Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Gigs - not so hot right now
Interesting that both the Irish Times' The Ticket and Guardian's Music and Film both featured articles on the demise of the live music scene on either side of the Irish sea last Friday. Fans in Ireland have been moaning for several years about gig prices, with an endless array of anecdotes along the lines of "I saw Arcade Fire in a village in Transdiniestra for 14 zhalenznys, which is about 3 cent", I hate stupid MCD". We would rightly have been tempted to suggest that the recent difficulties facing live promoters in Ireland might have something to do with the outrageous profiteering that goes on here. Jim Carroll's Ticket article mentions promoters giving away tickets to give the impression that there is sufficient demand in the more specialised end of the gig market, and numerous examples of gigs that have massively undersold in Dublin this year along with gigs being cancelled "due to unforeseen circumstances". Yeah, it's your third show in Dublin in three months, nobody wants to go to your show. Was it really that unforeseen like??? This jibe brings me to the crux of the problem, namely that touring has simply become too commonplace. The Guardian article from last Friday confirms that the drying up of the live market is more than an Irish phenomenon. The problem is actually worryingly simple: people don't want to pay for music anymore, so bands figured out a couple of years ago that the only way to make a living was to supplement declining album sales with increased gig sales. But now we have a new problem - when everyone thinks like this, there are simply too many gigs. While people may have been willing to buy an album on spec in the past, the temptation to get up off your couch on a cold windy evening and cycle into Whelan's to see a band you "kind of" like, or "flicked by their MySpace once", is just not there. The conundrum of over-supply brings us to the next problem: whither the music industry? One avenue is some sort of arrangement where legal downloads such as iTunes regain the popularity once owned by CD sales. While iTunes sales are certainly booming, I think unfortunately that humanity is such that while things are available for free, the majority will avail for free. So if there is no return to making a living for the average band from studio releases, and the live scene is collapsing like the Champion's league group stages, what's the solution? Government bailout anyone??
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It was only a matter of time before gig fatigue began to take hold. We're very fortunate to have so much choice and availability in the live music scene. I also greatly admire the promoters that are willing to take a monetary/reputation risk. The solution to rekindle the magic has to be a reduction in the frequency of gigs. It is inevitable that as the amount of gigs increases that certain promoters will begin to feel the strain as crowd numbers become sparsely spread. This will result in fewer promoters and fewer gigs. It will return much of the anticipation and excitement that has been lost to over-exposure. It's hard to savour a gig when you are almost instantly on the way to another. Too much of a good thing...
ReplyDeleteI find it strange to be writing about having too much options. I suppose it's just the reality of the situation. If it were the other way around we'd all be far more annoyed. With all the music/ideas/trends being projected at people it's increasing difficult to be able to have a chance to enjoy something special that strikes a chord with you.
I hadn't been to gig for almost 3 months until recently and I have enjoyed those recent gigs all the more for the absence and the sense of anticipation that should be rightly part of the experience.
P.S. Luciano rocked yesterday!