VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, [3], 4 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 15:09:08 07/09/06 Sun
Author: Janelle
Subject: Will Live Nation deal give concertgoers the blues?


By Greg Kot
Chicago Tribune music critic
Published July 9, 2006


As the world's top two concert promoters announce their intention to join forces, concertgoers stand to lose.

The $350 million acquisition announced Wednesday will bring HOB Entertainment, the operator of the House of Blues clubs, under the umbrella of Live Nation, the Clear Channel Entertainment spinoff that is North America's biggest concert promoter. The deal brings the concert business even closer to a monopoly, and the effect on ticket prices and artistic diversity could be crippling.

Live Nation already has a lock on the nation's biggest concert venues; it owns 150 sites across America, including most of the arenas and amphitheaters that host the most lucrative shows in the $3.1 billion a year industry. Its parent company, Clear Channel, is also the largest owner of commercial radio stations in America. For years, the conglomerate has effectively controlled the forums most valued by working musicians for exposure: radio airplay and live performances.

If there is a chink in Live Nation's chain of domination, it's at the club level. That's why it has been seeking to buy out House of Blues for several years.

Live Nation sold more than 29 million concert tickets worldwide last year, according to Pollstar, more than four times as many as its closest competitor, House of Blues Concerts, at 6.9 million. But Live Nation doesn't have much of a presence nationally at the club level; it is in these smaller 1,000- to 1,500-capacity venues that promoters have traditionally sought to develop the artists who will become arena-filling acts in future years.

House of Blues' 10 clubs nationwide are prime players in this smaller market; of the 14 biggest-selling clubs in America last year, seven belonged to House of Blues, with its venues in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., (229,000 ticket sales) and Chicago (213,000) trailing only the privately owned 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. (269,000) for best-in-nation status.


(Continued in Reply)

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> article continued ---->> -- Janelle, 15:17:37 07/09/06 Sun [1]

With its biggest competitor out of the way, Live Nation will have even greater control to set ticket prices in local markets. This does not bode well for concertgoers, who have seen the average cost of a top-tier show more than double in the last decade, to $57 last year from $26 in 1995. That trend accelerated in 2000 when Clear Channel acquired concert behemoth SFX Entertainment Inc., and has shown no signs of slowing down. The price increases have kept revenues flowing, but the total number of paid seats declined last year, to 67 million from 72 million in 2004, an indication that consumers were getting fed up with the rising costs even as Live Nation continues to make big money on the biggest shows.

The trend encourages Live Nation to continue focusing on mainstream rock and pop acts for the bulk of its revenue. Last year, Live Nation-sponsored tours by the Rolling Stones ($162 million in revenue) and U2 ($138.9 million) were the most lucrative in concert history. But the conglomerate virtually ignored hip-hop, R&B, metal and world music.

In contrast, House of Blues has carved out an important niche by booking acts that Live Nation normally wouldn't touch. The House of Blues in West Hollywood has become an epicenter for establishing Latin American-based rock acts in North America, and the House of Blues at 329 N. Dearborn St. has become the primary home in Chicago for seeing national touring acts in hip-hop, heavy metal and rock en espanol. Under the guidance of talent buyer Michael Yerke, the North Side club has become a vital player in a market that includes not only Clear Channel but the still-potent Jam Productions, which last year sold more than 1.3 million concert tickets, according to Pollstar.

It remains to be seen if Yerke and other House of Blues executives will be allowed to keep their jobs and, if they do, if they will be allowed to continue to book acts that don't fit the mainstream Live Nation profile. If they don't, concertgoers stand to be paying more to see less.


[ Edit | View ]

[> I greatly enjoyed the lesser known performers I've seen grace the stage at HOB from time to time. Looks like that won't be any longer. Side note: Anyone else having issues accessing this board today? It's sooo slowww for me. -- Janelle, 15:22:48 07/09/06 Sun [1]


[ Edit | View ]
[> [> That's not good news, Janelle. HOB here is often where we go to see non-mainstream acts, and the acoustics are actually good. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. The board was very slooow earlier today, but it seems better now. -- Lynn, 17:39:27 07/09/06 Sun [1]


[ Edit | View ]

[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.