Some of the talk coming out of the Music 2.0 conference is that major labels can't afford to do artist development (including tour support) unless they get a percentage of tour and merchandising income.
Major Label Executives Express Continued Frustration, Mood Sours — Digital Music News: "In a previous era, labels gladly financed marketing initiatives for artists – including tour support – without receiving direct returns from areas outside of the CD. That approach is now becoming a critical problem, though a clear plan has not emerged to broaden the business. 'We’re going to have to get good at all of these ancillary revenue streams and see what works,' said Ring, while Ken Bunt of Hollywood Records pointed to a far broader approach that included 'touring, merchandise, mobile, DVDs,' and a large host of other areas. 'We could monetize file-sharing tomorrow, but it would just be one small part of the puzzle,' Bunt said."
Live Nation is planning to create a music venue site to bring together its own venues and competitors to market to concert goers and offering ticketing. Live Nation, in essences, wants to develop a database of live music goers.
Live Nation Concocts MySpace of Concert Websites — Digital Music News: "Live Nation is now tinkering with a new concept online, one that will give consumers more comprehensive live concert information. The company is now inviting competing venues to not only list their events, but also build their own pages within the site. 'It's like MySpace for venues,' said Live Nation executive Scott Fedewa..."
Here are my thoughts on the matter:
1. Marketing to the current group of concert goers is not enough. If Live Nation and other venues want to make money, then need to find ways to expand the number of people who go to see live music.
2. Major labels and even indie bands don't really have significant experience tapping into live music. Major labels and independent labels have been in the recorded music business. Sure, signed artists and indie artists tour, but both have still focused on recorded music.
From my observation, there is only one group of bands that really understands the live music market -- that's jambands. Their business models have always been driven by live music, tape sharing among fans, and relatively little exposure through radio or music reviews. It's been largely driven through word-of-mouth. While the indie/hipster segment of the industry has generated press about the viability of avoiding the major label system, in reality, their business has been more like a junior version of the major label system than the true DIY model that has existed for several decades within the jamband community.
live music
Music 2.0
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