RE: Tickets / Clear Channel

[Alan McKendree <amck@thenetdr.com>]

>Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 11:31:28 -0000
>From: "Nigel Morton" <nigel@adastey.demon.co.uk>
>
>Here in the UK two of the largest agencies ITB (International Talent 
>Booking) and Solo
>were recently purchased by Clear Channel...In Holland they recently 
>purchased MOJO / Double You the largest
>agency there and also the biggest promoters; in Belgium they've purchased
>Make It Happen and their chief competitors Herman Schurmans; in Sweden
>they've bought EMA -

The crucial and always-overlooked point is that there is a SELLING 
side to transactions as well as a buying side.  CC couldn't have 
bought these companies if the owners hadn't sold.  Perhaps CC simply 
offered enough money that the owners decided to retire to Majorca and 
let someone else deal with all the headaches.  No guns? no threats? 
no fraud? no fault.

>[snip] The list is absolutely endless of what
>CC have the potential to influence.  I'm not saying that they have OR that
>they do BUT I am saying that with such absolute power they can say to any
>act "do it our way or you don't get to do it at all - ANYWHERE!!"

That's dramatic, but it don't really happen that way at all.  With a 
large amount of capital any company can go on a buying binge (e.g., 
the dot-com boom, 1995-2000).  It's a completely different problem to 
keep one's holdings and make successes of them, and *that* can only 
be done by satisfying one's customers.  When one's customers consist 
of lots of different groups -- promoters, venue management, radio 
stations, musical acts, and not least, the ticket-buying public -- 
that's a LOT of balls to keep juggling at once.  If CC can do it, 
they'll make a profit in every direction by satisfying every customer 
-- sounds like a good deal for everyone.  More likely, they'll fail 
in some area or another and create a profitable area for a competitor 
to offer a better deal, or simply implode (cf. the late dot-com bust, 
2000 RIP.  Anybody still worried about, say, www.agillion.com or 
www.netpliance.com taking over the world??  Both bought 
million-dollar SuperBowl ads in 2000 and sank beneath the waves less 
than a year thereafter.)  I believe BW's recent post itself mentioned 
that CC are having trouble making a profit after expanding to over 
1,200 radio stations in the U.S.  So don't fret, conspiracy theorists.

>Oh where
>oh where has rock n roll rebellion gone?

It's grown up and is now running CC.

Cheers,
-- 
Alan
"That's unbelievable, if that's true."
    --Howard Stern, 5/25/00