Are They Finally Getting It?

This week Live Nation and Groupon announced a partnership to move tickets.  The deal is called GrouponLive.  This is a major breakthrough for the concert industry.  They are finally starting to get it.

How can I not like this partnership?  Anyone who reads this blog knows that I constantly preach about this stuff.  Instead of just papering the house, leaving the seat empty, or canceling a show, they are going to try and get some ticket revenue for the seat.  Don’t forget that Live Nation runs many of the venues.  Getting a customer in at a discount also means getting revenue for parking, concessions, and merch.

This matchup is closer to the marketing thinking that the live family show business has been doing for years.  The live concert industry always believed it was beneath them to offer discounts, group sales or promotions.  I still remember a certain manager of a very famous rock band giving me shit when I came up with a clever promotion to create exposure for his on-sale. His quote was “this ain’t a fuckin circus”.  He was referencing my Ringling Bros. marketing background.

As a music fan that grew up spending lots of summer nights at an outdoor amphitheater, this could help bring that summer ritual to a new audience.  When I was a teen, anyone could afford to see multiple shows at a summer shed and teens took advantage of this.  Today, kids have to save the whole summer just to see one.   Offering a GrouponLive coupon could fill those lawn seats once again.

This deal is probably a better deal for Live Nation then Groupon.  Yes, Groupon will move tickets with their 60 million subscribers, which will bring them new revenue.  For Live Nation, they get to market to 60 million subscribers and fill those empty seats. As Michael Rapino CEO of Live Nation said “finding ways to deliver the message to local email in-boxes is the way of the future.” 

I believe this is a shot in the arm that Live Nation needs save the 2011 summer season and maybe even the company.

Can The Fans Afford Us?

This past week I read how ticket revenues were up for the past year while tickets sold were down.  This is because promoters and acts raised ticket prices.  The article started out with the impression that the live entertainment industry was not really feeling the effects of the economy.  Of course it was feeling the effects.  Tickets sold were down.  All of us in the business want to make money from tickets and sell as many tickets as possible.  Just think what overall ticket revenue would have been if they had sold more tickets in 2008?

Reading about this made me think what concert tickets used to cost when I was the prime demographic.  My wife has been framing some of my tickets from over the years.  I collect tickets.  I have kept every ticket from every single thing that I have ever been to.  Anyway, I have front row tickets from Genesis from 1982.  The price on the ticket: $9.00.  I am sure the average price of a front row ticket today is around $180.00.  Not a bad increase after 27 years.  I read that the average ticket price from 2008 was around $66.00.

The two big concert promoters Live Nation and AEG both know this could be an “interesting” year for ticket sales.  Both agree if a fan really wants to see a show, they will find the money.  But with the number of seats that have to be sold, how many “true” fans are there? It was mentioned in the article that all the high priced seats still sell.  They believe people with money still will spend it.  If this is true, then why were the high end retailers getting killed over the holiday shopping period? I mentioned a few weeks ago how I went to a NHL game and the empty seats were in the “premium priced” seats.  All the lower priced seats were full.

The promoters said they are going to look at “re-scaling the house” for ticket prices in 2009.  They may offer more “lower” priced seats while trying to maintain overall revenues.  This still means “really high” premium priced seats.  Have they not read the trends for 2009?  “Big” spending is out even for the super rich.  Wal-Mart is the new Neiman Marcus.

All of us (promoters, acts, and venues) need to look at our costs and pricing for the new year.  We need to decide do we want be status quo or do we want to keep our fans coming to our events.  If we let our fans get used to the fact that they cannot afford to see us now, they may not want to see us when they can.

I hope everyone had a great New Year.  Let’s look forward to doing it right in 2009.

Have a great weekend!