Live Nation's Impact on All Concerts

[michelej1]

This was an article on why artists skip Buffalo, but it talks about Live Nation's impact on the concert scheduling industry. I excerpted that part and also put the part that mentioned FM at the end.

http://www.buffalonews.com/185/story/553039.html

A Live Nation nation

A major change in concert schedules nationwide comes at the hands of the mammoth Live Nation, which has become the industry's biggest mover and shaker.

If the innovative company has its way, it will soon hold a controlling interest in artist-related products, including recordings, merchandise and more.

Live Nation gambled heavy in 2007 on Madonna, inking a "360 deal" with the pop starlet that gave the tour promoter 10 years of comprehensive rights to the singer's tours, records and anything else she might do in the commercial domain. Madonna snubbed Warner Brothers, her longtime record label, to take the deal, which is estimated to be worth $120 million.

The singer's "Sticky & Sweet Tour" racked up $105.3 million in ticket sales, claiming the top slot on Pollstar's annual top-grossing tours list. The average price paid for Madonna tickets through StubHub — chosen by the Material Girl as the official fan-to-fan marketplace for the tour — was $306 per seat.

Considering this, is it any wonder Madonna skipped Buffalo?

Live Nation's Madonna gamble paid off, big time. It now stands poised to almost literally devour the music industry. U2 recently signed a deal turning over its touring, merchandising, and Web site rights to the company. Jay-Z, Shakira and Nickelback are also Live Nation acts. The company is now launching its own ticketing service, after severing ties with Ticketmaster. Most of the bigger local shows — at both the Arena and Darien Lake — are handled by Live Nation, whose area representatives declined to comment for this story. The company rents the Arena for shows it produces there, but it has exclusive booking rights for Darien Lake. Live Nation — which began as SFX Entertainment, then became Clear Channel, before settling on its present form — tends to buy an artist's entire tour and place that artist in the various arenas it works with throughout the country.

As a result, there now is less of a case-by-case, localized aspect to concert booking and promotion. This could account for some of the homogenizing of concert schedules, which is a charge some local people who are not fans of country and classic rock have made.

"Buffalo has traditionally been a great live music market," says Donny Kutzbach of Buffalo- based promoter Fun Time Presents. "There's such an amazing legacy in this city for live music. I love listening to people older than myself tell the stories of the concerts they saw in Buffalo. From the days of Miles Davis and John Coltrane — who once played this venue (the Fun Time-owned and operated Town Ballroom) when it was Town Casino — to the Ramones at the Salty Dog.

"For years my mom has been telling me the story of Bob Dylan playing Kleinhans on his legendary 1965 tour when the folkies in the house booed his electric set. The same year, my dad saw the Beach Boys there in the short period after Brian Wilson's nervous breakdown, when Glen Campbell was playing bass. Maybe someday my kids will want to hear my story about seeing Nirvana at UB, or meeting Willie Nelson at Shea's, but ... The music business has changed so much.

"It's a simple case of numbers and ultimately the same story that everyone in Western New York has heard over and over again: We have a shrinking population, particularly in the demographic number that most targets concerts."

[Also] "In Rochester, you've got a smaller building in Blue Cross Arena, and let's face it, it's considered the same market. So you're likely to see some acts … Fleetwood Mac, for example … playing there instead of at HSBC Arena."

[DeeGeMe]

$300 average price for Madonna tickets????? Well it's obvious that some people must still have money to burn in this economy.

So LiveNation is/was a part of Clear Channel? Oh great-they ruined the radio business--buying up as many stations as they could in a market (after the Repugs lifted regulations on how many media outlets that a company could own), shutting down some stations, and homoginizing the rest, so every station sounded the same, everywhere.

[LukeA]

Originally Posted by DeeGeMe

$300 average price for Madonna tickets????? Well it's obvious that some people must still have money to burn in this economy.

Just because re-sellers *charged* that much doesn't mean they got it. Madonna's tours in '04 and '06 all sold out, although it was very easy to get tickets for most of the shows due to the fact that scalpers (amateur and professional) bought up a significant percentage of the tickets. They were practically giving away tickets from coast to coast- didn't matter the venue, or how many shows, because she overplays every market she goes to, thanks to said scalpers.

As long as the tickets get sold to somebody, the promoter/artist usually don't care who.

[wolfontherun]

"the pop starlet" that is just too funny!

[DeeGeMe]

Starlet? Isn't that term reserved for up and coming artists--not someone who is 50. I'd say that Madonna's "starlet" days are about 20 years in the past.

[Nicks Fan]

I always wondered why Fm never played outside Toronto or in some cases Western Canada on there tours? Now they are playing a big portion of Canada for a change. I am wondering if in the end they will have sold enough tickets to make it worth it.

Matt