...Cruel Summer for Touring Musicians

[Livia]

http://news.bostonherald.com/enterta...&position=also

Economy, megamerger might mean cruel summer for touring musicians

By Jed Gottlieb | Thursday, February 19, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Music News

Boston’s Putnam Investments cut 260 jobs last week. That’s about one job for every dollar it will cost you for a VIP general admission ticket to see Britney Spears on March 16 at TD Banknorth Garden.

Around the Hub and across the nation, companies are laying off thousands while concert ticket prices remain sky-high. Including fees, entrance to Bruce Springsteen’s April gigs at the Garden costs between $78.75 and $109.40; seats at Fleetwood Mac’s March show at the Garden cost $61.85 to $164.10. Even the Pogues are charging $60, including fees, to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at the House of Blues.

It’s a ton of cash to shell out, what with rising unemployment, escalating home foreclosures and a $1.1 billion state budget shortfall. Something’s got to give.

“The market will adjust and some artists’ tours are going to completely fall on their faces,” said Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the concert industry magazine Pollstar. “2008 was pretty good for the concert business. But most of the tickets sold during the fourth quarter of last year and the first quartet of this year were sold before the financial meltdown. The real test will come when they put the summer shows on sale.”

Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman is currently on the road with newer project Taste of Chaos, which stops at the Worcester Palladium on Feb. 27. He’s already seeing the impact of a down economy.

“I have one of cheapest tours out there right now and I’m hurting a little bit,” Lyman said. “I talk to the kids outside and people at the bar and everyone is broke.”

It isn’t just traveling roadshows that are adjusting to hard times. Florida’s Langerado Festival was canceled because of slow ticket sales. Other festivals, including Coachella, Bonnaroo and Stagecoach, have gone the Sears route by selling tickets on layaway.

But there’s little indication of falling ticket prices for such marquee acts as Springsteen and Spears.

Live Nation, New England’s and the world’s largest concert promoter, has announced plans to merge with Ticketmaster. According to an analysis by paid Content.org, Live Nation will have to hike ticket prices or fees by an average of $10 to make the deal worthwhile.

The proposed merger is meeting strong opposition - U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) slammed the prospective deal as giving “a giant, new entity unrivaled power over concertgoers and the prices they pay to see their favorite artists and bands.”

Barry Diller, the chairman of the proposed new company, countered that Live Nation and Ticketmaster don’t set prices, artists do - which Bongiovanni and Lyman confirm.

“It’s artists that are going to need to make the big adjustment in what they demand if they want to sell tickets and fill venues,” Lyman said.

Still, these are tough times for music fans when even the good news is grim: the $10 rise in ticket prices isn’t as high as expected. If there is a bright spot, Lyman sees the economic downturn as a great time for new bands to take a bite out of the Springsteen and Spears demographics by offering cheap rock ’n’ roll alternatives.

“If you’re a young kid in a band,” he said, “what you’ve got be asking yourself is, ‘Is it better to be broke on the road in a van or broke on your parents’ couch?’ ”