Now today, Billboard has published an announcement that this Wednesday June 10th the deal will extend to the seated area tickets. As I read the official announcement, I laughed as this press release was trying to appear as if the promotion is a success, but in my humble opinion, it's a disaster and they just can't seem to find a way to come out and say it without having their stock price bottom out.
So let's take a look at the official announcement. Beneath each paragraph, I will translate what Live Nation really means.
ARTICLE START
On the heels of its first successful "No service fee Wednesday," concert promoter Live Nation Inc. says it will expand the summer ticket program from the lawn to reserved seats this week, while acknowledging that some fees never went away.
Screen Door Translation:
The promotion did not go over as well as we had hoped. We lied to the public about the assorted fees and we were hoping no one would notice; we were wrong.
The first 24-hour discount Wednesday drove lawn ticket sales up six-fold to a single-day record, although the company wouldn't say how many tickets it sold.
Screen Door Commentary:
Could you imagine being in sales and telling your boss you had the best single day of sales ever but that you wouldn't be telling him how much? If they had sold 6-million tickets last Wednesday, you can bet your sweet ass they would have been bragging harder than a 15-year old boy who got his first hand job. In this day and age, press releases are all about numbers. Can you imagine the Box Office Report not mentioning how much each movie made or withholding sales numbers from the Billboard chart?
Live Nation said this Wednesday it will drop service fees on all tickets to its U.S. amphitheaters this summer, including for regular seats, and lift the cap on the number available. It will continue to charge $6 on every ticket for parking at some venues, while other venues still incur a $3 to $4 facility fee.
Screen Door Translation:
Not even the best seats at these sheds are selling! Holy crap, we need to have another promotion to hopefully sucker people into buying all the bad seats because Ticketmaster took all the best seats and put them on Ticketsnow.com Also, we learned nothing from the bad press we got last week about lying about the fees and at least this time, we're being honest. It's akin to a husband not understanding why his wife is mad at him after he told her he cheated on her with her sister. He sits there, shrugs his shoulders and says "at least I was honest this time"
Since many tickets have already been sold, there are about 1 million tickets for reserved seats still available, along with about 4 million lawn tickets for concerts featuring Coldplay, Toby Keith, Crosby Stills & Nash and others.
Screen Door Translation:
We have over 5 million unsold seats to some of the biggest acts on the planet. We'll continue to have these special Wednesday sales until that number lowers.
Lawn tickets cost about $20 to $25, and the discount trims about $10 from the cost. The average reserved seat ticket costs $62.04 with an average $14.40 service charge that would be waived.
Screen Door Commentary:
What they are forgetting to mention here is that the lawn tickets still have a $6 per ticket fee for parking and a $3 to $4 venue fee. This means the actual cost of lawn tickets will be $30 to $36 and the average reserved seat will cost you $72.04 with the parking and venue fees. Two service charges we installed in the 1990's when we became super greedy.
Also, that "average" $14.40 service charge is merely our way of making your ass bleed.
"It was a pretty resounding message from the fans: 'Make it cheaper for us to see a concert and we'll come,'" said Live Nation's chief executive of global music, Jason Garner. "So we're responding to it this week by taking it to the next step."The move to drop service fees was made possible after Live Nation launched its own ticketing platform in January. Typically, service fees help pay the ticket-selling company — which is usually Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. The two companies plan to merge this year following an antitrust review.Live Nation was able to cut the surcharge in the hopes that it would make that money up by getting more people to come to the venues it owns and having them pay for such things as parking, hot dogs and beer.
"It was a pretty resounding message from the fans: 'Make it cheaper for us to see a concert and we'll come,'" said Live Nation's chief executive of global music, Jason Garner. "So we're responding to it this week by taking it to the next step."The move to drop service fees was made possible after Live Nation launched its own ticketing platform in January. Typically, service fees help pay the ticket-selling company — which is usually Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. The two companies plan to merge this year following an antitrust review.Live Nation was able to cut the surcharge in the hopes that it would make that money up by getting more people to come to the venues it owns and having them pay for such things as parking, hot dogs and beer.
Screen Door Commentary:
I don't know about your but Jason Garner is a nuclear physicist! Holy common sense Batman...what he said actually makes sense.
Anyone with a brain would do the math and realize that people will spend more money if the ticket is cheaper. They will buy beer in the venue instead of chugging it in the parking lot. They will buy food instead of stopping at a fast food joint on the way there. They will buy merchandise and will even think about buying an artists album legally when they don't feel like they're being ass-raped.
This is exactly what is wrong with the music industry. We live in a day and age, where the consumer feels so bitter against promoters, Ticketmaster and record companies that they feel it is their right to download music illegally, which is wrong, but after a decade of giving consumers the finger, the consumer no longer cares. Only now when millions upon millions of tickets are unsold are Live Nation making changes.
It is still not enough. There should be ONE CHARGE. Ten percent of the ticket price, nothing more. No hidden fees, no parking charges (these are mostly open fields) and no venue fees. Until Live Nation and Ticketmaster (and the artists and managers) begin to understand this, expect dwindling attendance year after year. I just hope that by the time they come to their senses, it isn't too late and there is still a concert industry to support.
Read all of my Live Nation/Biz articles at this link.
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.
