Working+draft

Rough Version of Intro: When your favorite artist comes to town to play a show at your favorite venue, who put all that time, effort, and work together to make the show happen? That would be the concert promoter’s job. Within his job there are many things that need to be done so that the show can be successful and generate a substantial profit for the promoter. This is a huge financial risk for the promoter. He needs to do his market research and make sure the act he is booking will make money. However, the concert promoter is not just in charge of making the artists money. The concert promoter is also in charge of: contract agreement, artist fee’s, ticket sales, hiring, booking the venue, merchandising, gross potential, and profit share. All of those aspects are negotiated within the AFM performance contract ( Butler). The AFM performance contract is a document that binds the concert promoter to his responsibility outlined in the contract, that he negotiated with the band (Butler). So, how does the concert promoter’s negotiation with the artists affect the terms outlined in the standard AFM contract, so that he can maximize his own profit.

Second Edit of Inro:

When your favorite artist comes to town to perform at your favorite venue, who put in all that time, effort, and work to make the show happen? That would be the concert promoter’s job. Within his job, there are many things that need to be done so that the show can be successful and generate a profit for the promoter, the act, and the building. This can mean a huge financial risk for the promoter. He must do market research to ensure the act he is booking will make money. Market research will tell the promoter whether he has an audience for his act, what size venue he’ll need, how to advertise, what price ticket the audience will accept and more. The concert promoter is not just in charge of choosing the act. The concert promoter is responsible for: contract agreement, artist fee’s, ticket sales, hiring, booking the venue, merchandising, gross potential, and profit share. All of those aspects are negotiated within the AFM performance contract ( Butler). The AFM performance contract is a document that binds the concert promoter to his responsibility outlined in the contract, a contract negotiated with the band (Butler). So, can the concert promoter, using the stand AFM contract, maximize his profit in his negotiation with the artists?

A show is not successful unless all parties: band, venue, fans, and promoter are happy, because in concert promotion there are no bad shows, only bad deals. So when the artist’s talent agent comes to the promoter with the AMF contract, he needs to make sure that the deals are beneficial towards the people he represents, and not the promoter. The promoter needs to discuss the riders (riders are sections of the contract) with the agent, to edit and refine. Things to refine within the contract can be numerous. Things like projected ticket says, gross potential, artist fees, merchandising, catering, runners, hiring, and most important of all splitting the profits between every one(Waddell). For example in order for Jack Boyle of Cellar Door Productions to be able to promote Van Halen had to agree to an outrageous rider. Within Van Halen’s contract, the lead singer Lee Roth(who is the original singer of the band) wanted 10 pounds of MnM’s with the brown ones removed from them(Get Citation for interview with my Dad). If this was any other band Jack Boyle would of said no way and would reject the contract, but this is Van Halen and they can sell lots of tickets and merchandise, which in turn makes more money for the promoter.
 * (Contract Agreement Rough draft)**

(**ticket sales Pricing )** Within the contract ticket pricing and sales are the most arguable aspect of negotiation and the business overall(Dannenfeldt). Ticket prices have doubled in price within a decade(Krueger). Today, tickets to big name concerts like Paul McCartney or Madonna are now priced around $250 to $450 dollars. In addition to that huge charge there are service charges, parking, and facility fees that are tacked on possibly adding anywhere to another $50 or $70 dollars. So what defines these huge and outrages prices, the artist does, and they must follow a delicate balance. A concert promoter knows that he won’t double his audience because there is a low ticket price, and if the price is to high the fans will retaliate and complain(Wadell). So, finding the middle ground is the key to doing this, but again its very hard. There is no equation or program to predict how many people are going to buy a ticket, no matter what the price is, each person is different (Wadell). After the ticket price has been set, and people having started buying them, money is starting to be made. The proceeds from the ticket sales generally go 15% for the promoter, and 85% for the artist. The money he makes from that 15% covers his expenses and the money he has left over is what he actually makes. If promoters don’t choose wisely and strategically when promoting talent, they can loose a lot of money.

Here is my most current Rough Draft



Works Consulted Copley, Terrance. Online posting. //Band Management and Promotions//. All Experts, 20 Oct. 2008. Web. 6 Nov. 2009. . McDonald, Heather. "Concert Promotion Costs." //About//. New York Times Company,2009. Web. 28 Oct. 2009.. McDonald, Heather "Music Promoter." //About//. New York Times Company, 2009. Web.28Oct.2009.. McFarland, Melanie. "The Great Ticket Race." The Seattle Times (Seattle, WA) 21 May 2000: M1-M3. //SIRS Renaissance.// Web. 02 November 2009. http://sks.sirs.com/cgi- bin/hst-article-display?id=SPL2870-0-2767&artno=0000119187& type=ART&shfilte r=U&key=con cer t%20promoters%20contracts&title=The% 20Great%20Ticket%20 Race&re s=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=N&ic=N Winzenried, Rebecca. "The Times They Are A-Changin'." Symphony (Vol. 56,No.6) Nov./Dec. 2005: 34+. //SIRS Renaissance.// Web. 02 November 2009. [] 2767&artno=00002397 30&typ e =ART&shfilter=U&key=Rebecca%20Wi nzenried%20Times%20They %20Are%20A%2DChangin&title=The%20Times%20They%20Are%20A% 2DChangin%27&res=Y&ren=Y&gov=Y&lnk=N&ic=N Works Cited Butler, Joy R. “Performance Agreements.” //Shavano Music Online//. N.p., 2000. Web. 26 Oct 2009. . Butler works for Sashay Communications, LLC as a general counsel of publishing and media production. In addition she has written many articles and books about the music business including; //The Musician’s Guide Through The Legal Jungle//. The intended audience for this article is people who want to get into the business side of music. The article contains brief information about the AMF performance contract and what information goes into certain riders. Dannenfeldt, Diane. “How Concert Tours Work.” //How Stuff Works//. N.p., 2009. Web. 28 Oct. 2009. . The purpose of this article was to give an overview of how concert promoters, talent agents, artists, etc work together to make a concert tour successful. Its intended audience is people who do not have a basic understanding of concert tours. The article starts off very basic and gets more complicated. The article contained information about artists like the Rolling Stones, top grossing tours in 2007, how to plan a tour, working with concert promoters, negotiating a concert tour schedule, and hiring a concert tour crew.

Evans, Michael. Personal interview. 25 Nov. 2009. Evans is a vp sports and entertainment for a small private company called SMG that manages large public venues. The personal interview held by me was intended for my paper about concert promotions. The interview contained information about all the sections of my paper that I could not find information on: merchandising, profit shares, and a part of my introduction.

Fletcher, Joe. “Gary James’ Interview With Concert Promoter Joe Fletcher.” Interview by Gary James. //Classic Bands//. N.p., 2009. Web. 28 Oct. 2009. . The interview with Joe Fletcher contained information about being an independent Concert Promoter and the challenges and decisions he has to make day to day. The intended audience for this article are people who have a casual understanding of the concert business. The article talked about profit, how the music business is doing, and how Joe started as a concert promoter. Jann, Lisa. "Crowds, Cops and Rock'n'Roll." //Seattle// //Times// (Seattle, WA) Aug. 29 1999: M1+. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 2 November 2009. . Jan writes in her article about the different aspects of concert security and horrible incidents that have happened due to lack of it. The articles intended audience is people who know what it takes to run a concert and have moderate music business knowledge. This article adequately covered the topic of concert security because she gave a history of it and than applied it to today’s concert security.

Krueger, Alan B. “Music Sales Slump, Concert Ticket Costs Jump And Rock Fans Pay The Price.” //Economic Science//. N.p., 17 Oct. 2002. Web. 28 Oct. 2009. . Krueger is a Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University. He has published many research papers covering topics such as the economics of education, labor demand, income distribution, social insurance, labor market regulation, concert tickets and environmental economics. The intended audience for this article are people who have a very deep knowledge of the music business because there are lots of data and charts to interpret. The content of the article covered topics of concert tickets rising faster than inflation, scalpers and the evolution of technology effecting prices.

Noel, C. Paul. "What's Behind Big Ticket Prices." //Christian Science Monitor.// 15 Jul 2002: 16. //SIRS Researcher.// Web. 02 November 2009. < [] bin/ >. // The scope of this article is to give an in-depth review of why concert tickets have risen over time. The intended audience for this article people with a basic understanding of the economy and inflation. The article covers how ticket prices have risen, scalpers, online buying, ticket pricing, and how to buy a ticket from a sold out show. //

Passman, Donald S. //All You Need To Know About The Music Business//. 6 ed. New York: Hal Leonard, 2008. Print. Passman has been cited as one of America’s top entertainment attorneys. He currently practices law with an Los-Angles based firm. Also, Passman specializes in music business; he has clients that are music entertainers, publishers, record companies, managers, producers, etc. His book is targeted towards people who want to enter the music business. The book offered lots of information about music deals that are located within contracts, and what the promoter has to do to change them.

Rosen, Ellen. “In the Race to Buy Concert Tickets, Fans Keep Losing.” //New York Times// N.p., 2007. Web. 28 Oct. 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/‌2007/‌10/‌06/‌business/ Ellen Rosen is a reporter for the New York Times, a respected national newspaper. The scope of the works was to give the readers understanding of how the world of concert tickets is changing for the worse. The intended audience for this article is people who have a basic knowledge about concert tickets and the economy. The article covered topics ranging from Ticket Master controversy, scalpers, and sold out Miley Cyrus tickets.

Ryanne, Scott. "Getting to the Bottom of the Mosh Pit Phenomenon." Gazette (Colorado Springs, CO) 2 Jul 2003: n.p. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 02 November 2009.  The scope of this article was to give an explanation on the current phenomenon of mosh pits. The intended audience for this article are people who are interested in and want to know about mosh pits and why they exist. The article covered topics such as: the history of mosh pits, what’s the point to them, death and injury from mosh pits, where the mosh pits happen, and how extra security can help. Smith, Ethan. "Summer Concerts Try New Tactics to Fill Seats ." //The Wall Street Journal// 15 May 2005: D1. Web. 16 Nov. 2009. . Smith is a writer for the Wall Street Journal, is a highly respected business newspaper. The scope of the article was to inform people about the concert business and how it is now doing economically well. The article contained information about how ticket prices are continually rising, and how promoters are trying to fill the seats.

Schleier, Curt. "Big Music, Big Money, Big Headaches." //A&E Monthly Feb//. 1995: 27- 29.SIRS Renaissance. Web. 2 Nov 2009.  The scope of the article was to give an in-depth analysis about making money in concert promotion by pricing tickets, and booking the venue. The intended audience for this article are people who know what concerts are and understand the work that has to go into them. The article gave an analysis on Promoters rising ticket prices in correlation with the economy, scalpers and the infamous incident of no brown M&M’s

Veiga, Alex. "Concert attendance tanks even as ticket prices drop." //San Diego Union- Tribune// [San Diego ] 10 July 2005: n. pag. //Access Business News//. Web. 16 Nov. 2009. . Veiga is a writer for the San Diego Union Tribune News Paper which is a credible resource. The scope of this article is to inform people that the trend of concert ticket overpricing is dropping but the attendance is still not recovering. The intended audience for this article are the daily readers who have an interest in entertainment. The provided in-depth analysis of reasons why concert tickets drop and how concert promoters are handling the situation

Waddell, Ray D, Barnet D. Rich, and Berry Jake. //This Business Of Concert Promotion and Touring//. New York: Watson-Guptill, 2007. Print. Waddell is a senior writer for Billboard Magazine. He writes a column called “On The Road.” Barnet is a professor in the Department of Recording Industry at the Middle Tennessee State University. He is also the co-author of //Controversies in the Music industry//. Berry is the co-owner of Production Alliance which has done concert tours for Tina Turner, Rolling Stones and AC/DC. The intended audiences for this book are people who are interested in entering the concert promotion business. The book included everything there needs to know to be a concert promoter: profit shares, touring, hiring, Venues, etc.