Do free concerts hurt clubs or build audiences?

This article suggests that while the free jazz concerts in Chicago increase the popularity of jazz, they hurt small club discouraging fans from going to them and by driving up prices for artists.

Chicago Tribune news, 7/01/07: Scatting from clubs to larger concert venues: "Perhaps no one did more to affect that change than Lois Weisberg, commissioner of the city's Department of Cultural Affairs under Mayor Richard M. Daley and a cultural advocate in previous administrations. By steadily expanding free concerts in Grant Park and helping to transform the old Chicago Public Library building into the bursting-with-music Chicago Cultural Center, Weisberg put the city's muscle and money behind music.

'There's no other city in the country that does so much free music,' says Weisberg, noting that the city now spends about $2 million a year on various music events, much of it jazz.

Furthermore, by joining forces with organizations such as the Chicago Jazz Partnership -- a collection of blue-chip corporate foundations that committed $1.5 million to Millennium Park's 'Made in Chicago' jazz series and other jazz events -- the city has leveraged additional resources to jazz concert-going."

Why have a festival

For all of those musicians who have wondered if SXSW, MOBfest, and similar festivals are good career moves, here's an opinion.

Chicagoist: MOBfest ... BLAHfest.: "Their mission statement, according to the MOBfest website, is: 'We are a three-day music business seminar focused on building a buzz, aiding in awareness, and peaking the interest of the music business community ... Networking, schmoozing and simply attending the panels can be a great way to make new contacts, secure current connections and start new relationships.'

... none of the above really happens. Instead we get the usual suspects within the local scene congratulating each other, attending shows at only the largest venues, and largely ignoring the majority of the schedule. And why wouldn't they? Even we, who are neck deep in the local scene, are hard pressed to recognize more than a smattering of bands on their schedule....

In the end we are withdrawing our support for MOBfest because we honestly can't see how the whole thing is helping anyone out, except for possibly the bands being managed by the folks at the top of the MOBfest food chain, and even most of them can't seem to get signed to any sort of sustainable career .... It's not as egregious as, say, Emergenza, when it comes to taking advantage of the naivety of hopeful bands, but they have no problem spreading the belief that by associating yourself with MOBfest you still have a chance a label will walk into their show and sign them on the spot."

The long-term value in all-ages shows

Chicago Reader: Sharp Darts -- Doing It for the Kids: There are lots of reasons for a venue like Subterranean to host all-ages shows, and money isn't all of them.: "Clubs that will hold all-ages shows are hard to come by. To sell alcohol at shows with underagers in attendance, a venue needs a 'Consumption on Premises -- Incidental Activity' license, which requires it to provide some attraction other than alcohol. (In Subterranean's case this means the kitchen must be open.) And even for clubs that can secure the right license, all-ages shows may not be a viable proposition. Subterranean has had its license since it began operating as a live-music venue in 1995. But you need extra security to keep kids from sneaking drinks, and then every kid not drinking equals lost revenue at the bar. When your club holds fewer than 400 people and regularly hosts shows that won't draw anywhere near capacity, alcohol sales can save your bottom line.

"Larger rooms don't have to sweat this so much, since door money and a cut of the bands' merch sales make up a bigger share of their total. According to House of Blues talent buyer Michael Yerke, his venue -- which holds more than 1,000 people -- hosts all-ages shows to get in on the ground floor with bands on their way up, many of which have younger crowds. The potential for future sold-out shows with those bands at bigger HOB venues like the Congress Theater is worth the sacrifice. 'We don't offset it,' Yerke says. 'We're trying to build relationships and careers with our artists. Of course there are less liquor sales at a Dashboard Confessional show. Is it tougher at the Beat Kitchen's level, whether to sacrifice a Friday night for an all-ages show? Probably.'

"[Derron Swan, who runs House Call Entertainment] also describes all-ages shows as an investment, but he's more interested in building relationships with the kids who might have their first experiences with live music at one of his venues. Ask any legal Chicago punk about the Fireside today and you'll get your proof that Swan's on to something -- the stories people tell about it add up to something like a mythology. And contrary to Yerke's assumption, the Beat Kitchen doesn't usually sacrifice its nights for all-ages shows -- whenever possible, the club doubles up. 'If it's going to be a show where there's nothing but kids,' Swan explains, 'we will likely book that all-ages show early so we can do a late show to compensate.'

"But working twice as long to bring in the same amount of cash doesn't make much financial sense either. Swan's decision to add all-ages shows at Subterranean seems to arise at least in part from old-fashioned idealism. ... he believes [some all ages shows] not only makes new concertgoers but sometimes inspires them to start their own bands. Down the road they might end up playing their own shows at one of Swan's clubs. 'Hopefully you get that into them,' he says, 'and they pick up a guitar, or want to play a violin, or just sing.'"

live music
clubs
all ages
Chicago

Chicago overflowing with arenas

There really isn't too much to be gleaned from this article other than the fact that the various venue operators/promoters see opportunities to slice up the market by location, size of venue, and type of seating (indoor versus outdoor). I suppose if Chicago can drum up enough fan interest to support all of these venues, that's a good sign for other cities and for the music business in general.

Daily Herald, 9/5/06 -The Chicago rockopoly: Suburbs roll the dice with new music arenas : "During the past seven years, despite increasingly tepid national concert sales, six new arenas have opened or have been slated for construction within a 30-mile radius of Chicago. Each venue - including the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Toyota Park in Bridgeview and a possible Poplar Creek replacement - seats more than 7,000 and each expects to host six to eight large-name music acts next year.

"This trend looks only to expand an already vibrant urban and suburban music market that's populated by nine arena-sized venues, among them the 21,000-seat United Center in Chicago and the 30,000-seat First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park.

"That means more than 250,000 seats for concertgoers when all venues build out, enough for everyone in Elgin and Naperville to rock out at once."

How to Improve Lollapalooza

Here's a list of ways to improve this (and I am sure other) festivals:

Chicago Sun Times, 8/13/06 - How to improve Lollapalooza: "In the days following last weekend's second fest, I interviewed 13 local concert promoters, club bookers, band managers and music industry professionals, all of whom attended the fest. ... The following represents their comments and my own."

The suggestions:

1. Fix the sound problems
2. Make it easier to catch back-to-back sets on far-flung stages
3. Consider fewer stages
4. Place some limits on the corporate sponsors
5. Lollapalooza needs to become part of the Chicago community

Marketing festivals in the interactive age

An article about how Lollapalooza uses online reviews and sponsorships to enhance its image and make money.

Hartford Courant, 8/13/2006: "Giving media passes to bloggers also meant a better chance of positive, fanzine-style reviews of bands playing the festival, instead of risking more critical coverage.

"Lollapalooza was 'a good idea 16 years ago, grown bland, boring and distressingly mainstream, but with lingering pretensions to greatness it no longer has much right to claim,' critic Jim DeRogatis wrote in last week's Chicago Sun-Times, where he also lamented the overwhelmingly white audiences attending sets by Chicago rappers Common and Kanye West, who are both black, and the absence of the city's R&B and hip-hop radio stations as sponsors.

"By contrast, a blog called Stereogum wrote, 'this ain't your grunge-era 'palooza. But the new (and improved?) Lolla is a relatively well-run, music-first festival. And if there wasn't something for everyone (Bonnaroo was much more diverse), there was more than enough for Stereogum.'...

"Interactivity is also a boon for advertisers. It wasn't out of the kindness of its heart that AT&T offered webcasts of Lollapalooza or offered the air-conditioned tent there. They actually paid for the privilege. The Sun-Times reported that AT&T and other companies, including beer and apparel businesses, paid as much as $100,000 for the chance to spend three days marketing to 50,000 people wandering around a finite space plastered with corporate logos. As a bonus, many of those people are part of the coveted 18-to-34 age demographic."

Running big festivals in Austin and Chicago

This is a really good article on the team that created the Austin City Limits Festival in Austin and what has and has not worked for them in creating a big festival in Chicago (including the difficulties coming in as outsiders, and underestimating "the amount of time, money and bureaucratic wrangling it would take to secure city approval.")

7/30/2006 Chicago Sun Times: Charlies in charge at Lollapalooza "Although many Chicagoans think of Austin as a Mecca for live music, thanks to the annual South by Southwest Music Conference, for much of the rest of the year, the city is a backwater that attracts a mere fraction of the touring acts that play Chicago. ...

"In 2002, hoping to create an event similar to New Orleans' Jazz and Heritage Festival, [Capital Sports & Entertainment co-owner Charlie] Jones approached the long-running PBS concert showcase 'Austin City Limits' to lend its name to a massive concert in Austin's Zilker Park. He tapped [Charles] Attal to book the talent, which was a tall order, since the first ACL Fest was thrown together in two months. ...

"From the beginning of the ACL Fest, they weren't unduly concerned with booking the kind of rootsy artists regularly seen on 'Austin City Limits'; they just thought it would help to add the TV show's name to their festival, and they simply booked as many popular big-name acts as they could. They now are bringing that same approach to the TV show itself.

"In 2003, the show's home base of KLRU-TV struck a five-year deal with Capital Sports to co-produce and fund the broadcast. ...

"Capital Sports has floated nebulous plans to further expand into broadcast with a reality TV show, as well as issuing CDs and making movies. (Stapleton is producing an Armstrong biopic.) It is involved in artist management -- clients include Ben Kweller, Jack Ingram and Blues Traveler -- and it's building the sports agency beyond Armstrong: It now represents 10 NFL stars, including Delanie Walker, Brian Carter and Willie Andrews."