While the number of college graduates entering the concert promotion industry has risen in recent years, so has the number of experts expressing concern that presenting shows on a local level, for example Bob Weir & Ratdog in Boston, or Kirk Franklin and Red Hot Chili Peppers in Philadelphia and Phoenix, respectively, can result in several life-threatening maladies ranging from francophobia to lycanthropy. Furthermore, those same experts are now postulating whether or not presenting big-name talent in secondary market venues is worth both the physical and mental punishment the concert promotion business exerts on an individual.

For sure, the concert promotion profession has never been shown in a healthful light. Ever since Norman Rockwell’s famous 1941 painting showing a promoter, cigarette dangling from his lower lip as he barks into a telephone, a half-full pint of rye resting next to his Rolodex and the glint of cold-hard steel protruding from his shoulder holster, most people have come to accept the role of promoter in the same way one accepts other high-risk occupations, such as bomb testing, alligator wrestling and running for governor in California. In other words, albeit dangerous, a job worth doing.

“You bet it’s a risky business,” says Dr. Benjamin Pierce, who has devoted his medical career warning young people about the hazards of concert promoting. “You get these kids – rock climbers, shark herders and chain smokers – and they think they have what it takes to be a promoter. That is, until they have to nail down a show, say for the Eagles or Simon & Garfunkel. It’s definitely a rude awakening, and in most cases, it’s not long before they’re screaming for their mammas. Then there is all the statistical evidence indicating that concert promoting also acts like a `gateway’ to harder professions within the music business.”

Ah, yes, those “harder professions,” have long been the battle cry of medical experts warning parents about the hazards of concert promoting. “90 percent of all booking agents and managers started out as concert promoters,” says Dr. C.E. Winchester, author of The 10 Signs Indicating Your Child Is A Concert Promoter. “They often start out in college by presenting shows by Anthrax or The Shins. Then, before you know it, they’re hooked, causing them to move on up the chain to booking Michelle Branch or managing Cher. Of course, they say they can quit anytime, but we know how that goes.”

Is concert promoting a health hazard? Can the music industry come up with a “safe” promoter? Or has all the evidence put forth claiming that presenting shows ranging from Tinsley Ellis to Shania Twain is merely circumstantial, meaning that the men and women who enter the live-music profession are merely risk-takers naturally drawn to perilous undertakings?

“Of all the studies on promoter mortality rates, there’s one statistic, one common denominator that keeps showing up,” says Dr. Pierce. “In over 90 percent of all concert promoters facing life-threatening illnesses and / or injuries, 75 percent of said promoters are also cigarette smokers, with some smoking three to four packs daily.”

Which means?”

“It’s simple,” says Dr. Pierce. All that tar and nicotine definitely has an affect on the concert industry. In other words, if you smoke, don’t promote.”