Ticketmaster whipping boy no longer
I get where Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard is coming from in his post to the company’s blog about fees and charges added to the price of concert tickets. Shame the post was written in such a way to leave the impression that he (and his business) thinks the average punter is stupid.
Interesting email from Irving Azzof to Bob Lefsetz on Azoff’s ‘full disclosure’ tweet. Azoff wrote:
“Correct. Since acts, promoters and venues are fighting full disclosure all-in pricing that consumers want, TM is unilaterally doing this. Needless to say a major promoter has already written to us demanding we stop. Go ahead and print if you want Bob. Thanks. Irving”
I love the double spacing. Anyhow, if the live music industry cannot sort out this business in-house we’ll see a full scale PR war.
I draw your attention to Hubbard’s post, where he wrote:
Most of the parties in the live event value chain participate in these service fees either directly or indirectly – promoters, venues, teams, artists, and yes, ticketing companies – and service fee rebates are our largest annual expense at Ticketmaster.
Ticketmaster has for a long time been the whipping boy that angry punters blamed for turning reasonably priced concert tickets into a pocket gouging exercise.
It has been long known in the industry that promoters and artists receive kickbacks on the service fees charged by Ticketmaster. And know the public knows, directly from the proverbial horse’s mouth.
What would be good to see is Ticketmaster breakdown where each portion of their service fees go. Exactly how much are artists and promoters receiving? Who is really gouging who?
The concert going public deserves to know and the industry must become more transparent if it is to resurrect what are now failing fortunes across all industry sectors.
Amazing pix of how we use the internets
This diagram from the Wired article The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet by Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff is quite something.
The music biz thinks you’re stupid
If there is any doubt that the music industry thinks we’re all stupid one need only consider the opening paragraph in the first post on the new Ticketmaster blog Ticketology.
Today we’re excited to announce three important changes to the way we interact with you.
How We Present Pricing and Fees
We get it – you don’t like service fees. You don’t like them mostly because you don’t understand what the heck they are for.
Oh, we understand what they’re for. It’s called profit. Big fat profits.
But the reality of the live entertainment business is that service fees have become an extension of the ticket price.
It might be your reality dude-who-wrote-the-blog-post, but that doesn’t mean the punters accept it. Be honest, it’s a rather lame justification for not really wanting to change your business practices.
Most of the parties in the live event value chain participate in these service fees either directly or indirectly – promoters, venues, teams, artists, and yes, ticketing companies – and service fee rebates are our largest annual expense at Ticketmaster.
I love corporate speak: live event value chain. Sounds good doesn’t it? Bamboozling even. Good to know that our entertainment has a value chain. Shame the average punter isn’t seeing much VALUE!
And TM just let it be known that even artists are taking a cut of the fees. Long live rock ‘n roll …
Seth Godin’s independence
Seth Godin recently announced that he will eschew traditional publishing models for an independent path. It is a big statement that has made quite a splash in both mainstream media and the wilds of the internets.
Seth of course has a monstrous advantage over most authors simply because he has an established audience, some of whom were ‘found’ using the muscle of his previous publisher.
The same thing happened in the music biz with artists such as Radiohead and Trent Reznor. Few others have been able to replicate their success.
Nonetheless, those authors who choose an indie path are in a much better position than those who choose to sit around hoping an agent and/or publisher will pick up their work.
Review: Salt
Completely lame, North American summer movie fodder, Salt’s plot makes Die Hard look like movie making genius.
The wrap is so totally and utterly unbelievable that I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Good thing there were only 4 other peeps in the theatre.
It’s a shame. I like Phillip Noyce, especially the wonderful Rabbit-Proof Fence.
