A Wild Goose Chase: Searching the Web for Concert Industry Connections

Recently I decided to scour the World Wide Web for substantial music industry sources, especially with a focus on the concert industry. Having been quite successful, I've decided to yet again search the web for ten more equally interesting and informative sources. The first time around, I focused on sources that industry buffs would look to for help but this time I've decided to look for opinions about the music industry, mainly through blogs. Once again using the IMSA and Webby Awards Criteria, I've decided to rate these links below. Of the new links, which I've posted to the right in my link roll, I found some very interesting blogs. The following blogs I found quite interesting and will surely being to follow the posts. Coolfer, Inside Music Media, Rolling Stone Blogs, You License, Moses Avalon and Future of Music are all fantastic blogs covering a wide range of issues in a concise manner. Each of the authors are currently or have been involved with the music industry for many years which seems to give them a leg up on insider's news. All of these blogs are aesthetically pleasing yet not to flashy to distract the reader from the information. Coolfer also posts current job openings which is something I have not seen on many other blogs. Of the blogs, Future Music Blog tends to post more about the technological aspect of the music industry which is very conducive to the concert industry as new technology can change everything in a heartbeat. Also, Moses Avalon has a great blog with current topics as well as a feature called Scam of the Month where he exposes a new music industry scam in hopes of protecting artists. Most interesting is the organization Downhill Battle with an image to the right. Here is a collection of musicians, music lovers, and perhaps members of the industry working to make the industry safer for the artists. The site is both interesting and informative and offers may links to other music industry sites I would have never discovered without this site's help. I also found a couple more industry news sites, namely The Rock and Roll Report and Live Daily, that brought some unknown issues to my knowledge. It is astounding that there are about five or six of these news sites, if not more, and each one is discussing different topics. The music industry is constantly changing and evolving and many people are on the look out. All in all, the web has countless great sources and my search ended well with many new sites and blogs to check out on a regular basis.

Taking the Live Music Experience Home: Concert Industry Goes Digital

About three years ago, artists began releasing albums on flash drives as labels tried to squeeze the last few cents out of music as a physical product. In theory, a cool idea; however, flash drives are not so cost effective. Then again, with the drop in physical music sales, perhaps it is not a bad idea to manufacture far less physical products to sell. Anyway, is it now 2008, physical music sales have continued to drop drastically but the hard working employees of concert industry related businesses are not worried. Many might say it is because the live music experience can never be replaced. Believing strongly in this mantra, the live music industry has decided to join the digital age and a few artists have begun to record concerts as they are happening and distributing a recording of the concert right after the concert ends and loading it to a USB flash drive selling at about 30 dollars a piece. Some of the drives look like a normal everyday thumb drive with key chain abilities and one company called Aderra has fashioned a USB flash drive wristband (pictured below). The concert attendee can then purchase the flash drive and bring it home, load it up on a computer and listen to the concert again and even share it with friends. Depending on the performance ability of the artists and their popularity along with the makeup of the fan base, the USB flash drive has the potential to create a whole new avenue for artists to promote their music let alone attract more people to the live show (which is extremely important as the artists takes home most of the money generated at a live event).

Live recordings have the potential to be of much lower quality than a studio recording. The noise of screaming fans or an off key sing-along can take away from the artist's performance. In the past, a live album would be recorded at a concert but when mastered, a sound engineer could simply overdub rough parts and even lower the sound of the crowd. The USB flash drives would not leave time for the overdubbing process and would have a more raw sound than the traditional live album. The live sound guy who works at the venue or is on tour with the band will now not only need to make the live show sound great but also make sure it will sound just as good on a recording that will be distributed by the end of the show. This could create a need for talented sound engineers and perhaps the engineer would even receive a portion of sales. Regardless of the sound quality, if an artist sounds great live than the USB flash drive would probably sell quite well at the merchandise table. On the other hand, if the artist cannot perform well in a live situation, there is not much a sound engineer can do on the spot to fix that. In that case, the USB flash drive would not sell very well and perhaps even become a negative item to have linked to the artist.

Keeping in mind that many artists sound fantastic live, it is quite possible that a live recording of a concert available directly after the concert could be a great promotional device for the artist's tour. Most importantly, artists involved in the USB flash drive program encourage sharing with friends as well as uploading the files online (which creates another problem discussed later) so others can listen to the recording. If the recording is great and the artist sounds fantastic, the flash drive could help promote the tour to someone who might be on the fence about attending a show in his or her own locale. However, if the recording is not so great, it could push the indecisive consumer right off the fence and into some other artist's concert. On a completely different note, this product may only work for certain types of artists and definitely for artists whom have a well established fan base. Such an item would hardly work in a small and loud bar or club type venue but may work wonders in a larger venue with an artist whose fans have already spent 50 dollars just to get in the show let alone another 20 dollars to park. Thus, this item will be targeted at the average and fortunately for the industry, gullible concert attendee. This is the person that will buy a 50 dollar ticket and spend 20 dollars on parking and upon entering the venue buy overpriced beer and food. At the end of the concert, this same person will stand in an oppressively long line and spend 35 dollars on a t-shirt and 20 dollars on a poster. So, why not sell these people a 35 dollar recording of a concert he or she just saw. If the average concert attendee had a good enough time to spend all that money to begin with, it does not sound so bad to tack on a 'few' extra dollars to make the experience complete.

USB flash drives, especially in the wristband style have a great potential for positively promoting live music. The wristband has a greater potential as it could become a fashion accessory and fans may begin to collect them. The format is stylish, convenient and cool which is something that could spark any concert attendee's interest. It is certainly an item that could start a brand new fad. The price may still be a little high as a 35 dollar t-shirt seems extreme, however, 35 dollar t-shirts do get purchased so it is likely that a 35 dollar wrist band would also be purchased and certainly by someone willing to the fork up the cash for an overpriced t-shirt. On the other hand, perhaps many people will avoid buying the wristbands and just wait to find a free download online. Either way the artist will get the music heard and hopefully provoke more people to attend live shows. USB flash drives present a great opportunity for artists to present their music in a brand new format. Unfortunately, it may only work with certain types of artists (those that are well established) with a specific type of fan base (those that are the average and gullible concert attendee).

Room for Expansion: The Concert Industry On The Web

One would think that with an industry as illustrious and ever changing as that of live music, the world wide web would be littered with web sites and blogs discussing every possible aspect. Through my extensive internet travels and much to my chagrin, I find that there are not as many wonderful sources as I previously expected. The internet is not without such sources, though I think there is much room for expansion on the subject of not only the live music industry but the live entertainment industry as a whole. As far as blogs, it seems as if not too many people have strong opinions on what is going on in the business other than how well or badly an artist performed recently. Now, do not think that the information super highway is completely absent of sources as there are some informative sites as well as opinionated blogs on the subject that I have chosen based on the Webby Awards and IMSA criteria and I have taken it upon myself to list ten of the most worthy of my findings in my link roll located in the right sidebar. First on the list, a primary source for music industry news for both the public and industry execs, Billboard.biz, is full of current events and stories about various topics in the music industry. Containing everything from videos and polls to articles and archives, Billboard.biz is a very interactive yet informative source. Next up is a link to the Concert Industry Consortium which is an annual event that brings together all kinds of people involved in the concert industry. At the conference announcements concerning industry change are revealed as well as predictions for the future of the business. Though the site is rather bare, the keynote address is often very informative though updated only annually. There are a couple links to other interesting websites as well. It does not contain much other information though and perhaps it could be more helpful by adding a forum where visitors can discuss topics raised at the conference. Following CIC is Digital Music News. Here there is up to date news on digital music. Though the live music industry seems to have little to do with digital music, perhaps concert may begin to stream digitally and this site will be a great source for information on such an occasion. The site also offers links to other blogs as well as a calendar of important conferences and other events. Encore, the weekly performance industry magazine, functions much like Billboard.biz, this site offers current industry news but is not updated as frequently as other sites. On the main page, visitors have access to various news topics from festivals to legal to international news. There are also Billboard album charts and a calendar of industry events. It seems to lean a bit more toward the industry executive as opposed to the general public which can be both good and bad. Encore is on par with Pollstar, but slightly less known. A great source for current music industry news is Forbes' music business section as it has current news. However, the website only features articles in the magazine and is very broad covering all aspect of music business in addition to concert industry news. Though it may not be very interactive, there is often articles covering topics that are not heavily covered elsewhere. Recently, I was turned on to Hits Daily Double, which many people in the industry turn to for up to the minute news. This site is updated several times a day and covers a wide range of topics. The site reads a bit like a newspaper with various sections and even a weekly comic. Unlike the previous sites which deal mainly with industry news, I came across the Live Music Blog. Though this blog focuses more on concert reviews, I found a concert industry archive section which had some interesting insight into the industry. It has not been updated in some time, but can be useful for finding old news that could be currently relevant. The Live Music Blog is a great example of many of the other blogs having to do with live music. Many bloggers focus on reviews of concerts as opposed to industry news. Hopefully, I can help fill in the gap using my own blog. There are many magazines about the music industry, including Billboard which I mentioned earlier and also Music Connection, which again, like Billboard has a corresponding web site. The site is very user friendly and saturated with all kinds of information from band interviews to club reviews to industry news. Unknown to me previously, NPR has a music news section as well which updates the site with one or two headlines daily. Often NPR is discussing a topic I have heard little about and does a good job of shedding light on a wide variety of topics. There is also a link to NPR approved blogs which can sometimes be interesting and informative reads, though the blogs tend to be music reviews such as Pitchfork or Obscure Sound. Lastly is my personal favorite resource, Pollstar(pictured at right). Including everything from concert industry news to artist availability to a comprehensive list of all current tours in North America, Pollstar is cohesive in its coverage of the concert industry. It is also the go to place for many industry executives ala the professionals edition of the site, PollstarPro. Covering a great deal of topics all centered around the live music industry, this website is an outstanding source for information. Although I have scoured the world wide web for various sources of information concerning the concert industry and have listed ten solid links, I feel there is much more that I have yet to find however difficult it may be. However, there is infinite space for more relevant and informative sites and blogs concerning the concert industry and with the current changes happening in the music industry and the shift from record labels to concert promoters perhaps the information super highway will soon witness a traffic jam of live music industry web sites and blogs.