Bumbershoot and AEG

I thought I posted this when it first came out, but looking through my blog, I couldn't find it. At any rate, here it is. AEG has been moving into the festival biz, most recently getting involved with the Monolith Festival at Red Rocks.

Bumbershoot hopes new partnership will bring big headliners: Local News: The Seattle Times, 2/20/07: "One Reel, the non-profit arts organization that produces Bumbershoot, has announced a five-year deal with national concert promoter AEG Live, hoping it will bring more headline acts to the annual arts festival at the Seattle Center.

Under the agreement, AEG will share the financial risk (and profit) of booking music headliners, help secure sponsors and become an underwriter of the three-day fall festival. It is unclear what effect, if any, the new relationship will have on ticket prices....

Bumbershoot will remain independent and is not merging with or being 'bought out' by AEG, nor will AEG be billed as a title sponsor — as in 'AEG presents,' Scoleri said.

'One Reel is still going to book Bumbershoot,' said Scoleri.

As the concert business has consolidated, it has become more difficult for annual festivals to compete for major rock acts. In the past, Bumbershoot has booked artists on the way up or established acts without a recent popular album. One Reel also enjoyed extra booking clout when it presented the Summer Nights concert series. But that series was sidetracked last year when a lawsuit prevented it from being held at Gas Works Park and there are no plans to hold the concerts in Seattle this summer.

With a promoter such as AEG sharing the financial risk — and the profit — major pop music acts may become more available....

Bumbershoot turned a profit last year of $200,000, even after shortening the festival from four days to three. It drew about about 40,000 people a day, according to estimates. In 2005, because of bad weather, the festival lost close to $300,000.

The lure of the live music experience

San Francisco Bay Guardian, 5/23/07 - Show me: "Pavlov's e-mail robot knows what gets me salivating — aside from those wolf beach towels on Amazon.com (wintry wolves and hot sand go together about as well as infants and live grenades): namely, live music. Drive blearily into the Mojave for Coachella, jump through hoops to get to Seattle for Bumbershoot, make the red-eye to Austin for South by Southwest, take the midnight train to Tennessee's Bonnaroo, hock yourself for England's All Tomorrow's Parties, hazard reindeer sashimi for Reykjavik's Iceland Airwaves — take note of the chart; I have a history of doing anything for a life-altering show."

Training teens to be music entrepreneurs

The lack of all-ages venues around the country, and the fact that live music is so closely tied to liquor sales, are mistakes. Here's a project that realizes running music events can provide learning experiences for teens.

Seattle Post- Intelligencer, 2/17/07 - Vera Project trains teens for music industry: "But in 2007 Seattle, at the Vera Project, 17 means being around people who let you run the show.

So you run it.

Adults respect you, trust you and collaborate with you to make the music center and organization a place where music belongs to everybody. It also is a training ground for the next generation of the music industry. Someday, you might run the world.

You'll do that from a new home as Vera moves to a 9,000-square-foot, revamped, two-floor Snoqualmie Room at the Seattle Center that will house classrooms, offices, a recording studio and a venue for live all-ages shows. ...

To new board member and attorney Jerry Everard, who co-owns Neumo's, Vera works because of the bonds it forges.

'The emotional and intellectual experience of connecting with others your age is vital to the music industry,' he said. 'I don't think we want kids to be spending all their time at their computers, downloading music. We want kids out in the community, connecting with the community.'

Vera kids, Hong said, are all over the city using the training Vera provided. They are releasing records on their own labels; working at Bumbershoot, Seattle DIY.com, KEXP, the Stranger, Neumo's and OneReel; organizing events such as the Bend-It Fest; starting non-profits such as the Bikery; and teaching and mentoring at teen centers.

'Anywhere you could possibly look, youth are taking the stage and running the show around town,' Hong said."

Seattle
all ages
third places
economic development