Re: The Who Mailing List Digest V6 #116

["L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>]

>>Jokes aside, I believe somebody did point out that JAE has booked a large 
>>venue for one stop on the tour.
>>
>But would they do it only once? How much rehearsal for one show (and the 
>BBC thing, I guess)?

There's a possibility of Woodstock, too.  I dunno.  Do you suppose they 
might do a "soft" opening? <shrug>  There was some mention of 
experimentation on the Quad tour, with different staging and tech elements 
and such.  Maybe they'd want to try a few things out before they started off 
on a major tour--and lack of promotion might be an indication they just want 
a small "test" audience.  :)  It's a fun theory, anyhow.


>>This isn't just venality.  It means he understands the music business--as 
>>it's existed in our time, anyhow.  You have to be reasonably successful 
>>before you can get backing, or contracts, or invitations, or whatever to 
>>perform.
>
>I'll agree if you were talking about a newer or lessor artist, but PT has a 
>built-in fanbase for his worst effort...that's us, folks, take a bow...and 
>he also has the money to finance any project he desires, not to mention the 
>rep with successes like the Tommy play to get the money too. According to 
>the press, Lucas financed the new Star Wars movie (although I've also heard 
>it's not too good), and it seems to me an artist should do this ASAP in 
>their career. Then they would have complete control.

Financing something yourself does give you complete control, but it's 
considered risky business for a big tour.  (Lucas is doing it because he's 
got a sure thing and he doesn't want to share the profits.)  If you're a 
little band with a couple of amps and a van, then it's not much to go on a 
little tour, but when you're hauling around a hundred semi truck loads of 
stuff and a bunch of people, then that's something else.  Mounting a major 
tour might take all the money TED has together, much less what Pete has.  
You have to consider, too, that what they have isn't all available to 
spend--a lot of it must be tied up in investments.

JAE seems to be going that route, and you'd figure he's covering expenses, 
or else he wouldn't keep it up--but it's a little tour and he's had the 
foresight to get sponsorship.  RD's celebration tour was more elaborate and 
lost $3M, which he had to absorb himself.  You can't risk that kind of loss 
often--it's too easy to go broke.


> > Times may be changing to favor the artists, but until they do, let Pete 
>work for his hits.
>
>As I see it, things are less artist-friendly now than they were in the`60's 
>and early `70's. In the `60's, the old codgers didn't have a clue so the 
>artists pretty much did whatever they wanted...Unfortunately, by the late 
>`70's Rock music had become rather corporate.

Right now it still is, and the record companies are trying hard to maintain 
their monoply.  They've been undermined by technology, through, so they'll 
have to do some fancy footwork to keep their advantage.  Suddenly other 
marketing possibilities are opening up, and especially older, established 
artists/groups might find they can do better recording and marketing on 
their own.  The Artist Formerly Known As is apparently going to give it a 
try on his own.  Tom Petty's sort of pushing at the boundaries, too, and 
looks like he's going to talk about it on VH-1.


keets


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