CIC Day Three

If the reader will excuse the casual tone, rather than hard-hitting, faceless journalism, this is the time of day at the CIC where the Pollstar staff packs up its stuff and heads over to the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live for the 19th Annual Pollstar Music Awards.  Panels are still going on, but to get this report up, we’ve got to write quick and get to the server before it’s put in bubble wrap.

The awards winners will be posted on this Web site as a featured article and at Pollstar.com at 11 p.m. Click on the CIC link on the sidebar on the homepage for a nominees list.

The third day of CIC begins with mentoring sessions, similar to roundtables but under less strict adherence to a specific topic.  Delegates had the opportunity to have an intimate chat with Fred Rosen, who built the startup Ticketmaster into a billion-dollar company.  Meanwhile, Shelly Lazar, who has done everything from working with Bill Graham to getting an onstage birthday wish from Paul McCartney, chatted with newcomers about the world of ticketing.  Rob Light, Marc Geiger and Bill Silva kept their tables animated, following topics from artist development to good parenting.  Lionel Bea talked with the younger delegates about promotion and Emma Banks covered agenting.

Across the hall was “Who Owns The Ticket – The Continuing Debate,” which was well attended but surprisingly civil.  Considering the emphasis lately on ticketing, and the role of the secondary market, the panelists and audience were more cerebral than spirited.  Last year, an equivalent panel was almost uncomfortable with people’s honest opinions.

An audience member asked, “When did scalping stop being a crime and become a legitimate business?” The audience applauded but Viagogo’s Eric Baker was prepared.  Resale has always been legal, and only about six states (actually, five) have laws regulating it.  It’s just illegal to sell tickets within a specified distance from the venue.  Vector Management’s Ross Schilling was clearly unhappy about ticket resale and said he’s had artists want to dump tickets onto the secondary market to bring down the price of the tickets already there.

But agent Wayne Forte made the most interesting comment, almost as an aside.  The concert industry is making more money, but the ticket count is dropping.  His assertion: we’re losing our audience.  The real concern might not be the 10 percent going on resale, the real concern might be right there in the primary market.  Money is great but the chickens could be coming home to roost.

One of the funniest comments so far came at the touring professionals meeting.  The question was if Jumbotrons, and their price, were worthwhile.  When is the cost too burdensome?  From lighting execs to tour managers to venue execs, the discussion was kept alive for the whole time of the panel.

But in the middle of it all, one audience member raised his hand.

“You know, from a promoters view, I can’t say what lights or sound or video you need,” he said.  “But I can tell you that when I’ve lost money on a show, that’s when you’ve got too much fuckin’ production.”

As Emperor Joseph II said in Amadeus, “Well, there it is.”

The Lost Art of College Talent Buying, 21st Century Marketing Campaigns and The Serious Business of Being Funny are about to start.  Then it’s the shuttle to the Nokia and an awesome party.  See you next year. To all those who couldn’t make it or missed the cutoff, we hope to see you and those who are reading this and considering showing up for the first time, we certainly encourage you.

Special thanks go to CIC partners and organizers like Steve Macfadyen and Shari Rice.