Tour promoter

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A classical music concert in the Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia, 2005.
A classical music concert in the Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia, 2005.

Tour promoters (also known as concert promoters or talent buyers) are the individuals or companies responsible for organizing a live concert tour or special event performance. The tour promoter makes an offer of employment to a particular artist, usually through the artist’s agent or music manager. The promoter and agent then negotiate the live performance contract. The majority of live performance contracts are drawn up using the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) standard contract format known as the AFM Performance Agreement.

Contents

[edit] Services

Included among the tour promoter’s various job responsibilities are: (1) obtaining venue, concert hall, entertainment centre, theater, nightclub or arena bookings; (2) pricing the event or tour; and (3) providing air, sea or land transportation (optional). However the promoter must have upfront cash and or sponsorship financing to pay for advertising the tours of the artists. Such advertising costs, usually referred to as a Media or Promotional Kit, commonly include television and radio advertisements, posters, newspaper and magazine adverts, online marketing and so on.

[edit] Promoter Compensation

There are no figures available concerning how much an average concert promoter makes annually. Like most music industry professions, compensation depends on the level of artist the promoter works with, location, and what a given market will bear. The promoter assumes all the financial risk in putting on a show, so compensation also depends on how successful the promoter is at negotiating with vendors and creating sold-out shows. Additionally, in-depth knowledge of their operating market and audience characteristics are critical success factors for any tour promoter. [1]

[edit] Industry Overview

The rise of large corporation mega-promoters over the past ten years has made it much more difficult for aspiring tour promoters to break into the industry. Live Nation (previously known as Clear Channel Communications) is the number one concert promoter in the world according to figures released by Pollstar Magazine in 2006. The Beverly Hills, California-based corporation accounted for about $1.3 billion in concert box-office sales during 2005, according to Billboard magazine's tracking. Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG Live) was ranked second with $417 million, followed by House of Blues (HOB Entertainment) at number three with $245 million. On July 5, 2006, Live Nation purchased HOB Entertainment for $350 million, further expanding their market share in the live-music business.[2]

[edit] Attendence and Price Trends

There has been an industrywide decline in attendance and profit margins are razor-thin. While average ticket prices jumped to roughly $57 in 2005, the number of tickets sold for the 100 biggest tours dipped 3.5%, to 36.3 million. Promoters have tried to reverse the attendance trend by wooing fans with discounts and package deals that include parking or food and beverages. Holding the line on ticket prices, however, has proved difficult, as promoters and artists blame one another for rising costs. Promoters say artists' booking agents bid up the price of their clients' services by playing promoters against one another. Artist representatives respond that big promoters sometimes make unnecessarily lavish offers in order to secure rights to an artist's entire tour. Additionally, tickets to hot events concert sell out quickly online, and then show up on resale sites for much higher prices. Some fans have complained to government officials, particularly after they found tickets to the same concerts or sporting events available - sometimes at many times the face value - on secondary sellers like Stubhub.com and TicketsNow minutes after the public sale began. After hearing from some would-be ticket buyers, the Missouri attorney general announced the state was suing three ticket resellers on charges they violated state consumer protection laws. That same day, the Arkansas attorney general said he was seeking documents from five resellers. And the attorney general’s office in Pennsylvania is also looking into the ticket sale business after receiving several hundred complaints over the recent sale of tickets for a Hannah Montana concert in Pittsburgh.[3]

[edit] Live Nation & Ticketmaster

On December 21, 2007, Live Nation announced it would acquire the software and services to ramp up its ticket-selling operation, potentially positioning the company to compete directly with its longtime contractor, Ticketmaster. Under the pact, Live Nation would license software from CTS Eventim, a German ticketing service and concert promoter, to build a ticket unit in North America. Eventim would act as Live Nation’s outside ticket service - in a role similar to that of Ticketmaster now - in European markets. In the Eventim deal, Live Nation would have the right to set virtually all fees added to tickets in the US. The two companies would operate under a more traditional revenue-sharing deal in certain international markets.

Live Nation has long pushed for a bigger role in ticket sales, feeling such a move could add $25 million by taking the ticketing process in-house. Live Nation’s chief executive, Michael Rapino, has also sought tighter control over the relationship with fans. In particular, he pressed for Live Nation to control customer data from ticket buyers as part of a strategy to sell fans additional merchandise. Mr. Rapino has pushed for livenation.com (and not Ticketmaster’s Web site) to be the main outlet for its tickets. Under the new arrangement, the Live Nation site is to be the retail storefront for the company’s events in America and Europe.[4]

[edit] Education

There are numerous degree programs and academic courses focusing on concert promotion and venue management. Some of these are full degree programs, while others are certificates offered for post-graduate studies. For example, New York University offers a Certificate in Meeting, Conference, and Event Management, and a Certificate in Sports Marketing.[5]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ MusicBizAdvice Q&A January 2008
  2. ^ Big Promoter of Concerts to Acquire House of Blues, New York Times. July 6, 2006
  3. ^ In the Race to Buy Concert Tickets, Fans Keep Losing, New York Times. October 6, 2007
  4. ^ Top Concert Promoter Sets Up a Challenge to Ticketmaster New York Times. December 21, 2007
  5. ^ New York University

[edit] References

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