Thursday, February 3
Round Table - “Where Is My Tour Support? Artist Development 2005”
Harvey Leeds, Epic Records

A highly successful new event implemented at the 2005 Concert Industry Consortium was a group of round tables, covering a wide range of topics and facilitated by some of the most highly respected people in their fields. Running the gamut of industry concerns from how to structure a deal to purchasing tour insurance to staying sober on the road, conference guests could stop at one discussion or visit them all for a taste of what’s happening in today’s concert business.

Epic Records’ Harvey Leeds and Gayle Miller – who sat in on the February 3rd round table – rehashed the “Where is My Tour Support?” discussion.

“We had a bunch of people from Warner Bros., Atlantic, Capitol and RCA, and all were brainstorming on the issues that face us, and the lack of commitment from some local promoters to help take a band from zero to 100,” Leeds remembered.

Discussion also focused on the course of building an artist the correct way, Miller added. “It used to be that the artist had a touring base, and moved up from there,” she said, “as opposed to putting out the record and then throwing that act into a club.”

Another issue of concern was artists needing money from labels for tour support, and teaching them how to do their own merch and create mailing lists.

“A lot of these artists don’t know how to do that so we have to teach them to become a touring entity,” Leeds said.

Talks also touched on the development of Good Charlotte and using Ozzfest to springboard acts like Chevelle.