A Band Battles Ticketmaster on Sales Fees

Methinks the plethora of people e-mailing me this story didn’t get past the headline.

This is a false fight. This is not about Ticketmaster fees so much as allowing the band to sell more tickets by itself, surcharge free.

Do you understand that?

Let me explain… Bands have fan clubs. They want fans to get good seats. They want to sell these seats themselves. They don’t want fees on these seats. Ticketmaster will allow 8% of tickets to be sold this way. But no more.

Because the buildings need the profit.

As do the promoters.

You can’t say anything negative about the acts. Concert promotion is now akin to politics. Did you know Obama was a Muslim? And that he cheated his way into Harvard and never graduated?

The fee problem belongs to the acts. Because they get almost all of the ticketing revenue before surcharges. That’s what the "New York Times" article says, if you read it to the end.

If String Cheese were really concerned about fees, it would go to all-in pricing. Bury the fees in the total price, then everybody wins.

But that’s not the battle they’re really fighting.

So String Cheese is just muddying the waters. Spreading disinformation into the equation. Making Ticketmaster the big bad enemy once again.

I hate fees.

But there are no concerts without profits.

Let me ask you, if a band takes 90+% of the gate, how is the promoter supposed to make a profit?

Maybe you failed high school math. Maybe you believe the man is always wrong.

You want to know the truth?

The only profit in concert promotion is in the ticketing. That’s why AEG went into the business itself. If there were no profits in fees, they’d just continue to use Ticketmaster, ever think about that?

Do you expect Ticketmaster to budge, to take a loss just for its image?

That would be like Philip Morris ceasing to sell cigarettes.

That’s Ticketmaster’s business. The fees. A great percentage of which are kicked back to the buildings, the promoters, even the acts, if they’re powerful enough.

You think the acts are your friends.

But oftentimes they’re not.

Speaking of friends, everybody in the String Cheese camp is one of mine. But truth trumps loyalty. I’m calling b.s. on this one.

TAXICAB CONFESSIONS

He lied to the government to get free health care and then his wife had an affair.

People in New York are different. Everybody in Los Angeles is trying to be famous, or luxuriating in the outdoor lifestyle. In NYC, they’re either on the track to get rich or they’re getting by. Life is harder here. Which is why your story is so important, it’s all you’ve got.

I always talk to the drivers. I guess I feel guilty. I’ve got a problem with the master/servant thing, I assuage my guilt by conversing. And sometimes you hear the most amazing stories, like tonight.

Life isn’t like TV. Everybody isn’t beautiful and everything isn’t wrapped up neatly in a bow at the end of an hour. Life is messy. Quandaries appear more often than solutions. Did she step out because you ignored her or was it a character flaw? You beat yourself up inside. And even though TV lore says to kick her out and smile smugly, it rarely goes down that way. You want the family, you want compassion…

But not always with her.

That’s New York. Sure, there are bankers ruining the world, but everybody else is just in it together, trying to get along.

BANKERS

I had lunch with two.

They’re always thinking…

Which is so different from the wannabe famous folk. Who are just me, me, me all the time. Was it right for Tim Cook to declare a dividend? Is a tech dollar the same as a bank dollar? When I go to lunch with music people, all they do is sell me. It’s an endless tsunami of hype, I expect them to whip out their Square at the end of the meal and charge me.

This was a welcome respite.

They may make a lot of money. But oftentimes, these bankers are the best and the brightest. Which can make them intriguing.

Then again, there are good people working at the major labels…

Ha!

Q PRIME

I’m gonna tell you a secret. You wanna get ahead in this business?

Don’t talk business. Leave music out.

My conversation with Cliff Burnstein was about travel, to places where they had no Internet. And foreign flicks. And politics. You think everybody’s a buyer, and if you just sell well enough, you’ll get a deal.

Wrong.

First and foremost people want to know you’re trustworthy, a well-rounded person. That’s what you learn at a liberal arts college. Not that you need to go to college at all. But if you’re on a singular mission to get rich, there’s a good chance you won’t be.

Q PRIME II

Cliff did say that I contradicted myself. That I send missives how to use social media and then sent an e-mail saying music was paramount and the rest was irrelevant.

I told him he wasn’t privy to my e-mail. Where I’m inundated with people who can market themselves incredibly whose music sucks.

The oldsters should be hip to social media.

And the wannabes…should focus more on the music.

INTERNET WEEK

It’s all about tech.

And I had to tell them tech was subservient to music.

Everybody wants to be in entertainment, they’re not lining up to be garbage men. It’s hard to get into the music business and it’s almost impossible to stay in.

And the business is run by kings.

And they’re not Lucian Grainge and they’re not Irving Azoff.

We call these people artists.

The artists control this business. Wanna have power, wanna last? Write a hit song. It’s ever so much harder than coming up with a great business idea. Sure, you’d make a great manager, sure you’d like to help. But can you find a hit act? That’s how you get ahead in this business.

And, for the record, the acts fuck you.

SOUND CONTROL AWARDS

Steve Stoute gave one to Scooter Braun. Both men were extremely eloquent. I rag on Justin Bieber all the time, but I’ve got to give Scooter credit for managing him.

Scooter said you start small. That just before he broke big with Bieber, he thought he was an idiot, that he’d lost his way.

That’s the world of music, that’s being an entrepreneur.

This business is all about wildcatters. Crazy people who wouldn’t fit in anywhere else. If you’re a worker bee, find another career. If you got kicked out of school, if you’ve got rough edges, if you’ve got a personality that can articulate your vision…you’ve got a chance.

Cliff Burnstein could be mistaken for a homeless person. But he’s one of the foremost thinkers in our business. He’s got his sixties values intact, it’s what’s inside that counts. He couldn’t work for the man, the security guard wouldn’t let him inside!

And Scooter Braun looks like someone just out of college. Big companies don’t give the reins to people like this. But Scooter grabbed the reins and rode his horse all the way to the bank.

And one thing that Scooter said that was so interesting… The authorized Bieber music is just a small piece of the puzzle. It’s fan-generated content that’s driving Bieber’s success. He’s owned by his audience, which keeps spreading the word.

The business has had it wrong for so long. You’ve go to empower these fans, not hold them back/restrict them/sue them.

As for Scooter’s deal with Universal… I’m disappointed in him. What did we say way back when, you’re either part of the problem or part of the solution? If you think you can change a major label from the inside, you’re dreaming. All the innovation in the twenty first century has come from outside pressure. As for Scooter’s tech bona fides… You’re better off with one of the nerds in attendance than him.

Scooter’s great with the artists.

The nerds are great with code, good with tech vision. Hell, Scooter doesn’t have time to ride the pony of tech innovation. In a world where Google and Facebook are challenged by mobile, what are the odds that Scooter has the answers?

Then again, neither does Lucian.

This business is always the same. Outside forces come out of nowhere to change it. And as the baby boomers age, and the millennials grow up, the torch is being passed. It will be their business soon. And it will look completely different. Fans will not be adversaries, acts will trust their handlers, deals will be fairer.

Because that’s the world the millennials grew up in.

It’s a publicity stunt.

And based on my inbox, it worked.

Hi, I’ve been on a plane all day, flying to NYC for Internet Week and then on to Philadelphia for the Non-Commvention. And the gentleman sitting next to me in business development for Amgen waxed rhapsodic that if only there was one site with all the music, he’d be willing to pay fifty bucks a month for it.

He was stunned when I told him it already existed. And that not only was it ten bucks, on your computer, it was FREE!

That’s the modern music business for you, everybody thinks we’re paying attention, but we’re not. If people aren’t aware of the distribution platform, what are the odds they’re gonna know about your music?

Just about zilch.

I spent half of the flight finishing Carole King’s autobiography.

It’s trash.

She doesn’t tell you what you want to know and the only dirt she slings is against local Idahoans. Funny world we live in, where everybody knows the truth, but to get ahead they believe they can’t speak it. Really Carole, you worked that long in the music business and everybody was a prince? I’d say I want my money back, but what I really want is my time.

There’s very little about the "Loco-Motion", you’d think she never wrote those Goffin-King hits, and the only redeeming factor is when she talks about her four husbands and living in the wilderness. At least we get some insight into the human condition, which her songs delineate so well but she could not articulate in this book. Which she wrote herself, which is one of the problems. Why does everybody think they can do everything? Especially when on most of her hits she wrote the music, not the lyrics.

And the rest of the time I spent reading the newspaper. There was a story on Hoodiegate, you know, Mark Zuckerberg’s refusal to dress up for Wall Street.

Would you put on your finest for those bastards?

But what struck me is how this used to be how the musicians acted. They wore their street clothes on stage, they kept "the man" at arm’s length, corporations were anathema. Now they’re all like Mel Brooks playing the Gov in "Blazing Saddles", just asking where to sign.

And then there was that story about Jay Z’s "Budweiser Made in America" music festival in Philadelphia… Do they call it "Coors Coachella"? Or "Beck’s Bonnaroo"? One of the reasons Coachella lasts, why it’s become a rite of passage, why tickets sell without a lineup announced, is because the fans trust the promoters, it’s first and foremost about the music. Put the sponsor’s name in the title and you know money comes first. What an insult. Add in the insane concession prices and you wonder why concertgoers hate Live Nation. Couldn’t they leave ANY money on the table?

And I don’t expect fans to revolt against Jay Z, but the paradigm of getting in bed and ripping off corporations is so last century in a nation beaten down by recession. Now it’s all about giving back, not taking.

And when I got off the plane four musicians were using their suitcases as scooters. Yup, there was a platform upon which they stood and they dashed down the halls at light speed, impressive and fun.

And flying’s always insightful. The woman across the aisle was so tan, I thought it was a joke. Expect society to sterilize her so she can have no children and tan them too. I mean really, does she think she looks good?

But that’s America, where everybody wants to be famous, noticed for something.

And once upon a time, Counting Crows was famous for having one of the best debut albums ever. Although a lot of the credit needs to go to producer T-Bone Burnett.

And ever since, it’s been downhill.

So today they announce free distribution through BitTorrent, they’re anti-major label, they’re sticking it to the man. But the man abandoned them, there’s no money to be made. Certainly not on recordings.

But at the end of the diatribe, Counting Crows hypes its latest tour.

This is no new paradigm, this is all about attention. In an economy where that’s hard to get. The band cooked this up to get back on the radar screen. And it worked.

But stunts don’t last. People will forget tomorrow.

People. They’re what makes life worth living. I was just in CVS and saw kids with neck tattoos and pants below their butt. And my driver is itching to move back to the Dominican Republic, where he’s a famous bassist and can get paid to play all night long.

These are the stories we’re interested in. What makes people tick. How do you function in today’s society.

But Carole King issues platitudes and rather than retire, Counting Crows hide behind P2P to gain publicity.

Zuckerberg’s got it right. Be true to yourself.

That’s all you’ve got.

And I HATE Facebook!

You know the music business is antiquated when it’s eclipsed by the classically moribund book business.

On the front page of today’s "New York Times", there’s a story entitled: "Writer’s Cramp: In the E-Reader Era, a Book a Year Is Slacking". It goes on to delineate just that, today’s authors are writing constantly, to slake the unquenchable thirst of their fans.

Let’s see…

The advancements in the music business are:

1. Electronic delivery.

2. The 360 deal.

3. Topspin multiple price packages.

4. Kickstarter fundraising.

Nowhere in that list do you find anything about the music itself. That has stayed the same. Artists make albums, infrequently. Sure, there’s an occasional artist that drops an album a year, but has anybody thought about how this lack of frequency is affecting the fanbase?

The fans want more.

Ever since the Clive/Tommy era, it’s been about perfecting a product and selling it to every last person on earth over a period of years. As this article says, for literary authors, like Jeffrey Eugenides, that formula still might work, as it has for Adele, but for everybody else, it’s positively backward. Not only are you trying to convince people who don’t care, those who do are abandoning you.

You must maintain a relationship with your audience.

You think you’re on tour satiating your fans, but in the town you visited months ago, the fans have already forgotten you, they’re on to something else.

No, now you’ve got to make music constantly.

The rappers have this right with mixtapes, which is why Lil Wayne is so much bigger than the pop and rock acts. But many of those tracks are riddled with copyright infringement and can never be released commercially. Still, the model remains. These rappers are satiating their fans.

If you’re taking a year plus to create an album, you’re doing it wrong. Unless, of course, you’re releasing a steady stream of singles at the same time.

You’ve got to be in the fan’s face.

"Today’s readers seem incapable of being overwhelmed.

Scott Schiefelbein, a lawyer in Portland, Ore., wrote an enthusiastic review last month on Amazon.com of ‘Second Son,’ a short story by Mr. Child that Mr. Schiefelbein read after buying his latest novel, ‘The Affair,’ on his Kindle.

There is ‘no limit’ to the number of Mr. Child’s books he would buy, Mr. Schiefelbein said.

‘I’ll give basically anything he writes a chance,’ he said. ‘With my favorite authors, I always want to read more from them.’

Writer’s Cramp: In the E-Reader Era, a Book a Year Is Slacking

BINGO!

Albums are an archaic format. Originally they were 78s put in paper sleeves between leather covers. Then we had the LP and the CD. These were physical formats dictating to the art form. When is today’s format going to dictate to the art form? You can record cheaply and release constantly. This is a breakthrough! If you really have a statement to make over twelve tracks, be my guest.

Then again, nothing’s stopping you from releasing said music at the rate of two tracks a month.

Furthermore, twelve tracks/an hour’s worth of music is too much for almost anyone to digest anymore. It’s easier for the audience when it’s bite-sized chunks.

Then again, the labels want a revenue-generating event, that’s why they support albums. And it’s easier to drum up publicity in mainstream media…

Listen to yourself. You’re positively old school. You’re making music according to a dying formula when the public has already moved on and is ready for the new.

Singles already rule.

He who releases a steady stream of music, twelve months a year, year in and year out, will rule in the future.

Who’s gonna be first?