By Scott Goldberg on Digital Media Wire
Kelli Richards, President and CEO of The All Access Group, hosted the
conference¹s final panel with the topic of live music being the focus.
Ms. Richards, co-author of The Art of Digital Music: 56 Visionary Artists
and Insiders Reveal Their Creative Secrets, says that artists will have
a far more active role in the concert experience. There will be multilevel campaigns to form stronger relationships with fans by alerting them through apps, social networks, personal blogs and webpages about upcoming shows, and then following up with them afterward and offering discounts on merchandise.
David Marcus, VP of Strategic Marketing and Business Development with
Ticketmaster, pointed to the fact that, “50% of concert tickets go unsold”
as a clear indication that steps need to be taken to close the gap with
the fan. Steve Macfadyen, VP of Operations, Concerts & Amphitheaters with
House of Blues, described one of the most recent advancements his company
has taken to bridge that gap: “We introduced a week ago text to your phone
that the on-sale has begun. It¹s going to buzz in your pocket right now,
and you’ll say, Oh I forgot, it goes on sale today.”
Another development in the concert experience is the interaction of the
fan with the show. In its most recent tour, Green Day, for example, posted
large screens behind the stage projecting text messages amongst
audience members. The goal is to make fans feel like they are more a part
of the show, and this in turn will strengthen the average person’s desire to
attend concerts more frequently.
Fans also have the ability to watch concerts they¹ve just attended, or
decide if they want to purchase tickets for a coming show. Joshua James,
Co-Founder & CEO of Basecamp Productions, a company that records
concerts and sells them as downloads, said, “About an hour after the show,
you can download the entire thing.”
The discussion turned to future developments in the concert experience.
Mr. Marcus said, “Getting fans the tickets they want, at the price they
want, at the time they want we’re headed for that very quickly.” One of the
biggest challenges the panelists believe they face is the idea that people find
out about shows after they have happened. No fan interested in attending
an artist’s concert should miss the show because they didn¹t know it was
happening in the first place.
“We’re headed for the artists’ website being a portal for everything,”
said Mr. James. “Especially for the bigger artists, that’s where I see things
going.” The panelists believe the reliance of the artists on their labels
will only decrease. “The artists are breaking off the shackles of the
labels,” said Scott Fedewa, SVP and Executive Producer for Live Nation,
a concert search engine.