Remember that for touring acts, often it is the merchandising-- programs,
t-shirts etc-- that is more profitable than the actual concert ticket.
Regardless of the size of the band's audience, this is a chance to sell each
of them another $20 thing at the show.  While we may be thinking of it as
music, I suspect someone on the marketing food chain is thinking of it as a
souvenir.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Stewart Mason" <flamingo@theworld.com>
To: <audities@smoe.org>
Sent: Friday, May 23, 2003 12:41 AM
Subject: Re: Ethical question regarding bootlegs


> 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
>
>
>
>