Live Nation Tries Another Promotion

Despite what you hear from the industry, concert attendance is flagging. While no new attendance numbers have been released, it's pretty apparent that the industry is plenty worried, given some of the promotions they're running.

The best example of this is concert promoter LiveNation (never a company known to give breaks to customers), who has just instituted yet another price concession, offering a one-price, all-inclusive ticket for $29.99, one that includes a lawn ticket, parking, all fees, and even a hot dog and soda on Wednesdays at their amphitheaters around the country. This on the heels of their "No service charge Wednesdays" indicates that maybe that promotion wasn't enough to lure customers to the cheap seats, so some additional enticements were required.

There's a lot of fat cats in the industry, not the least are the artists that command high prices that have gone ever higher every year. But those days may be coming to an end as concert-goers begin to watch their pennies. When the face value of a ticket is no longer the real price of that ticket, and you're overcharged at every turn while you're at the show, it's no wonder that music fans no longer run out to see anyone but their absolute favorite artists anymore.

Let's see if the promotion is extended to beyond Wednesdays or to other house seats as the summer goes along.

Live Nation Institutes "No Service Charge Wednesdays" Promotion

Concert promoter Live Nation is instituting No Service Charge Wednesdays beginning on June 3rd. They will eliminate the hated service charges on more than 5 million lawn seats at various amphitheater shows across the country.

Live Nation is not a company that normally does these things out of the kindness of their corporate heart, so it's fair to say that the downturn in concert attendance (see my post of May 12th) has something to do with this promotion. The promotion can be a smoke-screen however, since it's already been indicated to industry analysts that they'll make up for the shortfall by raising concession prices. The good thing for concert goers is that you don't have to buy a beer at the event the way you are forced to normally pay their exorbitant extra fees. With service charges, you don't go if you don't pay. With concessions, you just stay hungry or thirsty until later.

When asked the exact reason why the company was dropping their fees, a spokesman said, "Our June 3rd No Fee Wednesdays promotion is the biggest national promotion in the history of the company, so we think this is a great start. We encourage fans to take advantage of the huge savings that day. If they do, it will send a strong message to the music industry about how strongly consumers feel about ticket fees."

The last line is particularly interesting since they are the only area of the music industry that imposes extra service charges and fees. Does that mean that they got the message?

This is a good start that doesn't go far enough. It's only for one day a week, it's only for the cheap seats, and it still doesn't address ticket prices that have gotten out of hand. The best thing that could happen is for concert goers to ignore this promotion and drive concert attendance down during the lucrative summer months. Check back in August to see how we're doing.