The Oatmeal on The Music Industry.
This needs to be reblogged again.
the only untrue part of this is that the ticket price isnt purely to pay for lost album sales.
(huur hurrr long rant with runons follows. would readmore but it doesnt do that on picture posts i guess?)
in pretty much all current sale formats aside from the virtually direct ones, the artist really doesnt see much of that anyways. I’m actually pretty sure beatport pays the artist better than itunes does but dont quote me on that. however, this is where concerts come in. for at least like more than half a decade concerts have been where the artists make their actual money, at least thats what happens with a lot of the bigger artists now (well, those that havent totally sold out or werent pre-packaged sellouts). Even then, those ticket prices also go towards, depending on the artist because it varies, the record companies, but not that drastically. But you know what a huge whopper of that income goes to off those ticket sales?
let me put it this way
imagine a show with no cool lights, no visuals, no one really riding those levels on the sound console, no cool effects, basically just the bare minimum bar gig, trying to do up a big show in a major venue that costs a lot. in fact, no, because those tickets help pay for that place too, so instead, try to imagine cramming a current day massive muse, linkin park, coldplay, deadmau5, skrillex, etc., sized crowd into a small bar that charges at the door, has set it and forget it 1 or 2 look lighting, usually no visuals, not very good audio gear, nothing to really create that environment we expect in a major concert. none of it. just a shit ton of people crammed in a small venue (many waiting outside, might i add, hoping to get in, just to be disappointed at the end of the night because of course the venue cant let them in over capacity) im talking the kind of crowd those artists i listed garner. now thats what you get with cheap ass tickets guys.
plain and simple
this is knowledge i have from both my chosen career BEING that guy running those lights for those massive fucking shows, and having a number of sources of insight from various artists that like giving next-to-full disclosure. actually, one of them is in that list i made up there HURR HURR.
note that this is not a shot at The Oatmeal and the comic’s writer. god knows this is a major misconception, i thought that was how it worked a few years back even. but the fact of the matter is it just isnt. so yes, i want some of whats in that last panel to happen, really, i do, and yeah, expensive tickets and my financial situation dont exactly play nice so i dont get to go to shows that often. but I wouldnt give up the fucking environment of concerts that that money helps create just for cheaper tickets.
Again I’m not saying thats ALL of what those tickets pay for, yes, some goes to the artist, the promoter(if there is one), and the record company (though less of that last one than you think, and artists CAN make a shit ton on concerts if they tour a lot and shit. dont believe me, look at all the shit joel has spent money on this year, mostly in some way for the fans or for the music, which is still at the end of the day for the fans. And a large percent of that is from touring non-stop all the time.)
ok
done
Published
ugh 