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| From | egiloy@netscape.net (Ellen Giloy) |
| Subject | Clear Channel/Bootlegs |
| Date | Fri, 23 May 2003 15:14:50 -0400 |
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Just to back up Stewart's point about Clear Channel booking shows in smaller venues. The 400 Bar in Minneapolis holds maybe 300 people. Steve Durben, any help on these numbers?
Anyway - this was in the Minneapolis Star Tribune today.
Ellen
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Chris Riemenschneider: Music mag lost on Clear Channel
Published May 23, 2003
In what many in the music industry would truly call a lost cause, local music magazine Lost Cause has taken up arms against its perceived oppressors and called for a boycott of Clear Channel in its May first-anniversary issue.
"It's been almost a year now since Clear Channel bought Rich Best, the Twin Cities' hardest working booking agent," the editors wrote. "Since then, the media giant has shown us all what it means to have a multinational corporation attempt to take over a local music scene."
While most of the indie-geared readers of Lost Cause -- a free publication available in clubs and record shops -- probably won't have a problem tuning out Clear Channel radio stations or skipping John Mayer's concert, the company also has been behind such recent events as the Cat Power show and many of the 400 Bar's tour dates.
Sophia Shorai Peterson won a local demo contest.
Therein lies the gray area that has different segments of the music scene torn on the boycott. 400 Bar co-owner Tom Sullivan pointed out that local songwriter Robert Skoro got to open for Cat Power, and he believes plenty of other local acts have benefited from the company's concert bookings.
"I don't think Clear Channel has shut out local acts at all," said Sullivan, who called Lost Cause "paranoid."
"The thing that got me is the only place you can find [a copy of Lost Cause] is in my bar," he jokingly added.
"People can and should go to the 400 Bar or the Fine Line on non-Clear Channel nights," said Lost Cause editor Mark Baumgarten, but he believes boycotting Clear Channel concerts "is the only way to make an impact."
Baumgarten said the timing and purpose of the boycott had more to do with the radio side of Clear Channel's operations.
The Federal Communications Commission has scheduled its biennial review of media ownership laws on June 2. The commission is currently three-fifths Republican, and many in the industry fear that the hard-lobbying Clear Channel might be allowed to buy even more stations than its current 1,200.
(Check out http://www.fcc.gov/ownership;Lost Cause is at http://www.lostcausemag.com.)
As for Clear Channel's response, the "bought"-out Best didn't do much to contest that description: He bounced my questions to a spokeswoman with Clear Channel's national offices, who did not respond before deadline.
Best has, however, met with Baumgarten, who said, "Rich is a good guy working for a horrible company."
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