As industry conference and festival South by Southwest enters its home stretch, independent label heads such as Matador's Gerard Cosloy and Domino's Kris Gillespie raised concerns about the recent merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, and they also spoke on the ever-controversial, all-encompassing 360-label deals.
“Allowing the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation was pretty immoral," Gillespie said at the start of a state-of-the-union panel, becoming a voice of opposition from the independent community. The recent formation of Live Nation Entertainment will put promotion, venues, management and ticket sales under one roof, creating a mega one-stop-shop for the record industry. Though much of Live Nation Entertainment's business is at the arena and amphitheater level, Gillespie and Cosloy laid out how the partnership can affect and alter the underground community.
“They don't want to be a partner with the labels in selling tickets," Gillespie said. While he noted that Domino has zero interest in entering the ticket business, the live concert industry is one of the few areas of growth in the indie community. “We're selling more concert tickets for our artists than CDs," Gillespie said. “It really is a problem."
Concert tickets for artists on Matador and Domino cost far less than the multi-hundred dollar seats for the Eagles, but they're still greater than the cost of a digital album download. Additionally, Cosloy noted that recent albums from Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo failed “to sell as many copies as we would have liked," but ticket sales were strong. Tickets, he added, weren't exactly cheap, and then were saddled with service charges that ranged between $10 and $20.
It caused the band and label to change its approach, opting to hit venues that aren't locked-in with Ticketmaster deals to avoid surcharges. Said Cosloy, “This spring, they only played shows if there was no ticket charge.... It completely changed the complexion as to what kind of venues they were going to play. It worked out all right, but they had to make a great sacrifice to make it affordable."
Gillespie chimed in, saying the label would rather see fans paying for a $6.99 download than a $10 service charge. Ticketmaster has long been vague on how precisely its service fees are distributed, although congressional hearings in 2009 revealed that a percentage of each fee goes to the venue, promoter or artist.
“We see it as an opportunity," Gillespie said of fan's continued willingness to spring for concert tickets, and noted that labels are expected to front costs for tour promotion and marketing, and then receive zero cut of the tour.
“There's a burden that's on us to be doing ticket buys, manufacture display materials and send stuff out. We don't make any more on those shows," he said. “It's a hidden economy that we don't make any money on."
Said Cosloy: “And you're being very diplomatic."
“Allowing the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation was pretty immoral," Gillespie said at the start of a state-of-the-union panel, becoming a voice of opposition from the independent community. The recent formation of Live Nation Entertainment will put promotion, venues, management and ticket sales under one roof, creating a mega one-stop-shop for the record industry. Though much of Live Nation Entertainment's business is at the arena and amphitheater level, Gillespie and Cosloy laid out how the partnership can affect and alter the underground community.
“They don't want to be a partner with the labels in selling tickets," Gillespie said. While he noted that Domino has zero interest in entering the ticket business, the live concert industry is one of the few areas of growth in the indie community. “We're selling more concert tickets for our artists than CDs," Gillespie said. “It really is a problem."
Concert tickets for artists on Matador and Domino cost far less than the multi-hundred dollar seats for the Eagles, but they're still greater than the cost of a digital album download. Additionally, Cosloy noted that recent albums from Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo failed “to sell as many copies as we would have liked," but ticket sales were strong. Tickets, he added, weren't exactly cheap, and then were saddled with service charges that ranged between $10 and $20.
It caused the band and label to change its approach, opting to hit venues that aren't locked-in with Ticketmaster deals to avoid surcharges. Said Cosloy, “This spring, they only played shows if there was no ticket charge.... It completely changed the complexion as to what kind of venues they were going to play. It worked out all right, but they had to make a great sacrifice to make it affordable."
Gillespie chimed in, saying the label would rather see fans paying for a $6.99 download than a $10 service charge. Ticketmaster has long been vague on how precisely its service fees are distributed, although congressional hearings in 2009 revealed that a percentage of each fee goes to the venue, promoter or artist.
“We see it as an opportunity," Gillespie said of fan's continued willingness to spring for concert tickets, and noted that labels are expected to front costs for tour promotion and marketing, and then receive zero cut of the tour.
“There's a burden that's on us to be doing ticket buys, manufacture display materials and send stuff out. We don't make any more on those shows," he said. “It's a hidden economy that we don't make any money on."
Said Cosloy: “And you're being very diplomatic."
