While the recorded music biz has started to embrace big data, the live space lags far behind
I largely listen to music (and especially live music!) to escape the world, turn off my brain for a few hours, and just live. The last thing I want is for it to turn into another overwhelming, time consuming, data mining experience that I have to worry about. Sometimes you just want to listen to a live band, or sit in a park, or have a burger and a beer by the water. Technology shouldn't be an annoyance you can't outrun, we have to leave some room for life. And, by the way, this shit is happening... Apple has been pushing it first with Ping (I think... I may be wrong about the name), and now with that follow feature on apple music... They won't stop pushing it, and others likely will too, and I'm dreading it. On the plus side, it will push me to go see even more local and unknown bands, I guess. It's just very annoying that nothing at all can be an organic escape anymore... Everything has to be measured and mined so it can be exploited. I used to catch an NBA game sometimes, then my team got good and tickets got scarce and very expensive, I went back in December for the first time in years... I was shocked... They're literally running commercials at the damn arena! "This timeout is brought to you by so and so gifts on the third floor! Stop in now for special offers!". There are personal injury lawyer billboards over the urinals... The whole thing feels like a huge cash grab and it takes you away from what should be a relaxing and fun experience. Now, I don't care about basketball, but I do care about music... If that happens to my music shows I'm going to be royally pissed off... All I want is a couple of hours of music so loud that I can't hear my phone go off as my boss texts me at 11pm on a Saturday to tell me I need to log in and fix another emergency that doesn't count as overtime.
Only read the first sentence so far, but this is the second time in the last week that I war reminded Veruca Salt and Live existed. Alright, just finished. I agree that point of purchase for tickets is a failure at this point. I wanted to see two concerts this year that I decided not to buy tickets for because I had to physically go to the box office while I had to be at work. There I would be entered into a lottery, and maybe I would get one of the tickets available for presale. You couldn't buy them online, because the artists wanted to try and reward dedicated fans by giving them a shot at "beating the bots" for the best seats. But for the most part, I don't need to be any more connected than I am now. If it's a small band, I will go up after the show and talk to them. If it's a big band that's not really an option, and it isn't like they are going to want to talk to all their fans anyway. Hell, if you really want to, you can tweet at them or something. What I do wish more bands did was record all of their concerts and make them available for purchase afterwards.
I agree. When I saw Pearl Jam, there was a lot of crowd interaction. People got brought on stage if it was their birthday. Someone had a Ramones shirt, so they played a couple of Ramones covers. Eddie Vedder told some story about his past drug problems and thanked the crowd for helping him stay clean. Stuff like that is more impactful to me than getting the equivalent of a tweet or a free drink like the author mentions.
LOL. Because in 1995, the recorded music industry WAS STILL MAKING MONEY. This article is all about inefficiencies without recognizing that all the customer facing bullshit the author wishes to see diminishes the profit margins and increases the overhead of the ticket vendor, the venue, the band or all three. Why don't concerts happen in a Town Called Perfect? Because they don't fucking have to. You see imperfections. Ticketmaster sees profit centers. The fact that the author references Veruca Salt demonstrates just how irrelevant she truly is. The average concert-goer was in diapers the last time Veruca Salt had a hit.The live music business can keep on cruising for a while longer, but eventually, it'll run out of gas. Superfans will still show up, but the casual fan will be drawn to experiences that feel more inclusive and rewarding. It’s not too late for the industry to start experimenting with data and connecting with their customers, but they need to act fast.
It fits for the purpose of her comparison, but yes, I was entertained by that reference as well. The fact that the author references Veruca Salt demonstrates just how irrelevant she truly is. The average concert-goer was in diapers the last time Veruca Salt had a hit.