Merc80.com

Dear Mr. Azoff-

First off, I want to thank you for getting a Twitter account.  Unlike many other people in the top spots of the entertainment field, you are actually trying for some transparency.   It seems a lot of times trying to get the industry’s attention is harder than getting a response to a letter to the President of the U.S.; but, you’ve embraced the most direct line of communication to people.  I hope you get to read this and respond.

What I want to address is your statement that if people want live show ticket prices to go down, they need to “stop stealing music.“

Let me tell you that I have booked shows, have been booked ON shows, and know plenty of others that perform and hire performers.  I know the general layout of how this all works.

Ticket prices were rising right around the mid-90s, the same time that CD’s were costing $20 and up.  That’s when the music industry was making it’s most amount of cash, and has continued to rise ever since.  It’s typical of every industry.  As the demand for something goes up, you raise the price accordingly until the breaking point where the demand goes down.  Right now you’re at a breaking point during a time where everyone can satisfy their demand for free.

There’s actually lot of reasons why people are not showing up to concerts as much anymore, but to name a few:

1.  Because of the recession.

2. Because a lot of artists are complaining to the point where they look childish.

3.  Because a lot of artists don’t have very impressive shows or hits right now.

I went to a show just last Friday that made me want to write this.  It was for a very well known rapper who has been in a handful of movies lately.  He’s had a strong career for about 10 years.   If I didn’t have a friend that got us in free, I would have had to spend between $30-$105.  As much as I like this guy’s music, I’m not going to spend anything in that range.

And though I got in free, the show sucked.  There was only 1 opening act.  There was no light show.  No special guests.  Nothing.  The room seemed fairly populated but I could see some good chunks of empty seats.  If I had spent $30 for regular admission, and maybe on some refreshments, and parking, I would have spent nearly $50 or more.  To spend THAT much money for a lame show?  I might as well watch concert footage of them on Youtube.

People have been turning off the radio.  It’s much easier for them to find what they want, and a lot of acts are not keeping people’s attention.  The entire industry, up and down, has sold out and is hardly pushing anything NEW and DIFFERENT.  This is less about “stealing” music.  It has to do with the fact that it’s hardly affordable for what they’re getting.  $.99 is nothing for some candy, but I won’t spend a penny on a lame album, especially if I can get it for free!  At least with the candy I can be pretty sure I’ll like it.

I read an article about how the morale of people changes during economic hardships.  What the writer found is that people become largely skeptical and cynical of things during recessions and depressions.  I never thought people would get cynical to the point where they don’t believe in artists anymore.

On just about all levels of entertainment people have to talk in exaggeration and hyperbole.  The artist talks them-self up.  The manager talks the artist up.  The label talks them up.  The media talks them up, until it finally gets to the last word, the fan.  When the fan talks the person up, then you know that you’re on to something.  But at this point, the average person has figured out that a lot of the industry is smoke and mirrors with little honesty.  At this point, people don’t know when any artist is genuine or not.  So many people think that the news is full of publicity stunts, Photoshopped images, and scripted behavior.  There’s an unspoken trust between the artist and the audience, and if the audience doesn’t trust the artist they won’t spend a dime.

People like fantasy, but they don’t like being lied to.

There’s a thin line there.

As I have told folks before, there’s no guarantee for artists to get rich.  There’s never been a promise for that, and the same goes for the CEOs.

At this point I think if more CEOS and heads of things like you really listened to the people, you’d find a much more fair way of making your money and giving the people what they want.  People want to get things they enjoy, but you have to give them that and a reason to stay faithful.