Moderator: Brian Murphy Live Nation
Brad Locker Live Nation
Amy Morrison AEG Live
Diarmuid Quinn Warner Bros.
Steve Rennie REN Management
Bob Shea House of Blues Concerts
Kim Burgan Ticketmaster
Brian Gale Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim

Last year, exit surveys revealed that 70 percent of concert-goers found out about a show through the Internet, according to Brian Murphy. Five to 10 years ago, 50 percent of audiences learned of shows through friends.

Bob Shea agreed, saying, “There’s no question we’re selling the vast majority of our tickets online.”

According to Murphy, the vast majority of online ticket buyers are using Ticketmaster to purchase ducats. So what’s the company doing to keep fans updated?

“We merchandise your events through our performer alerts, our video alerts, our general ticket, which are things people sign up for,” Kim Burgan explained. “Everybody should be doing e-mail marketing.”

The company has also added artist content to its Web site, so the “big four” search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN Search and Ask Jeeves) pick up shows sooner, she added.

From a record label’s standpoint, Warner Bros.’ Diarmuid Quinn said the Internet has been a blessing and a curse. “We’ve had to do a radical change in the way we do business – top to bottom,” he added.

Part of that change has been moving away from print advertising and moving into quicker mediums, including television and radio.

“Kids have no patience anymore, and even adults have less and less. It’s an immediate game,” Quinn said. “And if you’re not moving there aggressively, you’re going to lose.”

AEG Live’s Amy Morrison and Live Nation’s Brad Locker agreed that doing more than just a “stagnant static image banner” is needed to make online promo successful. Morrison suggested that audio and visuals along with band interviews are good tools.

As a local marketer, Locker said his biggest challenge in online advertising is converting new fans and trying to figure out how to find them.

When the topic of ways to draw more fans into shows came up, Locker suggested that venues use non-music events as a way to reach potential concertgoers.

“We need to do a better job of converting entertainment clients into seeing a live concert,” he said. “If there’s someone who’s going to a WNBA game on a Tuesday night, that person is likely to be able to come see our shows as well.”

Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim’s Brian Gale said one of his venue’s strong assets is its part-time staff, which can be used as a street team to market concerts.

“If I can get tickets from different promoters, I can go to my 200-person part-time staff and say, ‘Hey, I have
X number of flyers and we’re going to run a contest,’” he explained. “So, whoever puts up the most flyers gets an extra pair of tickets.”

Later, Murphy raised the topic of presales and whether they’re good or bad. Locker received laughs from the audience when he simply replied, “Good and bad, Brian.” Jokes aside, the rest of the panelists agreed that presales have advantages and disadvantages.

“It’s your best free advertising,” Quinn said, citing the latest Depeche Mode tour as a good example. “It’s
a direct hit to the core people who want your tickets.”

Steve Rennie was skeptical.

“If you have a bad presale and the word gets out, then you get anti-buzz going,” the Incubus manager said. “I think you’d probably be better off trying to figure out who could deliver the most bang for your buck and go with them.”

A controversial topic arose when Murphy stated that last year many artists refused to do radio promo spots, meet-and-greets, sound check parties and interviews. “We’re still required to go out there and do the best job ... What do you do when you get hit with that?” he asked the panelists.

Quinn answered that it’s ultimately the artists’ decision, and there’s only so much time in the day to do promo without killing the artist. He used My Chemical Romance as an example, saying the band was on the road for 18 months and had only seven days off total.

“It’s non-stop, 24/7,” he said. “There’s an enormous push and pull, and there’s only so much you can do without frying them.”

Live Nation’s Jane Holman, who was sitting in the audience, couldn’t hold her tongue after hearing Quinn’s response.

“When we are putting up a lot of money, I think we have the right to expect a commitment from the label and from the manager and from the agency to throw in everything they can,” she said. “I’m sorry if [artists] are slightly inconvenienced and don’t want to wake up at 8 o’clock to do a phoner. But you know what? Things are getting tough out there – get over it!”

Rennie countered, saying, “There are days when you can tell them it’s $10 million ... and they’ll say, ‘You know what? It ain’t gonna freakin’ happen today. Leave me alone.

“That’s because we’re dealing with flesh and blood – we’re not making HP computers. The product does have mood swings and some limits.”