Archive for September, 2009

Songwriters - Gary and Maria Craige

Monday, September 14th, 2009

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Two of our songwriters and S2S Demo Team musicians just got married on August 28.  They e-mailed some spectacular photos of their wedding.

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Kevie’s Doodle - pencil

Monday, September 14th, 2009

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Monday, September 14th, 2009

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Yellow Flower an oil

Monday Inspirations

Monday, September 14th, 2009

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Monday InspirationsHere are 3 weekly ideas for song lyric, poems, instrumental titles, photos, video, short story or anything they inspire you to create.  Use the title if you like & make something! 
55.  Rest & Reflection
Great title for an instrumental or healing or spiritual song.  One day I needed some Rest & Reflection so I wrote those three words on a piece of paper and kept my fingernails clean that day.

56.  Black Dog Hot
Both dogs were outside in the summer sun.  When they came in, I patted the balck one and he was noticably hot.  He was Black Dog Hot.

57.  My Best On-Line Flirt!
Wow=how we can flirt in an e-mail message+  I’ve done it more than once.  An Internet article posted 10 ways to long life and one of the activities they recommended was flirting!  So here’s My Best On-Line Flirt = to YOU cutie pie<3

File Sharers Get Unplugged in the UK

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

YouTube & PRS Make Peace As Consumers Get Upset Over Plans To Punish File-Sharers 

• Videos return to website after deal with trade body
• Musicians protest about plans to punish file sharers

Thousands of music videos pulled from YouTube in a royalties dispute will go back online after peace broke out today between the website and the music industry.

A new licensing deal with PRS for Music, the trade body that collects music royalties, has brought the six-month dispute to an end.

It began when YouTube accused the PRS of proposing exorbitant new payment terms and led to the website fending off criticism from the PRS, which felt it was punishing British music fans by removing videos in the quest for greater profits.

Thousands of music videos are now being reinstated after being blocked from the site by YouTube’s parent company Google during the licensing wrangle.

But while this conflict has been resolved, another dispute has erupted over the digital future of the music industry.

A rift has opened between music’s creators and its record labels, with a broad alliance of musicians, songwriters and producers fiercely criticising the business secretary Lord Mandelson’s plans to cut off the broadband connections of internet users who illegally download music.

In a statement seen by the Guardian, a coalition of bodies representing a range of stars including Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John and Damon Albarn attacks the proposals as expensive, illogical and “extraordinarily negative”.

The Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (Basca) and the Music Producers Guild (MPG) have joined forces to oppose the proposals to reintroduce the threat of disconnection for persistent file sharers, which was ruled out in the government’s Digital Britain report in June.

The plans have already been attacked by privacy campaigners, internet service providers and a range of MPs, some of whom accuse the business secretary of being influenced by secret meetings with senior figures from the music and film industry, a charge he denies.

The coalition accuses the government of being backward looking, saying there is “little support from logic” in proposals to cut off file sharers – a move welcomed by the record companies and UK Music, the umbrella body for the entire industry.

The statement says: “We vehemently oppose the proposals being made and suggest that the stick is now in danger of being way out of proportion to the carrot. The failure of 30,000 US lawsuits against consumers and the cessation of the pursuit of that policy should be demonstration enough that this is not a policy that any future-minded UK government should pursue.”

There has been an explosion in file sharing in the last decade, with albums being swapped hundreds of thousands of times over the internet – Lady Gaga’s The Fame was swapped 388,000 times on P2P site Pirate Bay within seven days of its release. But there is little agreement in the music industry about how the problem should be tackled.

The BPI, the body representing record labels, argues that the UK’s 7 million file sharers cost the industry an estimated £200m a year and called Mandelson’s proposals “a step forward”.

But Patrick Racklow, the chief executive of Basca, said those involved in music had to look for new ways of licensing new music technologies, rather than fighting them. “The problems the music industry faces will not be dealt with effectively through legislation,” he said. “We can’t support these proposals because we don’t think it will work, it will cost too much and is far too blunt a tool.”

Research suggesting that people who file share also buy more music provided hope, he said. “The music industry is quite a scary place to be at the moment and we don’t know what it will look like in 10 years’ time, but if we find ways of licensing, new ways of doing things will evolve. What we can’t do is try to push things forward by looking back.”

Deals such as the one struck between YouTube and PRS, as well as licensing agreements with music-streaming websites such as Spotify and We7, may provide light at the end of the tunnel for the industry, proving that compromises can be made if consumer demands are considered.

Patrick Walker, YouTube’s director of video partnerships, said the dispute had been regrettable, but that the service was committed to building relationships with the music industry. “This deal provides a positive example that people can come together with the objective of satisfying user demands,” he said. “It is a very fast-moving area and we need to make sure we don’t retrench but remain flexible so that everyone can benefit.”

Andrew Shaw, the managing director of broadcast and online at PRS, said the organisation was delighted that music videos were back on YouTube. “We hope it is the first of many deals with other services so that music can get out there in whatever way people want to listen to it, while making sure our members get paid,” he said.

Both organisations were vague about the agreement, but music industry analyst Mark Mulligan, vice-president of Forrester Research, said the disclosure that a lump-sum deal had been reached suggested the terms were more favourable to YouTube than PRS.

The YouTube deal and the musicians’ condemnation of plans to prosecute file sharers were indicative of the fundamental power shift happening in the music industry, he said.

“We are in a period of transition, and traditional business models are being reassessed,” he said. “The position of the record labels is inherently weaker because of the falling value of recorded music and that gives the other people in the equation, including artists, managers and producers, more power. What we are seeing here is those players flexing their muscles, which is only possible because the record labels are weakening.”

Sound and fury: industry’s uphill struggle

In 1999 the music business was booming, CDs were flying off the shelves and, even if the Backstreet Boys were at the top of the charts, the music industry felt like a good place to be. Few people were aware that at the Northeastern University in Boston student Shawn Fanning was creating an online music file sharing service that would transform the music landscape forever. Napster – as the service was called – allowed people to easily share their MP3 files, cutting out the record labels and paying little heed to copyright. For a music industry which had long complained that home taping was killing music, this was devastation of a different order.

Napster was soon followed by similar websites KaZaA and Gnutella and, as the potential of filesharing to undermine the record sales became clear, the music industry’s reaction was quick and brutal.

In 2001 Napster was shut down by a US court order, but it had paved the way for other peer-to-peer file-sharing programmes, which continue to plague record labels today. A year later Apple’s iPod was launched, instantly allowing music fans to carry hundreds of albums with them in digital form. It was followed in 2003 by the launch of the iTunes store, providing a legal online store for people to buy digital music. It was arguably too late. Profits were plummeting, and by 2007 British album sales had dropped 10.4% on the previous year.

In 2004 global revenue from CD and DVD sales was around $32bn (£20bn), by 2008 that had dropped to $22bn and by 2012 it is expected to drop to about $11bn.

New ways of getting music online began to appear. MySpace debuted in 2004, providing a new platform for bands to interact directly with fans, allowing them to post music that could be listened to instantly. In the same year, digital single sales surpassed physical single sales for the first time. In 2008 Spotify, a legal ad-funded online streaming service, was launched allowing music fans to listen to hundreds of thousands of tracks and albums instantly, and for free.

Video games like Guitar Hero, released in 2005, began boosting music sales for some artists. As CD sales continue to fall today artists are making more money than ever from concerts – figures from PRS for Music revealed that UK music tour revenues increased by 30% last year. As a result, record labels are increasingly trying to sign artists on “360º contracts” that take a cut of merchandising, live music, and sponsorship deals.

The industry continues to look for new ways to make money in the digital age. In June the cable company Virgin Media announced the launch of an unlimited download service in partnership with the world’s largest music company, Universal, which would allow subscribers to stream and download as many tracks as they want for £10-£15 a month.

Source: The Guardian

The YouTube War Is Over

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

YouTube/Google have finally come to an agreement with PRS, but don’t expect to find out the details any time soon.

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Access all areas … the big names are back on YouTube. Photograph: David J. Green/Alamy

After long, drawn-out negotiations, PRS for Music and YouTube have finally come to an agreement over rates. It’s good news for British music fans, since YouTube’s blocking of premium music videos on their site will now be lifted. What it means for songwriters financially is still a mystery however, since the agreement is covered by a Non-Disclosure Agreement.


According to sources close to the negotiations, Google/YouTube took the NDA to another level by insisting that the people at the negotiating table would not even be allowed to tell the PRS board what the agreement is (although the PRS say they would never pass anything without it being seen and signed off by their board). It’s rumoured that YouTube only wanted two people to know – one YouTube rep and one PRS rep. It makes you wonder what information can be so sensitive as to push requests for secrecy that far. For a company that is all about sharing information, it’s somewhat ironic that Google are so unwilling to share any of their own.

Of course, insisting on NDAs is common practice in business, mainly because of competition laws. We can only speculate why the parties involved in the YouTube/PRS negotiations use them. YouTube may not want anyone to know what they’re paying for the premium music video streams (they don’t pay for user generated content), as it would set precedent for future negotiations with other companies. All the PRS can tell me is that “it was a lump sum deal and both sides feel they’ve got the best they can”. I said in a blogpost back in May that YouTube wanted to pay a flat fee – and not the lowered rate of 0.085p per stream the PRS came up with. From what I can gather from the PRS, it looks like YouTube got their way. In other words, the more successful YouTube is, the less the songwriters are going to get paid per stream (ie they get the same amount of money regardless). I suspect the PRS’s reason for signing an NDA maybe to spare them the wrath of their members and to not set a dangerously low precedent for future negotiations with other companies.

The increased use of NDAs in pretty much every deal that is struck between music services and record labels (and the PRS) has become a huge thorn in the side of artists and songwriters – and their managers. They argue that these deals are being done on their behalf, since it’s their product that is on offer, and so they have a right to know the details of any agreement. Many believe record labels are hiding behind NDAs, so as to not pay the artists the correct royalties. It’s no surprise that artists and managers have a lack of trust towards labels, as the history of the record industry is littered with examples of artists getting shafted.

Patrick Rackow, chief executive of Basca (the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters) says: “Basca is not in favour of deals being done the terms of which cannot even be disclosed to the PRS board, because of conflicts or potential conflicts of interest. PRS for Music publishes its rates for online use and that should be that. The same applies to deals which are being done directly by the major publishers and record companies. How can royalties due to composers and artists be properly audited if the terms of the deals upon which they are based are not disclosed?”

A major music attorney I spoke to says: “Basca are free to say what they want, as they hold no power and have nothing to lose. They’re like the Green Party opposing big bank bonuses. They don’t have to deal with the reality of how business is done.”

But it’s not just Basca who have concerns. Brian Message, the head of the Music Managers Forum and manager of Radiohead, says: “As our industry continues to evolve and grapple with the jaw-dropping pace of technological change, it is imperative that those that profit from the artist/fan relationship do so with full disclosure to both the creators of the art we work with and the consumers without whom there would be no industry.

“Whether selling concert tickets, or striking new, innovative deals for the sale of recorded music with mobile phone partners,” he continues, “we all need to move on from the culture of Non-Disclosure Agreements, unclear pricing structures and the like. The adoption of a transparent approach has to be good for the industry as a whole and good for culture.”

So what happens if information is leaked, despite an NDA being signed? Music attorney Tom Frederikse, who has been (and still is) involved in many digital music service negotiations, says that NDAs are known to have “great bluff value”, for the companies insisting on them. They’re used to scare people into keeping schtum. He says that, in reality, they’re very difficult to enforce. “You can’t take a company to court for leaking information, only the person doing the leaking, which limits the possible pay-outs considerably. And how do you quantify the damage being done by a leak?”

The manager of a major UK act, who wants to remain anonymous, tells me that he predicts there’ll be a big lawsuit in the pipeline. “We wouldn’t take on Google. No one can fight them and win. They’re too powerful. But there will be an artist suing one of the majors,” he says.

Another manager says: “We need an artist to take an audit all the way, so as to set a precedent. But who’s going to do it? It’s going to cost a fortune, and most artists are afraid of alienating the label they’re signed to – that’s why they tend to settle.” (This is what happened in the case of 30 Seconds to Mars, for example) “It’ll most likely be a very successful artist who is out of their record deal and doesn’t care.”

Any volunteers?

Interesting comments and question & answer - follow the link below:

Source: The Guardian

Monday Inspirations

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

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Monday Inspirations
Here are 3 weekly ideas for song lyric, poems, instrumental titles, photos, video, short story or anything they inspire you to create.  Use the title if you like & make something!

52.  Cut The Gravy Train Baby
Cause you’re getting fat
The gravy train baby
I don’t like you like that
The gravy train baby
As a matter of fact
Cut The Gravy Train Baby
Or I ain’t comin’ back!

53.  Bite The Buzz
My dogs chase flies through the house, hoping to swallow a live one.  It’s worse on the patio when they go after low and slow flying bumble bees, or fast big black wasps.  Today I told Princess Ada, “Don’t Bite The Buzz.”  It’s a great playful children’s title or = bite the buzz can refer to = the gossip, the high, the come-on or the Hollywood buzz.

54.  Stargazin’ With You (a haiku & great title for a love piece)
Stargazin’ With You (5 syllables)
Reach my hands inside your shirt (7 syllables)
Warmth as the air cools (5 syllables)

Most Important Video Game Ever Made

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

ALL TOGETHER NOW - LET’S PLAY THE GAME MOM!!! 

Harmonix/MTV Games

The pixelated Paul McCartney, left, and George Harrison in their mop top period, in The Beatles: Rock Band.

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Published: September 1, 2009
THERE may be no better way to bait a baby boomer than to be anything less than totally reverential about the Beatles. So the news that the lads from Liverpool were taking fresh form in a video game (a video game!) called The Beatles: Rock Band struck some of the band’s acolytes as nothing less than heresy.


 

Luckily, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with the widows of George Harrison and John Lennon, seem to understand that the Beatles are not a museum piece, that the band and its message ought never be encased in amber. The Beatles: Rock Band is nothing less than a cultural watershed, one that may prove only slightly less influential than the band’s famous appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964. By reinterpreting an essential symbol of one generation in the medium and technology of another, The Beatles: Rock Band provides a transformative entertainment experience.

In that sense it may be the most important video game yet made.

Never before has a video game had such intergenerational cultural resonance. The weakness of most games is that they are usually devoid of any connection to our actual life and times. There is usually no broader meaning, no greater message, in defeating aliens or zombies, or even in the cognitive gameplay of determining strategy or solving puzzles.

Previous titles in the Rock Band and Guitar Hero series have already done more in recent years to introduce young people to classic rock than all the radio stations in the country. But this new game is special because it so lovingly, meticulously, gloriously showcases the relatively brief career of the most important rock band of all time. The music and lyrics of the Beatles are no less relevant today than they were all those decades ago, and by reimagining the Beatles’ message in the unabashedly modern, interactive, digital form of now, the new game ties together almost 50 years of modern entertainment.

With all due respect to Wii Sports, no video game has ever brought more parents together with their teenage and adult children than The Beatles: Rock Band likely will in the months and years to come.

One Friday evening last month I invited a gaggle of 20-something hipsters (I’m 36) to my apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to try the game. After 15 minutes one 25-year-old said, “I’m going to have to buy this for my parents this Christmas, aren’t I?” After nine hours we had completed all of the game’s 45 songs in one marathon session. On Saturday afternoon, I woke up to watch a 20-year-old spend three hours mastering the rolling, syncopated drum sequences in “Tomorrow Never Knows.” Thirty-six hours later, near dawn Monday morning, there were still a few happy stragglers in my living room belting out “Back in the U.S.S.R.” Good thing my neighbors were away for the weekend.

I grew up in Woodstock, N.Y., steeped in classic rock, so I had a head start on my younger band mates. (I suspect many parents will enjoy having a similar leg up on their progeny.) Yet I watched the same transformation all weekend long. We would start a song like “Something” or “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and as it began, they would say, “Oh yeah, that one.” Then at the end there would literally be a stunned silence before someone would say something unprintable, or simply “Wow” as they fully absorbed the emotional intensity and almost divine melodies of the Beatles.

Not only was the game serving to reintroduce this music, but by leading the players through a schematic version of actually creating the songs, it was also doing so in a much more engaging way than merely listening to a recording. It is an imperfect analogy, but listening to a finished song is perhaps like being served a finished recipe: you know it tastes great even if you have no sense of how it was created.

By contrast, playing a music game like Rock Band is a bit closer to following a recipe yourself or watching a cooking show on television. Sure, the result won’t be of professional caliber (after all, you didn’t go to cooking school, the equivalent of music lessons), but you may have a greater appreciation for the genius who created the dish than the restaurantgoer, because you have attempted it yourself.

Previous music games have been about collections of songs. The Beatles: Rock Band is about representing and reoffering an entire worldview encapsulated in music. The developers at Harmonix Music Systems have translated the Beatles’ scores and tablature into a form that is accessible while also conveying the visceral rhythm of the music. In its melding of source material and presentation, The Beatles: Rock Band is sheer pleasure. The game is scheduled to be released by MTV Games for the PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 consoles on Wednesday, the same day the remastered Beatles catalog is slated to be released on CD.

Mechanically it is almost identical to previous Rock Band games. One player sings into a microphone, replacing the original lead vocals, while another plays an electronic drum kit and two more play ersatz guitar and bass. (The new game supports up to two additional singers for a potential maximum of six players.)

In the game’s story line mode, players inhabit the various Beatles as they progress from the Cavern Club to Ed Sullivan’s stage; Shea Stadium; the Budokan in Japan; Abbey Road; and their final appearance on the Apple Corps roof in 1969. Unlike in previous Rock Band games, players are not booed off the virtual stage for a poor performance; rather the screen cuts to a declarative “Song failed” message. Previously unreleased studio chatter provides a soundtrack for some of the menu and credits screens, but there is no direct interaction with avatars of John, Paul, George or Ringo.

The colorful psychedelic dreamscapes used to represent the band’s in-studio explorations are particularly evocative, though they serve mostly to entertain onlookers rather than the players themselves (who will be concentrating on getting the music right rather than looking at the pretty pictures).

Of course almost nothing could be more prosaic than pointing out that playing a music game is not the same as playing a real instrument. Yet there is something about video games that seems to inspire true anger in some older people.

Why is that? Is there still really a fear that a stylized representation of reality detracts from reality itself? In recent centuries every new technology for creating and enjoying music — the phonograph, the electric guitar, the Walkman, MTV, karaoke, the iPod — has been condemned as the potential death of “real” music.

But music is eternal. Each new tool for creating it, and each new technology for experiencing it, only brings the joy of more music to more people. This new game is a fabulous entertainment that will not only introduce the Beatles’ music to a new audience but also will simultaneously bring millions of their less-hidebound parents into gaming. For that its makers are entitled to a deep simultaneous bow, Beatles style.

Source: NYTimes

Advertising Losses

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

US media lose $10 billion advertising in first half (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Financial Times ^ | September 1, 2009 | Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson
Posted on Wed Sep 2 15:36:13 2009 by abb


More than $10bn in advertising disappeared from US media markets in the first six months of this year, according to new data that show intense pressure on media owners and ad agencies as they search for other business models.

Preliminary figures from Nielsen show a 15.4 per cent year-on-year decline in US advertising revenues, the largest drop for any period in the decade since the marketing and media measurement group began compiling such reports.

The study showed sharp differences in the behaviour of different media and product categories, with cable television the only medium on which ad spend increased, up 1.5 per cent across English language channels and up 0.6 per cent for Spanish channels.

By contrast “spot” advertising, booked at short notice, fell by 17.4 per cent in the top 100 local TV markets and by 32.1 per cent in the 110 next largest markets. Even internet advertising, from which Nielsen’s excludes search engine spending, slipped 1 per cent.

Newspapers, for some time the weakest media performers because of the online migration of classified advertising, turned in further heavy declines. Local and national newspapers saw 13.2 per cent and 22.8 per cent falls respectively, as Sunday supplement advertising dropped 22.4 per cent nationally and 45.7 per cent locally.

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(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com

The Music Festival’s Midlife Crisis

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

DARRYL DYCK/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

With few exceptions, this year has been a dismal one for organizers of music festivals.

Once upon a time, fans were crazy for multi-day music festivals. But 40 years after Woodstock enthusiasm may be running dry. What happened?

Aug 27, 2009 04:30 AM Staff Reporter

If Woodstock represented the North American music festival in its infancy, this year’s Virgin Festival is its midlife crisis.

Unlike the most famous of festivals 40 years ago, this weekend’s V-Fest has been acting strangely as of late – making impulsive decisions, fretting over the economy, and doing whatever it can to shake the sinking feeling that it’s just not as popular as it used to be.

But in a summer concert season that industry insiders say is perhaps the worst on record, it’s little surprise that this weekend’s event was scaled back.

“I’ve been doing this for 25 years and I think this is the hardest time it’s ever been to put on a concert,” says music promoter Elliot Lefko. “And festivals in general are one of the hardest things to do in the music business.”

With few exceptions, this year has been a dismal one for festival organizers. Many were forced to slash tickets costs. Edgefest, for example, cut prices in half, even though the show was held at the same venue (Downsview Park) and featured roughly the same number of acts as last year.

Others, like the recent inaugural 1000 Islands Music Festival, have seen fan turnout rates at about one-third of what was anticipated.

That brings us back to Virgin Festival. Citing fan complaints about the long drive to Burl’s Creek Park north of Barrie, on Aug. 14 Virgin organizers announced the two-day concert would move from the camper-friendly field to Toronto’s Molson Amphitheatre.

The move makes the show more accessible to anyone within the city, but it also downsizes the event. The Amphitheatre holds about 5,000 less people per day, and many of the tickets had to be marked down.

Other V-Fests across the nation have faced difficulties too. Calgary’s festival this month saw a 10 per cent drop in attendance from last year, and a July 4 concert in Halifax drew large numbers only when it was announced the show would be free after headliners The Tragically Hip withdrew from the lineup.

Unlike the proverbial 45-year-old accountant who buys a Harley on a whim, the music festival has more than just itself to blame for its midlife crisis. Reached by phone this week by the Star, several insiders gave some thought as to why festivals have taken a hit this summer.

Recession: Most promoters point to the sputtering economy as a chief reason for the festival downturn. This problem is magnified in cities like Toronto, where a seemingly endless line of concerts and other exhibitions provide plenty of cheaper entertainment options.

“People only have a certain amount of dollars to spend on entertainment,” says Ross Winters, a program director at the Edge.

This is especially bad news for shows like the Virgin Festival, which is sandwiched between the busy midsummer festival season and sold-out fall shows for big bands like U2 and Metallica.

“There’s already been a lot of money spent on concerts this summer,” Winters notes.

Who’s on the ticket: Having a strong lineup of popular bands is always one of the best ways to draw fans to a festival, organizers admit. But even with some of the biggest names in music on the bill, there’s no guarantee the fans will show.

This month’s 1000 Islands festival is a prime example. Held in the town of Gananoque, east of Kingston, many fans were skeptical the concert could draw the big names it had promised, organizers say.

“I don’t believe that people actually thought Snoop Dogg and Akon were going to come to play this festival on a farm,” says E1 Entertainment’s Eric Alper, who helped organize the concert.

Other factors can hurt too. Though Virgin Festival headliners Nine Inch Nails are among the kings of alternative rock, they already performed in the region twice in the past 10 months, meaning even some diehard fans might feel less inclined to shell out $60 to see them again so soon.

Weather: For an industry that relies on good weather, this summer’s storms and cool temperatures have been devastating. Typically, most festivals sell about one-third of their tickets in the week before a show, promoters say. But when forecasts are constantly calling for rain, those sales can dry up in a hurry.

“No matter how great the concert is, people don’t want to spend a lot of time outside if it’s raining,” says Alper. “They just don’t want to sit around all day in the soaking wet.”

Worse still for organizers, the psychological effects of the rain can affect ticket sales for concerts that are months away, says Nathan Rosenberg, the chief marketing officer for Virgin Canada. “This is going to sound quite weird, but on days where it’s sunny, we sell more tickets than on days when it’s raining,” he says.

Logistics: Having to drive for hours to get to a concert is bad enough, but throw in the long lineups for entrance, food and beer, and many fans might rather just listen to their favourite CDs at home. The solutions aren’t always easy.

“You want people to have a really good time and just get them in as fast as possible,” says Lefko, a former Edgefest promoter from its days at the old Molson Park in Barrie. “But you want to make it as safe as possible too.” This leads to slow traffic on the roadways and, of course, long lines at the beer tent as security and police check for IDs.

Culture: “The heart of the concert business has always been the outdoor festivals in Europe,” says Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of Pollstar magazine, a trade publication. But aside from two or three annual American gigs, that success has never materialized in North America.

Part of the reason, Bongiovanni says, is that North Americans are more accustomed to bigger indoor shows. But because most European cities lack a big concert venue, their citizens are often forced outside, where they learn to enjoy the bad weather when it hits.

“(Europeans) may be a little bit heartier in their willingness to put up with mud and rain,” he says. “It’s almost a tradition in the summer in Europe.”

So is this the death of the music fest?

The good news is, despite the factors working against them, promoters will continue to run big North America festivals. But just like that middle-aged accountant on a motorbike, they may be going through some serious changes.

“I don’t think festivals are dying,” Winters says. “I just think they have to be done differently.”

Ticket prices will continue to drop, the experts agree, but so will the fee for bands. Corporate advertising might also go up.

In the end, Winters says, it’s innovative ideas like the “meet-the-band tent” at this year’s Edgefest that will likely keep the fans coming out.

“Like everything else, these festivals have to be rethought and innovated on,” he says. “People who put them on will just have to figure these things out.”

Source: The Star