www.ticketnews.com: The promoter giant revealed that the program, created with country star Willie Nelson and named based on his 1980 single “On The Road Again,” would also give $1,500 to headliners and supporting acts for gas and travel expenses per show. Live Nation said the program “is expected to deliver tens of millions of dollars in extra earnings to club artists and crew” through the end of the year.
3 comments:
Part of my job working as a PA at a concert venue was selling merch so I found this discussion about live nation and merch cuts very relatable. Where I worked took merch cuts and I found this to be very reasonable, especially as we provided the stand, employees, paperwork, and transaction methods to conduct merch sales. This being said, I also understand how venues who do not provide these systems providing merch cuts is predatory, as they are not doing anything or hiring anyone that justifies that additional profit. The concert industry as a whole is in flux right now, and in my opinion, merch cuts are only one tip of the iceberg. With tech needs and venue rental costs, producing a good show that remains accessible to fans has become so expensive, and thus, near impossible. I was informed often over the summer by artists that merch was how they made a solid portion of their tour income. While Live Nation’s slicing of merch cuts make artists more money, their overwhelmingmonopoly of the concert industry has also led to more fees for fans and lack of character venues for the artists. At the end of the day, artistsshould make money from their tours, and whatever method gets us on the right track, I support cringefully.
I accidentally labeled my comment as anonymous, reposting with my name below:
Part of my job working as a PA at a concert venue was selling merch so I found this discussion about live nation and merch cuts very relatable. Where I worked took merch cuts and I found this to be very reasonable, especially as we provided the stand, employees, paperwork, and transaction methods to conduct merch sales. This being said, I also understand how venues who do not provide these systems providing merch cuts is predatory, as they are not doing anything or hiring anyone that justifies that additional profit. The concert industry as a whole is in flux right now, and in my opinion, merch cuts are only one tip of the iceberg. With tech needs and venue rental costs, producing a good show that remains accessible to fans has become so expensive, and thus, near impossible. I was informed often over the summer by artists that merch was how they made a solid portion of their tour income. While Live Nation’s slicing of merch cuts make artists more money, their overwhelming monopoly of the concert industry has also led to more fees for fans and lack of character venues for the artists. At the end of the day, artistsshould make money from their tours, and whatever method gets us on the right track, I support cringefully.
To begin with, I already don’t like LiveNation for their scummy business practices when it comes to monopolistic practices as well as squeezing out independent venues and artists. The fact that they are now saying they are going to end merch cuts (at a few venues for 90 days) seems quite good timing, as there is a recent backlash against companies like LiveNation taking merch cuts. The fact that merch cuts make it so hard for artist to actually make money on tour make the practice unthinkable in my eyes, however since LiveNation controls many of the larger venues that artist prefer to go to, they have the power to do with they want, whether it be good or bad for the artist. LiveNation isn’t in the game to help artists, they’re in the game to make money, and I think people need to remember that and put into perspective that they only care about making money.
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