| There's literally not been a single time in our career when we've played at a Live Nation venue where we had any opportunity to not have Live Nation be the promoter or not have Ticketmaster be the ticketing company. |
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| New York musician Clyde Lawrence put air quotes around phrases like "facility fee" and "house nut" as he testified about Ticketmaster in Washington, Jan. 24, 2023. |
| (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images) |
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| quote of the day |
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| rantnrave:// |
Everyone Everywhere vs. Ticketmaster
So LIVE NATION and TICKETMASTER went to Capitol Hill Tuesday along with exactly one competitor each in the ticketing and promotion sectors, two consumer advocates and one indie musician who’s a little better known today than he used to be. Live Nation and Ticketmaster were merged, fittingly, into the body of a single executive, who seemed very, very alone for three very, very long hours that played out as a coordinated and remarkably cooperative, bipartisan attack on the live music giant. And it was... a really thoughtful, interesting hearing, on a day when Washington was just not having it with tech and entertainment behemoths. Live Nation and Ticketmaster might be a little more uneasy today than they used to be, the mood of their stockholders notwithstanding).
Here’s some helpful Twitter commentary on the hearing from the FUTURE OF MUSIC COALITION, and here’s the slightly snarkier version from monopoly expert MATT STOLLER (“No one knows who sets the fees, apparently, the fees that go to Live Nation/Ticketmaster. Such a mystery!”). The NEW YORK TIMES and NBC NEWS offered more extensive running commentary, and NBC also gave us 52 seconds of senators making TAYLOR SWIFT references.
But Taylor Swift wasn’t there and neither were BAD BUNNY, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN or any of the other A-list artists whose 2022 ticketing fiascos brought Ticketmaster, the US Senate and us here. In their place was CLYDE LAWRENCE, singer/songwriter/pianist for a resolutely independent New York soul-pop band that shares his last name, and he came with receipts. Such as the $250 that Live Nation venues have actually charged his band “for a stack of 10 clean towels.” After that and all other costs are figured in, he told the SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, Lawrence, the band, receives about $12 for each ticket that Ticketmaster sells for $42 (including its service fee, none of which the band sees). About half of that $12 is needed to cover the band’s costs, “so that leaves us with $6 for an eight-piece band, pre-tax, and we also have to pay our own health insurance.”
It was, officially, a hearing about competition in the ticketing industry, and bots and service fees and monopolistic practices. But Lawrence came with his own agenda, and he was poised and sympathetic as he calmly explained a number of issues that have been on a lot of artists’ minds in the past few years. They could hardly have had a better advocate. Did the senators know, he wondered, that Live Nation takes a 20% commission on all the merchandise the band sells at its venues? Did they know about the 10 percent of total revenues they take as a facility fee? Did they know that neither the artist nor the venue is responsible for the service fees on tickets that, in his experience, have run as high as 82 percent of the face value of the ticket? Actually, not even Live Nation president/CFO JOE BERCHTOLD seemed to know that, much to the bewilderment of several senators. They were openly skeptical of much of his testimony. When the hearing ended, Berchtold immediately walked over to Lawrence.
Senators repeatedly raised their voices in anger and frustration at Berchtold as they wondered why his company’s ticketing system couldn’t defend itself against bots (“Unbelievable,” Tennessee Republican MARSHA BLACKBURN told him; “you ought to be able to get some good advice from people and figure this out”), why it couldn’t limit its fees as well as the prices resellers charge for tickets on the secondary market (Louisiana Republican JOHN KENNEDY: “If you care about the consumer, cap the price!”), whether it is in fact a monopoly (everybody in the room but him: yes), why everyone else at the witness table seemed to know more about his company’s practices than he did, and whether Congress or the Department of Justice needs to step in and do something. The idea of splitting up Live Nation and Ticketmaster came up several times.
There was lots of talk about making concert tickets nontransferrable, i.e. non resellable, an idea that a lot of artists, as well as the two consumer advocates in the hearing, oppose. But simply capping the price of those resales could gain a lot more traction, and the senators, in asking a few of the witnesses about that, let one opportunity get away. SEATGEEK CEO JACK GROETZINGER, whose company is currently listing Taylor Swift tickets at New Jersey’s METLIFE STADIUM for as much as $14,000 for good seats—and well over $1,000 for some of the worst seats in the house—was sitting next to Berchtold. No one asked Groetzinger what *he* thought of capping resales. He was treated throughout the hearing as a sympathetic, underdog Ticketmaster competitor and never asked about his own company’s role in creating a need for such a hearing in the first place. But assuming Tuesday’s hearing was a beginning and not an end, perhaps there’s still time for that.
Etc Etc Etc
JUSTIN BIEBER, as expected, sells his publishing and the artist royalties from his master recordings to HIPGNOSIS for a reported price of over $200 million—“the largest rights sale for any artist of Bieber’s generation,” says Billboard, and Hipgnosis’ most expensive acquisition. The deal covers 290 songs Bieber wrote/recorded through the end of 2021. Considering it doesn’t include the masters themselves (UMG owns those) and his hits are all co-writes, sometimes with upwards of half a dozen collaborators, meaning Hipgnosis isn’t getting a full share in any of them, and that he’ll retain his rights to anything he writes/records from age 28 on, that’s an extraordinary amount of money for an artist of his, or any, generation... WILLIE NELSON, who’s got 61 years on Bieber, will celebrate his 90th birthday with two shows at the HOLLYWOOD BOWL in April with a dream lineup featuring basically every artist you’d think would play Willie’s 90th, up to and including SNOOP DOGG. (I’m currently accepting submissions for “But Why Not LUCK RANCH?” thinkpieces)... Speaking of people who are 90, JOHN WILLIAMS is the oldest person ever nominated for an OSCAR, with his score for THE FABELMANS. His competition includes SON LUX (EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE), JUSTIN HURWITZ (BABYLON) and no female or Black composers. RIHANNA, MITSKI, DAVID BYRNE, Son Lux’s RYAN LOTT, LADY GAGA, DIANE WARREN and the “NAATU NAATU” team of M.M. KEERAVANI & CHANDRABOSE are in the mix for Best Original Song... Speaking of Rihanna, CHRIS STAPLETON will sing the national anthem at the SUPER BOWL. The pre-game show will also feature SHERYL LEE RALPH and BABYFACE.
Rest in Peace
Jazz singer CAROL SLOANE, a rising star in the 1950s and ‘60s who, after giving up her career for the better part of a decade, enjoyed a resurgence beginning in the 1980s, when she was in her 50s... GARY OELZE, longtime owner of the Birchmere, a haven for bluegrass, country and other acoustic music in Alexandria, Va.
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| - Matty Karas, curator |
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| is it too late now to say sorry? |
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CBS News |
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| Senators grill Live Nation leader over Taylor Swift ticketing fiasco |
| By Clare Hymes and Irina Ivanova |
| Ticketmaster defended itself publicly for the first time since the concert promoter's meltdown late last year during ticket sales for Taylor Swift's "Eras" tour. Fellow witnesses — and senators on the committee — weren't buying it. |
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Tidal |
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| Skyzoo & the Secret Art of Ghostwriting |
| By William E. Ketchum III |
| An acclaimed MC in his own right, the New York lyricist has crafted rhymes for the biggest names in hip-hop. In this comprehensive interview, he breaks down the game. |
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Resident Advisor |
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| Sama' Abdulhadi: Beyond All Borders |
| By Anu Shukla |
| The Palestinian techno DJ sublimates the pain of her country's occupation into music to heal all divisions. Ultimately, her goal is to bring the world closer to Palestine - and Palestine closer to the world. |
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Songs My Ex Ruined |
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| Estella Adeyeri of Big Joanie on Mitski’s 'Happy' |
| By Courtney E. Smith, Melissa Locker and Estella Adeyeri |
| A very special episode in which a certain ex (or two) will not be given the satisfaction of being named, shamed, and allowed to be the main character. Also in which the gang talks about inequity for women in music, the historical lessons we have and haven’t learned about it, and the insidious way music history omits and discounts people of color. |
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| i know that i let you down |
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Leveling Up |
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| beatBread’s Moneyball Approach to Funding Musicians |
| By Jimmy Stone |
| beatBread doesn’t listen to any of the artists’ songs that it backs. Instead, the company takes an objective approach focusing on billions of data points – an artist’s historical streams, social channel engagement, and various others – to forecast cash flows and price the funds it advances artists. |
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Dada Drummer Almanach |
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| Real Bands in Real Rooms: A Tribute |
| By Damon Krukowski |
| You don’t have to wonder if word has gotten out enough to fill a room for Big Joanie on their first US tour, if you can announce faux Radiohead or faux Dave Matthews at the same venue instead. So why take the chance? |
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British GQ |
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| You don’t know Rita Ora |
| By Douglas Greenwood |
| Four years after her last album, the ubiquitous pop star is readying her musical return -- an album about finding love with director Taika Waititi - and shutting out relentless public criticism of her every move. A lot has changed. |
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| what we're into |
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| Music of the day |
| “False Alarms (with Jon Bellion)” |
| Lawrence |
| "Make sure you keep your masters so these a**holes don't get shopping sprees / Fame is overrated and Live Nation's a monopoly." From "Hotel TV" (2021). |
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| Music | Media |
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Suggest a link  |
| “REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask ‘why?’” |
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