Music Business Ch 17: Concert Venues

Performance Rights in Concerts

-A public performance of a copyrighted song triggers a fee usually collected by a PRO

Ticketing

-Deadwood: tickets not sold -Paper the house: give away tickets so that seats are filled -Scale the house: decide how many seats will be sold at what price point -Dynamic pricing: ticket prices vary on a day by day basis based upon demand -SECONDARY MARKET ticket brokers such as Stub Hub are great for consumer, but not so great for the promoter and artist

Types of Tickets

-HARD TICKETS: a customer buys a ticket for a specific concert featuring a specific headline attraction. They are going to the venue for no other reason than to attend the concert -SOFT TICKETS: a customer buys a ticket for a concert hat might also include admission to a fair, festival, or casino. There are reasons other than the concert to be there

Licensed Merchandise

-Innovations in what is considered "Artist Merchandise" or SWAG -More than T-shirts + posters; can include ANYTHING with the Artist's logo on it. -Now includes leading fashion brands + fragrances marketed in retail outlets apart from concert venues -Merchandise contracts give permission for vendor to LICENSE the right to use Artist's branding on merchandise that is created for sale -Royalties are paid to the Artist for LICENSE FEES -360 deals; record company participates in Merchandise sales -If an advance was paid, the artist doesn't get further pay until royalties exceed the up-front pay. Same concept as a recoupable expenses at label -Merchandise at concerts usually pay average of 25% of every dollar sold to the artist, with the venue taking 15-25% of sales in exchange for giving the artist permission to sell. The rest goes to overhead...sellers, trucking, inventory, etc.

Venue Contracts

-Venue operators take a hard line in negotiations due to lack of clout after the event. They have no recourse to recoup losses if there is a problem with the show. Venue issues a rental contract to the show promoter and cost is included in the expenses for the concert -Venue offer a limited spectrum of stage-related equipment and staff-supplied technical service -It is difficult to fulfill all equipment requests; "HOUSE" S & L vs Artist supplied -Portable onstage equipment can get damaged or disappear -Venue fees vary: fixed price rentals, percentage of box office, or a combination of both -Contracts demand that an artist cannot play near the hosting facility for a specified time period - called a Radius Clause. Causes major headaches when routing a tour -RADIUS CLAUSE: artist shall not appear within a certain mileage after a show for a specified period of time

Richard's and Southern

Biggest merchandise company in the country

Seven Types of Concert Venues

Stadiums: The largest facilities for concerts, these multipurpose venues offer seating of 30,000+ and typically are configured for sport events. Since such facilities are not designed for live concerts, they require extensive setup/teardown Amphitheaters: Outdoor venues typically seat between 5,000 and 30,000 and are used primarily in good weather.summer seasons. These are specifically designed for concerts with permanent stages Festival Sites: Outdoor locations used seasonally typically accommodate between 10,000 and 130,000 patrons for daylong or multiway concerts. For operators, these venues are attractive because of low overhead costs, resulting in some of the industry's highest profit margins Arenas: Smaller than stadiums, these indoor venues typically seat between 5,000 and 20,000. Arenas often have luxury private suites—premium -priced seating areas that amphitheaters lack. Because they are multipurpose facilities ,they typically require extensive modification to install stages Theaters: Venues designed for legitimate theater can be easily adapted for concerts and typically have seating for 1,000 to 6,000 Mid-Sized Music venues: Designed for concerts, these indoor facilities have ready-built stages and typically have capacity for between 1,000 and 6,500 persons. With this low-capacity seating, however, they don't offer potential for outsized profits, as do the larger venues, even in a sellout Small-Sized Music Venues/Clubs: