Live Music Doesn't Draw in Nashville

This 6/08/2006 article offers reasons why Nashville clubs don't attract more local fans.

Nashville Scene - Wish You Were Here: "Rick Whetsel of Great Big Shows, which owns Exit/In and also books acts at other area clubs, says his company doesn’t compete with other live venues for crowds; it competes with movies, television and living rooms across the city. Terry Cantrell, who ran Cantrell’s back in the ’80s and currently manages Springwater, says audiences in Nashville are so accustomed to live music that they’ve gotten spoiled and now expect it without paying for it. Bruce Fitzpatrick, who has booked rock and punk bands in Nashville for over 20 years, says people are just apathetic, that the spirit of musical discovery isn’t what it used to be."

Portland's Thriving Music Scene

A July 27, 2006 article in The Oregonian on why Portland has a great music scene.

Reasons include:

* More than two dozen independent music stores, with loyal fans who use them as gathering spots.

* Lots of musicians. And a wealth of local clubs for them to play.

* A culture that supports entrepreneurs.

* Inexpensive housing.

* Several Portland-based international music distribution businesses, like CD Baby, that support independent artists.

Our own tune: "Singing, recording, selling, promoting . . . Portland's DIY ethic is creating an indie music capital"

Resource on creating vibrant cities

This website/blog is full of ideas on how to create towns with thriving arts and cultural scenes.

CoolTown Studios: "The goal is to develop creative, sustainable, profitable urban buildings and destinations that serve as both a model and anchor for future surrounding development designed to attract creative, entrepreneurial markets that significantly impact the local economy and quality of life."

When an event takes over your town

Once a year the town of Sturgis, South Dakota, goes from 6,500 to over 500,000. That's when the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally takes over the town. As the article below indicates, it's become the main economic driver of the community.

The event has also become a massive music festival, Rock'N The Rally. This year's performers at the Festival and at the Buffalo Chip include:

Sammy Hagar, Big and Rich With Cowboy Troy, Keith Urban, Shooter Jennings, Steve Miller Band, Cheap Trick, Nickelback, Black Crowes, Gin Blossoms, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Joe Cocker, Georgia Satellites, REO Speedwagon, 38 Special, John Kay, Steppenwolf. Joe Walsh and the rest of the original James Gang, Edgar Winter, Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, Foreigner, Montgomery Gentry, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gretchen Wilson, Kid Rock, Blue Oyster Cult, Ted Nugent, Alice in Chains, and David Lee Roth.

Kansas City Star, 8/6/06: Legions of bikers thunder into Sturgis

"This is the 66th year of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally...

"The bikers’ annual pilgrimage offers such a powerful financial charge that catering to the full-throttle crowd for a few weeks each year hollows out the town through all other seasons. Tiny storefronts in the not particularly scenic town can fetch nearly $1 million — and stand empty more than 11 months a year....

"The mayor, chiropractor and rally booster, Mark Zeigler, said the rally defines Sturgis. Mostly it’s a tremendous boon, but he concedes the drawbacks and the imperfect development that the rally leaves on Sturgis.

“'We tolerate a lot of inconvenience here,' he said. 'We look forward to the rally, but we’re glad when it’s over.'

"... the modern rally only became supersized in the past 20 years — growing from barely 30,000 bikers in the late 1980s to more than 500,000 scattered across the Black Hills this week.

"... In 1979, nine vendors set up booths for the rally. This year more than 900 are on hand. They’ll pay over $300,000 in fees to the city."

Austin as a creative economy

Here are three resources from the March 14, 2003 Austin Chronicle News.

The Entertainment Economy: As the scene becomes a 'cluster,' Austin looks for industrial-strength creativity

Austin Music: A $616 Million Industry

Jobs in Austin's Entertainment Industry

Here's an economic study which will provide more numbers:

Music in the Austin Economy: "Presented to the City of Austin 9/25/01"

Pick your demographic

Here's an article about the "Radio Disney Totally Ten Birthday Concert" at the Arrowhead Pond arena in Anaheim.

What is to be learned from this? Pick a demographic you want to attract to your location and then build events to fit. Too much of local music promotion is random. If you try to be everything to everyone, you tend to dilute both the experience and the message. Set goals first, and then work backward.

Washington Post, 8/6/2006, In the Concert Hall, It Smells Like Tween Spirit: "Meet smart, savvy Disney, the hydra-headed entertainment colossus. This is how it works: Young actor-singer-dancer stars are promoted via the company's television channels, podcasts, Web sites, movies, theme parks, DVDs, record labels, radio stations, products and concerts....

"It is the textbook definition of synergistic vertical media-marketing integration. And there's more! 'The four-legged consumer' [this is the mother/child combo that you reach when marketing to kids]. The advertisements on Radio Disney plug games and DVDs and CDs -- but also minivans, pharmaceuticals and lending services. Why? Because 10-year-olds don't drive.

"Mom drives, and she's (trapped) listening. Or as Jennifer Kobashi, Radio Disney director of brand marketing, put it in an article in CMO magazine ('the resource for the marketing executive'): 'We know that for every three kids listening to us, we've got about one mom. We let advertisers know our station is for moms and kids in a car as they're driving. We're the last medium and the last message they hear before they step out to make that purchase.'"

Using events to deliver traffic in the off-season

This article isn't about music events, per se, but it does talk about an organization responsible for creating or attracting events to fill calendar gaps. It's a strategy worth considering for other locations: When do you most need to attract visitors and can you create an event which accomplishes this?

Q and A Pat Christenson, president of Las Vegas Events, 8/4/2006:

Q "Your organization works directly with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to bring special events to Southern Nevada and to sponsor some of those events. What is the criteria for sponsorship?"

A "I think the most important thing is the time of year. We also focus on a more adult-oriented audience. Sometimes what we'll do during the summer — for instance with our basketball events — when occupancy is a little lower, we will shift a little bit. We currently have 1,100 basketball teams in town, close to 20,000 visitors with all their followers. But for the most part, the National Finals Rodeo, the World Cup Finals, we produce the fireworks on New Year's Eve, so we're looking at a time of year, especially in December — we're involved with the Las Vegas Marathon now — where we can bring an event that is going to drive incremental guests. That's the major criteria, pick a time of the year that we need it (visitors), that it's an adult-oriented audience, but we also look at co-branding, like the NBA All-Star Game and the USA Basketball game. Those have such great co-branding promotional value for the market."

Country Music in NYC

In November, the Country Music Association brought its awards ceremony to NYC for move visibility and to promote Nashville. (See my blog entry on July 23, 2006.)

Here is an article talking about the homegrown country music scene in NYC and the challenges of maintaining it without a local country music radio station.

village voice > music > by Kurt Gottschalk 11/08/2005: "When the country music industry touches down in New York this week for the 39th Annual Country Music Association Awards, Nashville execs might well be smirking as they arrive in a town never known as a haven for the genre. They'll find carefully orchestrated events designed to make New York Dixie-friendly, but what they're not likely to see is the vibrant, if small, local scenes....

"But anyone who looks between the cracks of this temporary official hoopla will find small but thriving pockets of homegrown country. The last two weeks in July saw the Second Annual Brooklyn Country Music Festival, a homegrown affair at Park Slope and Prospect Heights saloons. September 16 and 17 marked the Eighth Annual Park Slope Bluegrass Jamboree. On top of that, Yankee hayseeds can check Sean Kershaw and the New Jack Ramblers every Sunday at Hank's Saloon (along with Freddy's Backroom, the country HQ in the Borough of Churches), open bluegrass jams every Monday at the Parkside Lounge and Wednesday at the Baggot Inn, the 'CasHank' Johnny Cash/Hank Williams open mic at Buttermilk in Park Slope, as well as frequent gigs at Lillie's in Red Hook, Lakeside Lounge and Old Devil Moon in the East Village, and Rodeo Bar in Murray Hill. (In other words, don't look in Williamsburg.)"

What makes a good festival?

This author shares his thoughts on why the Montreal Jazz Festival is so good, and what the SF Jazz Festival might do to improve.

ContraCostaTimes.com | 07/30/2006 | How cities can jazz up music festivals: "What makes Montreal such an adrenaline-inducing experience is the way that the festival grabs hold of the city's imagination, becoming the dominant cultural story for a huge metropolitan region of more than 3 million people. With more than 150 performances by a staggering range of musicians, many only tangentially related to jazz, the most exciting part of the festival is discovering musicians you've never heard before. For music fans, it can be an almost overwhelming experience.

"With a typically Canadian embrace of sensible urban planning, Montreal has developed the ideal infrastructure for throwing a huge, multi-venue event. The festival takes over the heart of the city's cultural district, turning several major streets into car-free zones while transforming the plaza in front of the Contemporary Art Museum into a vast outdoor party, with refreshments, food stalls and multiple bandstands offering free concerts.

"The festival's eight indoor venues, which offer ticketed concerts, are either on the plaza or within a few blocks."

Mixing Boomers and Gen Y

Here's another example of venues that are finding ways to appeal to both younger and older fans.

Baltimore's Young Music Fans Move from Hip Hop to Jazz | BaltimoreChronicle.com, 7/12/06: "Small Baltimore jazz clubs are experiencing a resurgence in attendance among an under-30 demographic and have welcomed such diversity....

"Many of Baltimore’s young music lovers prefer to visit jazz establishments over other nightlife venue options. The relaxed atmosphere has most frequently been cited as the main reason many prefer jazz clubs to the rowdier scene of hip hop clubs or sports pubs. The level of talent displayed by jazz artists is another reason why Baltimore’s young people are flocking to local jazz clubs."