Moderator: Kevin Ullestad Assembly Hall
Rob Beckham William Morris Nashville
Andy Cirzan Jam Productions
Doug Clouse AEG Live / Concerts West
Rick Franks Live Nation
Brad Garrett Police Productions
Brad Parsons ArenaNetwork
Mitch Rose Creative Artists Agency
Brent Smith William Morris Agency

The arena business may be having a tougher time than 10 years ago with fairs, PACs and casinos drawing some acts away, but it is still healthy despite the challenge.

Moderator Kevin Ullestad started off by asking for the panelists’ thoughts on protection clauses for A-list country acts.

Rob Beckham, who represents Rascal Flatts, Brad Paisley and others, said that with so many country acts going out, everyone is trying to get a piece of the pie. Asking a venue to not book other country acts for a certain amount of time on either side of the date keeps everyone healthy, wealthy and wise.

“I think in the country side of protection, it’s a really important part of what we do,” Beckham said. “I don’t think that you can go into a building in a major market that says, ‘I don’t do it for anybody else, I’m not doing it for country.’”

He added, “I think the country fan base and the country audience as a whole have a built-in system of going to show after show after show. ... If you have too many options for them to consider, all you’re going to do is start deteriorating the ability of everybody to sell tickets.”

Brad Parsons pointed out that if protection rules are enforced too closely, a show will just end up at another venue and the competition issue isn’t solved. But Brent Smith said it’s really a matter of common sense and protection clauses should be discussed on a case-by-case basis.

Parsons suggested having tighter windows for promotion opportunities, such as 10 days before a show, when other events are already on sale in a market. Rick Franks added it is crucial for venue officials to com-municate with an artist’s rep about other shows on sale in the area.

“From a promoter or from an artist representative perspective, just be consistent in your policies,” Franks said. “When someone calls you with a hold or they’re talking about a show and they’re representing a venue, tell us what other shows are out there that will compete with us. Don’t surprise us.”

Ullestad then asked how important a smaller configuration can be for larger-capacity venues when an acts sells fewer than 8,000 tickets.

Beckham complimented ArenaNetwork’s curtaining system in that situation.

“I think it was a really brilliant move in the sense that now you can really go out and compete. Most people can usually do between 5,000 and 8,000 seats and now you have the setup for it,” he said.

Mitch Rose said that while it’s always great to have more venue options, it really boils down to the economics of the deal.

Ullestad turned the conversation to how many venues have turned to in-house buying out of necessity, which can ruffle some feathers with a promoter. Is it a good thing or a minefield? Andy Cirzan said it’s critical that arenas be very careful when moving in that direction in order for it to work.

“If you do go down that road, it’s got to be a respectful thing. You can’t be sitting there putting deals in place that you wouldn’t give promoters who rent your rooms,” Cirzan said. “It’s about communication, it’s not about renegade-type activity. If you communicate, they probably can co-exist as long as there’s equity in the deals.”

Ticket auctions raised its ugly head. Cirzan said he doesn’t like ticket auctions because it forces concertgoers to compete for ducats on an “unfair playing field” and many are left out.

However, Rose said it’s a matter of supply and demand – The Rolling Stones is a prime example where people are willing to pay the money. Cirzan responded that his concern was for the developing artists that could get “sucked into” the ticketing “vortex” early in their careers.

Rose reiterated it’s the fans that ultimately decide if they’re going to pay the money or not.

“The auctions started as an effort of the bands and the managers to capture the money that was going to the ticket scalper. It’s another source of revenue for an artist,” Rose said. “No one’s buying records so, in some way, the revenue the artist gets from these ticket auctions are replacing what dollars they used to get from records.

“If a band tries to do it before their time, the fans are going to be the ones to determine if they can sell that ticket at a higher price than what the ticket price is.”