[Dixielandjazz] Music Festivals are BIG BUSINESS

[David Washburn]

While it is true that festivals seem to be proliferating, I personally
don't see much opportunity there. Every time I come across one of these,
the promoters want to charge for vendor spaces, charge for ad spots and in
every way conceivable make some money. But when it comes to entertainment
they are always seeking volunteers to perform for free. and of course the
"EXPOSURE" will be invaluable. They will cut loose some money for 1 or 2
headliners bands, usually country/rock groups in this part of the country,
but for the most part I have found I can't make anything.  I keep my eyes,
ears and mind open. However I don't get too excited over festivals.

Just my take on it :-)
Dave in Dallas



On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 9:34 AM, Stephen G Barbone <
barbonestreet at earthlink.net> wrote:

> While Trad Jazz festivals shrink, it seems that music festivals,
> especially those promoted by professionals, are proliferating. The below is
> excerpted from the New York Times and explains why and how. Perhaps there
> is a lesson here for trad jazz festival operations?
>
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
> www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband
>
>
> Music Festivals Make a Move Into New York
>
>
> NY Times - By James McKinley Jr
>
> If you think there’s a new pop music festival every couple of weeks in New
> York this summer, you’re not imagining things.
>
> For years the conventional wisdom among concert promoters was that music
> festivals face impossible hurdles in the city, where the cultural calendar
> is crowded, large public spaces are hard to reserve, and costs are high.
>
> But this summer entrepreneurs have started three new for-profit festivals
> in New York, including the CBGB Festival that begins on Thursday and
> features the bands Guided by Voices and Cloud Nothings. Over the last four
> years three other large-scale festivals have taken root and prospered.
>
> With album sales in decline, festivals of all sorts have become big
> business, and promoters in New York look with envy on the success of large
> urban festivals like Lollapalooza in Chicago and South by Southwest in
> Austin, Texas. Several said they see a huge potential market in the
> nation’s most densely populated major city for a big festival, if the right
> formula can be found.
>
> “Lots of people are running at New York, both local promoters and, for
> that matter, out-of-town promoters,” said Mark Campana, a co-president for
> North American concerts at Live Nation, the largest concert promoter in the
> country. “They are all looking to try to find a way, but it’s expensive.
> This is not something for the faint of heart.”
>
> This week the first CBGB festival, organized by a group that bought the
> rights to the famous punk-rock club that closed in 2006, kicks off with
> concerts in Times Square, Central Park and at 40 clubs around the city.
> Last month two music-industry veterans resurrected a concert series at
> clubs to accompany the New Music Seminar. Later this month the Black Keys
> and Snoop Dogg will anchor the first Catalpa Festival on Randalls Island,
> booked by Dave Foran, a young Irish impresario. . . .
>
> Now in its second year, Governors Ball drew 40,000 people over two days in
> June to Randalls Island Park with a mix of electronic music and indie rock
> bands. Electric Zoo, a festival devoted to electronic dance music, returns
> to the same park over the Labor Day weekend for the fourth year and is
> expected to draw 100,000 people over three days, promoters said. And the
> Northside Festival in Brooklyn, started four years ago by the publishers of
> L Magazine, went off in June without a hitch in Williamsburg, drawing some
> 80,000 people over four days.
> The sudden abundance of music festivals in the city echoes a national
> trend. More than 20 major festivals were started this year across the
> country. Live Nation alone has plans to stage eight this year — more than
> doubling its festival business, and starting outdoor events in cities like
> Philadelphia and St. Paul, Mr. Campana said. . . .
>
> The promoters behind the CBGB, New Music Seminar and Northside festivals
> have all adopted as a model the CMJ Music Marathon, a long-running music
> industry conference and concert series held each fall in New York. These
> promoters are making deals with existing clubs to present lineups that put
> obscure and emerging bands on bills with better-known headliners.
>
> It’s a flexible design, promoters and club owners say. People can buy a
> pass for the entire festival or just pay a cover charge at a club for a
> particular night. Generally the clubs make money from the sale of drinks
> and, in some cases, take a percentage of door charges, while the promoter
> books the acts and pays the major artists out of the sales of festival
> passes. Some of the lesser groups play for a small stipend or a percentage
> of the door receipts.
>
> Such a blueprint works well in New York with its plethora of clubs and
> lack of open space, said Tim Hayes, the lead promoter behind the CBGB
> festival. . . .
>
> Promoters wading into the business have studied the failure of All Points
> West, a large three-day festival that was held in Liberty State Park in
> Jersey City in 2008 and 2009. That event, produced by the promoters behind
> Coachella, featured big-name artists like Jay-Z and Coldplay but did not
> make a profit and was canceled in 2010.
>
> Tom Russell, one of promoters behind Governors Ball, said a lesson he and
> his partners took from All Points West was to stage a smaller event and to
> book acts with proven track records. This year the festival made a profit
> by presenting 27 groups over two days with no overlapping sets, and relying
> on headliners like Fiona Apple, Beck and Kid Cudi to pull in crowds.
>
> “You have to find that balance where your event can do well,” he said. “Is
> there really a need for 5 stages and 70 bands a day? It’s expensive to do
> that, and the crowd doesn’t respond well to it.”
>
>
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-- 
Thanks,
David

www.threequartersfast.com

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