Laurence Glavin wrote:
> The Boston papers today (06/23) carried lengthy stories about the
> cancellation of something called the "Lollapalooza Alternative Music
> Tour" due to lack of demand. The Boston Globe's pop correspondent Renee
> Graham described it as "once the jewel of summer music festivals". She
> quoted a tour organizer as being in "utter disbelief that a concert of
> this stature, with the most exciting lineup I've seen in years did not
> galvanize ticket sales...given the great bands and the reduced ticket
> prices."
Well, the promoter would say that, wouldn't he? In fact, the lineup is
a joke to most alternative music enthusiasts. "Lollapalosers" was the
term I heard bandied about. As the morning DJ at the local hard rock/heavy
metal station we listen to here in the shop said, "Did they really think
a festival with headliners Morrissey and Sonic Youth would be anything
other than a train wreck?" Though there are a number of factors at work
here, I don't think you have to look any farther than the fact that this
was simply an undesirable lineup for the majority of fans.
The touring festival known as Lollapalooza has been around since 1991
and early on was headlined by the likes of Jane's Addiction, Nine Inch
Nails, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains,
Rage Against The Machine, Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica, and Cheap Trick.
Most of these (now legendary) bands are no more, and their fans have
grown up (at least some to some extent), so perhaps the phenomenon has
simply run its course. In fact, the festival has been in decline for
several years now. Last year's headliners Jane's Addiction, Audioslave,
and Incubus are probably what saved it.
Despite what the RIAA would have us think, I have come to believe the
current downtrend in music sales (concerts included) has more to do
with the quality of popular music, as well as the numerous high-value
alternatives (DVDs, games, etc.), than with piracy. Free downloading
probably is having a small impact, but really most of what's going on
is rising CD prices (despite recent announcements to the contrary, stores
such as Border's still sell many new releases for $18.99) coupled with
declining product quality. That's always a prescription for disaster
in any industry. Many people who follow popular music seem to agree.
> The Boston Herald radio and entertainment writer, Dean Johnson, also
> brought up the mediocre sales of events sponsored by Boston powerhouse
> radio stations WBCN and WXKS-FM.
Just proves that hype can only go so far. Simply because a concert gets
a lot of publicity doesn't mean that it will succeed. If the quality
isn't there, the people won't come. Something about fooling some of the
people some of the time ...
> Clear Channel Communications apparently is the entity that will take
> a bath, and they get about as much sympathy as Wal-Mart (probably for
> the same reasons).
Many see Clear Channel as reaping what they have sown. As the largest
owner of radio stations (in addition to being a major owner of concert
venues) they have consistently driven programming to the lowest common
denominator, purging diversity and alternative music from the airwaves
in favor of tight rotations of just a few mainstream popular songs. If
they now can't get people interested in concerts, then it's likely they
did it to themselves to a great extent. The reasons Clear Channel is
dispised go well beyond questionable business practices, a la Walmart.
They have been tacitly and actively quashing artistic freedom as well
as political speech on their stations. A couple of interesting links:
http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2002/03/27/beltway/
http://www.p2pnet.net/clear.html
> I see on artsjournal.com that a summer classical music festival
> near Chicago has DOUBLED its subscriptions for this year ...
My take is that the audience for classical music - live and recorded -
is likely quite different from that for popular music. Pop tends to be
more faddish, and tastes often change radically as a person grows older.
But once a person discovers classical music, they are usually fans for
life. Live classical music has suffered its own problems: too much new
music programmed, too little new music, too many warhorses over and over
again, too little exploration of minor masters, adulation of the cute
young performer of the month, etc., but this doesn't seem to result in
shrinking audiences.
Dave
http://www.classical.net/
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