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Interesting Music Business Article


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"The American" magazine has an excellent article in the March/April issue about the music industry. It talks about how the top grossing tours are by old-line artists, how spending on recorded music is being replaced with live music, and how many artists are taking 360 deals over the traditional recording contract.

 

Well worth reading.

 

A couple quotes:

 

"According to Billboard statistics, only one of the top ten box-office draws in the last decade is an act that hit it big after the 1970s."

 

"... emerging acts have developed a habit of touring the same nightclubs too often, depressing the demand for tickets to their shows."

 

oldMattB

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I find your second bullet the most interesting of the two.

 

I honestly find it a bit cold and blunt...but hey, thems the facts...

 

Do they take into account the fact that most nightclub owners would rather pay some guy/gal with a suitcase full of promo CD's $500 (who probably doesn't need the job anyway) a night over the guys/gals out there trying to earn a living, thus severly limiting access and availability to paying gigs locally, regionally, and nationally?

 

...Does that sound bitter to you? I should probably read the article before judging it...

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"... emerging acts have developed a habit of touring the same nightclubs too often, depressing the demand for tickets to their shows."

 

 

 

This is such a wrong statement. Not wrong as in false, but just misleading and ignorant. Each "act" has to get a start and every genre does it differently. Every genre has it's own common protocol from beginning to end. While playing the same clubs works for some, it doesn't work for the others.

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This is such a wrong statement. Not wrong as in false, but just misleading and ignorant. Each "act" has to get a start and every genre does it differently. Every genre has it's own common protocol from beginning to end. While playing the same clubs works for some, it doesn't work for the others.

 

I also think it is a weird statement, or maybe misleading, or maybe true but based on only a certain genre or location...

 

I used to be in a band that would get invited once or twice a month to play in a city about 5 hours away. I always thought it was weird and wondered if people would just get sick of us, but it didn't happen, in fact, the shows just kept getting bigger and we kept selling more and more stuff... so, maybe as an overall statistic, it is true, but it definitely isn't the case universally. I guess it wasn't always the same venue we were playing, but I don't see how the venue would be an issue over the city, as the same crowd was showing up more or less no matter what venue it was.

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I can't speak to the accuracy of the statement, but it comes from a known source. It was said by Kevin Lyman, a consultant and the organizer of the Vans Warped Tour. You can find out about him on Wikipedia and imdb.com.

 

In a general sense, it makes sense to me. If your band is just there to make some noise for strangers, it really doesn't matter. If people are coming to see you in particular, profits might be maximized with less frequent performances. I am sure that the Stones tour infrequently not because they are lazy, but because it maximizes profits. A small band has more spare time and less infrastructure to pay, so gross income and net profits are more closely tied. A huge band might gross more in two tours over one (more gross income), but the costs of touring might double (less net income, or even a loss). Many small bands would be glad to have an extra $100, even if they paid $100 in fuel to make it happen.

 

oldMattb

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"... emerging acts have developed a habit of touring the same nightclubs too often, depressing the demand for tickets to their shows."

 

I won't say this statement is flat out wrong, but it's slightly skewed. Whether or not one goes to the same clubs is a little irrelevant, I think it's how often they frequent those clubs. If Radiohead played the 40 Watt here in Athens four years ago and they come back again next week, do I really care that it's the 40 Watt they're performing at? No. I'm going to see them regardless because it's been 4 years since they came into town.

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