Sony Music Entertainment's Australian affiliate quietly launched a new touring division called Day 1 Entertainment intended to support the upcoming Simon and Garfunkel tour down under.
This is a particularly interesting step that seems to support the "360 deal" idea where a record label would be the sole supplier for everything that an act would ever need, from management to booking to tour support and merchandise.
For a label to warrant a piece of the action of all the revenue streams that an artist receives, it has to provide value in return. Day 1 Entertainment is a way to get into the business away from the media of the US in case of any problems. The fact that they'd begin with such a high-profile act is dubious, but if they should fall on their face we're a lot less likely to hear about it.
I doubt that a high profile act like S&G are paying a premium for this service, but you can bet that any newly signed act to Sony will if the business is a success.
