’re always being resold for more than the original price, then you’re not charging enough.
1) Genesis this past September on their reunion/farewell tour.
2) A toss-up: The Who at Giants Stadium in 1989 (25th Anniversary Tour) or Yes at the Montreal Forum in 1991 (the Union tour).
The Who, eh? Man, I’d like to hear old Roger Daltrey crooning “Hope I die before I get old!” and ask him how he feels about that line now that he’s old.
Last concert: Marillion at the Fox Theater in Boulder, their Marbles tour. First time they’d ever played in Colorado. They played most of the Marbles album, and then a bunch of older tracks. Hearing stuff like “Living With The Big Lie,” “Cover My Eyes,” and “Easter” live was amazing. The opening act, John Wesley, was excellent as well. (I’m hoping the next concert I see will be Nightwish on their Dark Passion Play tour, next year.)
Greatest concert: Genesis, the We Can’t Dance tour, Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles. I actually won the tickets from a Santa Barbara radio station the day before I was going to stand in line to buy them…and transportation was included. One solid unforgettable experience, from “Land of Confusion” as the opener to “Turn It On Again” to end the show.
Now, about this proposal…doesn’t the Doctrine of First Sale apply to concert tickets, the same way it applies to things like books and CDs? If the bands are able to put this proposal through, you just know the next groups that come around with their hands out are going to be the book publishers and record companies, looking to get a cut of resale of those items. They’ve been trying for years…
1) My last concert was in 1994 and was a multi-band open-air concert in Little Rock. I don’t even remember who the bands were. LOL
2) Best concert I attended was my first one in 1987. Bryan Adams’ Into the Fire tour with The Hooters opening. That was so awesome! My friends and I were close enough to the stage by the time Bryan Adams was up that we could see the spit coming out of his mouth as he sang. Yes, he spits a lot when he sings.
Most recent: Randall Goodgame at my church (I promoted this concert myself).
Greatest: It’s a toss up between dcTalk’s Freak Show (the greatest “Christian” rock show ever), or Andrew Osenga’s “The Morning” show, which reignited my passion for independent music.
I would have to say the best concert was Slim Whitman live at Bill’s Burger Barn in Buttermilk Kansas. Yea, ol Slim got the crowd all lathered up and we really enjoyed Slim playing all his (late night commercial) hit recordings. It was gobs and oodles of fun.
Most recent? Hrms…Wierd Al at Pleasure Island in Orlando.
Best? Pink Floyd, The Wall.
1. most recent- I saw Stevie Wonder last Sunday in Memphis. I’ve wanted to see him in concert since I was a little kid. Awesome.
2. best ever- I have to go with Ralph on this one. Yes on the 1991 Union tour in Champaign, IL.
On the subject of tickets, I have no problem with people reselling tickets for umpteen times face value if that’s what the market dictates. If a show sells out in 15 minutes, then ticket prices were too low. I wish whoever determines what to charge for a ticket (ticketmaster, artist, promoters, or whoever), would simply set the prices at market value at the original point of sale. If that means the box office charges $15 million dollars for the best seats at Hannah Montana, so be it.
Most Recent: Billy Joel last Tuesday. Very good, especially since in Christianity-friendly Dallas, Billy added a good number of carols with which everybody sang along.
Best Outdoor: Cheap Trick at Blossom Music Center in Cleveland in 1980. The Steve Miller Band opened. Nice night to be outside. The bands were really good, and the crowd was really into it and friendly. Darn near perfect.
Best Indoor: B.B.King at the Kingston Mines in Chicago in 1983. B.B.King was ON that night, and pulled everybody right into the zone with him.
Most recent: Bruce Springsteen, 2006 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Forget the politics; the performance was excellent in sound quality, songs and effort/energy. I did not expect it.
Greatest concert: I was most impressed by the Jethro Tull performance of “Thick as a Brick” when I was in 9th grade.
I have attended very few concerts the past 30 years with the exception of JazzFest 2005 & 2006 where there were a lot of different bands that I saw such as Springsteen, Jack Johnson, Bob Dillon, Keb Mo, Dave Mathews, etc. Four years ago took my wife to see Bob Schneider and we walked out because he was loaded and could not quit saying the “F” word. A few months before we started dating, she walked out of the movie theater where she had gone with a date to see “Caddy Shack”. She has zero tolerance for crudeness, cussing or noise.
Anyway, as a youngster in 3rd grade I went to see Eric Burton and the Animals/Herman’s Hermits and other bands in New Orleans (City Park Stadium). From that time on I went to lots of concerts and festivals and probably saw 60 to 100 bands such as The Who, Rolling Stones, Genesis (the last time was 1980)) Grand Funk, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Led Zep, Allman Brother’s Band, Journey, ELO, Charlie Daniels, Chicago, Johnny Winter, Peter Frampton, Tim Weisberg, Marshal Tucker, Doobie Brothers, Brenda Lee, Lettermen, Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Jethro Tull, Neil Young, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Seals and Crofts, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Foghat, Focus, Rick Wright, James Gang, Yes, Quicksilver, Savoy Brown, Gino Vannelli, Smith, B.J. Thomas, The Association, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Van Halen, Wet Willie, Nazareth, K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Little River Band, Pablo Cruise, Walter Heath, etc.
Wish I had seen or would like to see: Moody Blues, Hendrix, Pink Floyd, pre-75 Santana, ELP, Deep Purple, Wishbone Ash, Cat Stevens, Flaming Lips, Albert Collins, SRV, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Glen Millar Band, Johnny Cash, Muddy Waters, a bunch more…
Biggest regret was not seeing Genesis perform “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway”.
My initial gut reaction is I don’t like taxing the resale market. It’s almost like Chevrolet getting a piece of the sale of my used Chevy. Where would it end? I sympathize with the artists but there must be better, more “free market” way to capture revenue for their art. The music industry needs to be more innovative.
Last concert I saw was Patti Labelle in concert in New York City. It was money well spent. The greatest concert I ever saw, Patti Labelle with Frankie Beverly and Maze.
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Ralph Phelan–
Honestly? You think they’re not charging enough? I haven’t been to a concert in years, simply because the face value of the tickets is more than I could afford.
Hmm.
Most recent concert: Police. Awesome! I love Stewart Copeland. I suspect that lurking somewhere under my lawyer exterior lies a frustrated drummer.
Best Concert(s): Joan Armatrading in 1986 or Peter Gabriel in 1988. Graham Nash was supposed to open for Joan Armatrading, but didn’t show. She did her best to make it up to everyone.
Springstein was great at Jazzfest. In 2006 the Edge came on stage with Dave Matthews. The defining song for me at JazzFest 2006 was “home” by cowboy mouth (not usually a fan of theirs)
LaShawn: Saw Lenny Kravitz at Jazzfest several years ago and he was excellent.
Most Recent: Van Halen two weeks ago with David Lee Roth and Wolfgang Van Halen on Bass. Have seen them twice before with Sammy and both were great, just different styles, Eddie was amazing at all three.
Best Ever: Loved going to Oingo Boingo back in High School and college and will never forget ZZ Top but I think the Horde Tour back in mid 90’s with Rusted Root, Lenny Kravitz, Dave Mathews Band and the Blues Travelers was the most fun. Lenny was going through his divorce and was not very good, Dave Mathews was relatively unknown and was the best but Rusted Root was the most fun and never seen a crowd more into the music than them. I did see Lenny many years later and he was great.
I agree with #10 above, let the market set the price and most of the problem would be eliminated.
Most recent: Big & Rich with Cowboy Troy. It was about a year and a half ago (we don’t have the time or disposable income to go to many concerts). It was outdoors and at a county fair.
Best Ever: It might sound strange, but Rob Zombie. It was about six years ago. I heard one ad for it on the radio, billing the concert as Meet the Creeper. Nowhere in any of the ads or when ordering tickets did it actually mention Rob Zombie by name. The concert was in a old movie house with the seats ripped up that had been converted to a dive bar. There were maybe two or three hundred people total. It was part of a tour he did re-living his early days touring bars and clubs. Despite the style of his music, it was the single most intimate concert I had ever been to.
Most recent: Gaelic Storm (the below-decks band in the movie Titanic) about 8 years ago. Lots of fun.
Greatest indoor: Three Dog Night, when they were already almost over, but man did they put on a show! I had seen Chicago in concert, and they were a huge disappointment, because all they did was stand there and play their songs, without any interaction with the audience. I could have just stayed home and listened to their records.
Greatest outdoor: An all-day event in 1976 with Jerry Jeff Walker (yuck), Jimmy Buffet, Heart (my favorite), and Doug Kershaw.
1. Kelly Willis at the Rams Head in Annapolis.
2. Best ever: Prince, Musicology tour, August 2004 in DC.
I didn’t really answer the question before, so I will now.
Why should anyone get a cut of resold tickets? Nissan isn’t going to get a cut when I resell my van. The artists and venues already have their cut. That’s true whether the tickets are resold or not. Why should they get a bonanza? They sold the tickets for what they believed they would get, and no doubt they were right. (If the face value were higher, they’d sell fewer tickets in toto, and nobody would make out any better.) If someone buys my bracelet, and then sells it for twice what they paid me, I don’t get a percentage. I made my deal. The artists and venues made theirs. If somebody else can profit, too, good for them.
I don’t go to concerts now, for a variety of reasons, but when I was younger I saw many, many artists, in many genres: Neil Young, Steve Forbert, Elton John, the New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble, Tony Carey, Gordon Lightfoot, Rory Gallagher, Koko Taylor, Seals & Crofts, Garth Brooks, Steppenwolf, the Kingston Trio, Keely Smith, and many others.
The most memorable concert I attended was Cat Stevens at Chicago Stadium (since demolished) many years ago, not because of the show, but for a very personal reason. I treated my younger cousin to her first concert that night, and it was a special experience for us both. She died three years ago at the age of 45. It’s a precious memory to me.
I won’t say what was the worst, though I have seen bad ones. Anybody can have an off night.
We’re essentially creating a middle man with the promoter as the original ticket seller. While most, if not all, of the tickets being bought by second tier re-sellers, forget about the day when the average fan can afford the price. The market will ultimately determine if enough fans are left to support this method. If so, much higher levels of prices will be sustained. Back in the day when you could see major bands for under $10, bands toured to promote their albums, not to make a huge profit from the tour. This just shows that the theft that has taken place with illegal down-loading needs to be subsidized with ridiculously high ticket prices. If there’s not a way to make a profit from producing music, it doesn’t make sense to do so.
To me, the best music is being played at much smaller venues and festivals at this point.
It’s refreshing to see organic music that’s not over-produced.
Most recent – Seether, Hurt and Red Dec 6. Best ever: Kenny Wayne Shepherd in a small night club in Seattle. I could reach out and touch him – and his singer is delicious!!
My two most memorable has to be Luther Vandross and Barry White. Luther sang “If only for one night” the ladies lost their minds! Second, Barry White brought his orchestra with him on that tour, and brought the house down. They are truly missed.
Most recent: American Idol Tour (never saw the show before this year). It was good but not great.
Best ever: I had the best time ever at a Barry Manilow concert one summer in the mid-70’s. I was 16 and in love, attending with my ‘beau’ at the Universal Amphitheatre in L.A. It was pure magic.
I rarely go to concerts because I don’t have such money to spend. The last show I went to was Rush, my favorite band, and they always put on a great show. I saw Depeche Mode a couple of years ago and they were also great.
Most Recent – Martina McBride, Little Big Town. Martina is awesome.
I’m so jealous of J.the J – seeing Heart – AWESOME!!!
The best – by far The Wiggles & Bob the Builder a few years back – with my kid of course – Just kidding, they were good but Not the Best! Although I’m not a huge Bon Jovi fan – he did look good on stage strutt’n around last year.
Most recent: Rolling Stones-Bridges to Babylon
Best: Qakland Ca. Colisium, Cira 1972, Beach Boys, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Commander Cody & LPA, Grateful Dead, Started 10 am we left 6pm and it was still going. Each band played and then replayed after the others.
No assigned seating, we sat on the grass behind home plate. Naked people playing freezby, was told people were making love in the higher stadium seats. There aren’t concerts like this any more
1. Most recent concert I attended: Unless it was in a previous life – never.
2. Greatest concert I ever attended – see #1.
I am afraid that the music industry would have to don dark glasses, find a tin cup, and sit on a corner with a sign that said “HELP” if they depended upon me for their livelihood. Heck – I buy a CD once every two years or so (at most).
Most recent- Rush, 9/2/2007 in Columbus, OH. Saw them three times in 8 days on this tour, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Columbus (8/26, 9/1, and 9/2, respectively).
Best- I enjoyed different concerts for different reasons (which I won’t get into here), but here are some of my favorites:
Rush- just about any show I’ve seen. I’m a big fan!
KISS- 1996 reunion tour in full makeup. I was too young to see them in makeup and with the original lineup before then, so getting to see them like that was a treat.
Police- Synchronicity tour (1983, 84? Can’t quite remember back that far). Stewart Copeland is my second favorite drummer (behind Neil Peart of Rush). I missed the reunion tour (darn it all!!).
Def Leppard- Hysteria and Adrenalize tours (1987-88 and 1992-93). I was a big fan back then.
Van Halen- several times. Once with Roth, the others with Hagar. Loved them all. I can listen to Eddie Van Halen play guitar anytime!!
Billy Joel & Elton John when they toured together. Amazing, amazing night. And the backing musicians were really good, too!
Most recent: Ichthus Music Festival, Wilmore KY, June 2007
Favorite: Ichthus Music Festival, Wilmore KY, June 2006
2006 was the last Ichthus appearance for Audio Adrenaline, my favorite group. They were awesome. Since then they have disbanded and are now taking a more active role in their “Hands & Feet” ministry in Haiti.
BTW, to tide you over until Lenny’s new CD drops, get on YouTube and check out his halftime show from the recent Grey Cup (Canadian football’s Super Bowl). Good stuff.
Gregg–
The idea that there is theft involved in music that is downloaded, and that ticket prices are subsidizing it, is sheer nonsense. The only theft involved is by the record companies, and it is the artists and songwriters who are the victims. No one is ever going to stop making music. Music is something people make for the sheer joy of it. It isn’t necessary to be a professional musician to make music, and most musicians never make a profit from it. Far from creating a middleman, technology is now providing the opportunity for musicians to avoid the middleman, and present their music directly to the public.
The recording industry is thoroughly vicious and corrupt. I would urge everyone to read the book Hit Men, by Frederic Dannen. It is an eye-opener.
The musician and the composer/songwriter have always gotten the short end of the stick. That is changing now, thanks to technology. It’s foolish for them not to embrace it.
Trish,
Record companies provide a product. If people take that product without paying for it, there will be no product. Yes, people will continue making music, but the individual groups will suffer in recording and releasing that product with the market dwindling. It is true that the major record labels for years have been signing artists to ridiculously one-sided contracts. If the new technology allows artists more control over there product while being able to pay there bills, I’m all for it. The evolution of the music industry may take us in this direction. That’s fine. What I’m talking about is illegal down-loading. If it continues to progress, why would the artist produce music that not enough people purchase? My point is not to play a sad violin for the record labels, just that they, along with individual artists have to have a market for their product or it’s just not feasable to continue recording music. Again, my point is more about people actually paying for the music they desire and not copying it or illegally down-loading it. People will always play music. It just can’t be as cheap live when there’s no real album sales to subisidize income. I hope artists continue to gain control of their music and are able to distribute to paying fans. It would be the greatest thing.
One thing…by “middleman”, I wasn’t refering to music production, but rather the ticket brokers who are buying up mass amounts of tickets and re-selling them at higher prices. This is the extra layer to which I’m speaking. I don’t think we’re too far apart on this.
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