At 06:46 PM 5/22/2003 -0400, Kevin wrote:
>but to address bill's point from a more serious take, I boot most
>powerpop shows I go to.  That being said, accept for the *rare*
>bigger-name types (aimee mann, fountains of wayne, semisonic), Clear
>Channel wouldn't KNOW the venues I go to to see these bands, so I have
>no worries.
>
>Do you really think Clear Channel will try to sell a Starbelly show?  Or
>attempt to cash in on Jason Falkner?  I'm sure they're all getting in
>line to tape and release the next Shazam set.

You'd be surprised which venues CC has their fingers in and who they've
been recording: this program was pilot-tested at the Paradise in Boston,
which is a smallish club that mostly books up-and-comers, cult bands and
acts on the level of Jason Falkner and the Shazam.  (Clear Channel, or more
accurately Don Law Entertainment, which Clear Channel owns outright, also
owns and/or books every bar on Lansdowne Street, Boston's main nightclub
strip.)  I saw an article in the Globe with a list of the bands that they
tested this on: the biggest name there was the Samples, a name that will
mean nothing to you if you're not from Boulder or a dedicated jam-band fan.

And yes, of *course* they would record sets by bands on the Audities level!
 At an average gig at the Paradise, they have a couple, three hundred
people in the audience.  (Biggest crowd I've ever seen there was for Puffy
AmiYumi, which was a sold-out show that had probably around 400 people in
attendance.)  There's a gig I'm going to there by the folk singer Erin
McKeown next month.  Figure there's going to 250 people there. (That's
conservative, because she's semi-local but she doesn't play here much.)
That's 250 people who are big enough Erin McKeown fans that they paid to be
there.  Say, again conservatively, that 10% of them want to buy a CD.  25
copies at $15 apiece is only $375, but consider that, according to that
Globe article, the manufacturing cost for each of these CDs is under a
buck.  They're going to turn down over $350 in pure profit?  To quote you,
"Laugh."

S