Features
Navigating The Concert Industry Today In An Ever Congested And Growing Marketplace
There are too many festivals now, too many promoters, too many venues, and too many bands touring at the same time. So what do you do to stand out from the crowd and get your artist or event noticed?
Photo: Barry Brecheisen
Today In An Ever Congested And Growing Marketplace
Windish Agency’s Sam Hunt has dealt with his share of oversaturation. Hunt, who books Diplo, had the opportunity to book a
Though he knew he’d be going up against a lot of other shows, he saw an opportunity and attempted to make the best of it. “We marketed the hell out of it,” he explained. “Didn’t sell out, but it did great and exceeded most of our expectations. … We knew it was crowded but we also knew if we didn’t take this, someone else will. The clubs aren’t going to be dark. There’s going to be shows on New Year’s Eve.”
Mark Dinerstein of Knitting Factory had a thought on standing out during a crowded time like NYE by booking a few days or the weekend before the actual date.
“If you’ve got an artist that wants to make a splash in a marketplace,” he said. “Venues are very receptive to the idea of [the weekend before]. It gives you an opportunity to lower the stakes on the ticket price, and make sure you sell out. It’s calendar management, date management.”
Overcrowding isn’t always considered a bad thing, however. In fact, for some markets, overcrowding might be the best thing for business.
Scott Campbell of AEG Live Rocky Mountains explained how lucky he is to book a strong market like Denver, where live shows do well.
“What AEG has done in Denver is built out a robust underground infrastructure of clubs. We have seven clubs between Boulder and Denver,” he said. “We’re relying on a lot of traffic. If the traffic were to fall off, we’d be screwed.” But even if more shows means more business all around, people need to be mindful of what they’re going up against.
Moderator Steve Gordon of Circle Talent Agency asked SFX’s Kevin Mitchell how he helps to educate agents coming into a market so they know what the traffic looks like.
“Sometimes the best solution is really looking at the ticket price,” Mitchell said. “If there’s already a bunch of shows on the calendar at that time, maybe a lower ticket price is a way to ensure we have a good show.”
That conversation could inevitably set off a battle over what the artist wants and what the market might bear in terms of ticket prices, but Mitchell added that hopefully, in the end, “we all want good shows and we try to come to some kind of common ground.” For managers like Josh Andriano of Indie-Pop Music, sometimes the battle is convincing artists that like to record in the first half of the year to consider touring at a different time than fall, which is becoming increasingly crowded.
“I had an artist out last fall and it was extremely congested,” he said. “You’re going to record, go do festivals in the summer, and squeeze in a hard-ticket tour at the end of year.” Hunt agreed touring when others won’t can be great for a band. “You separate yourself and if you’re the only show in town on a weekend, you get all the press, you all the attention,” he said. “I usually tell people you can expect to sell 10 to 20 percent more tickets in January than you would in June. People still don’t like the idea of it. … Tour when it makes sense. If I can steer people from October-November to January-February, I’ll do it every time.”