ITGITC Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 I Hate Clear Channel Entertainment! They just sent me an email advertising a Bette Midler concert in my area. I clicked on the link just for kicks to find that they want as much as $151 per ticket PLUS $1.00 for Building facilities fee PLUS $10.80 for CONVENIENCE CHARGE!! I just wanna know - for WHO'S convenience? That's $163/ticket plus $2.50 if you want to get the tickets via email and use YOUR paper/ink to print them! Yesterday, I received the latest issue of Rolling Stone Magazine. They've got an article about Clear Channel there. It says that the guy who owns it and his two sons (one being a Harvard MBA) don't know SQUAT about music - and don't care. All they care about is the bottom line. They buy up radio stations and venues across the nation and then market the hell out their products to gouge people like you and me who just want to hear their favorite acts in concert! The article went on to say that all they're interested in is profits and to see the value of their stock continue to rise on the open market! It's another fine example of CORPORATE GREED folks! And it's KILLING the music business. Clear Channel has such a monopoly on the market, that if you are a musician who wants to put on a concert in this country, if you're not working through Clear Channel - YOU DON'T WORK! The Rolling Stone Magazine article went on to say that everything is about merchandise marketing at concerts. From T-shirts that employees wear advertising Clear Channel products, to the price of beer, concessions, and everything else - Clear Channel is GOING TO GET THEIR CUT! And then, as a slap in the face to the talent, Clear Channel GIVES AWAY SEATS to corporate clients and their 'guests'. These giveaways don't count on the seating roster and gross income that the talent gets a cut of! And it's amazing the numbers of free seats that Clear Channel does indeed give away. Of course, they want to pay the artist as little as possible. And if they give away seats, who cares? It's all about selling merchandise at ridiculously high profit margins (for Clear Channel) anyway! Those bastids! So if you can't afford to go to concerts anymore, and if every radio station that you tune to is playing the very same songs - you've got Clear Channel to thank for that! Used to be, there was some VARIETY on the FM dial. There was JAZZ and BLUEGRASS! But, alas, if you want to hear that music today, you've got to buy the CD and play it in your home or car - because chances are good, if the radio station is owned by Clear Channel, you WON'T be hearing jazz or bluegrass! That market is too small for them to make the margins that they can make off playing the same ol' playlist that the rest of the nation gets. Did I say that I abhore Clear Channel Entertainment? They are a PRIME EXAMPLE of the GREED that has overpowered the music industry and made folks like you and me turn OFF the radio! Who wants to listen to the same songs over and over and over again? Well, the suits at Clear Channel do because according to their marketing surveys, this is what works and this is what the general public wants. And if they're listening to this garbage on the radio, they're listening to the advertisements and ratings are going up, up, up and Clear Channel's stock value is too. USA Today recently had a graph showing the decline in the number of hours that Americans listen to music. In 1999, they report that each of us listened to about 290 hours of music. In 2002 it fell to 228 hours per person. In 2006 they project it will fall to 195 hours per person. And here's what we're listening to: Billboard Top 20 singles Data released on August 12 1. Lean Back, Terror Squad 2. Slow Motion, Juvenile (feat. Souja Slim) 3. Sunshine, Lil Flip feat. Lea 4. Turn Me On, Kevin Lyttle (feat. Spragga Benz) 5. Dip It Low, Christina Milian 6. Goodies, Ciara (feat. Petey Pablo) 7. Confessions Part II, Usher 8. Move Ya Body, Nina Sky (fea. Sasha) 9. My Place, Nelly (feat. Jaheim) 10. If I Aint Got You, Alicia Keys 11. The Reason, Hoobastank 12. I Like That, Houston feat. Chingy, Nate Dogg & I-20 13. Pieces of Me, Ashlee Simpson 14. Jesus Walks, Kanye West 15. Leave (Get Out), JoJo 16. Heaven, Los Lonely Boys 17. Diary, Alicia Keys (feat. Tony! Toni! Tone!) 18. Burn, Usher 19. This Love, Maroon5 20. She Will Be Loved, Maroon5 Credit: Billboard ====================================== Yuck! It just makes me want to PUKE! Is There Gas In The Car? "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." - Victor Hugo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve LeBlanc Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 Clear Channel sucks no doubt but it's not necessarily their fault Bette Midler's tickets are so damn expensive....the fact that people are willing to pay that much certainly factors into it as well. http://www.youtube.com/notesleb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 Hell, you'd have to pay ME at least that much money to sit through one of her shows . I'd also need a six pack or something to sedate me . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timobrien Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 The only thing to do is NOT buy any tickets for any Clear Channel shows. Make sure your family & friends do not buy any either. Find a way to let CC know too... a few tens of thousands of letters letting them know WHY there is a dropoff in ticket sales will give them the message. It's the only way to hit them... in the pocketbook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
where02190 Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 Originally posted by timobrien: The only thing to do is NOT buy any tickets for any Clear Channel shows. Make sure your family & friends do not buy any either.....and stock up on board games, you won't be going to see much....Clearchannel has their hands in jsut about everything that is label related. So unless you enjoy seeing that bar band doing covers of your fav pop star, there's little choice. Welcome to the 21st century. Hope this is helpful. NP Recording Studios Analog approach to digital recording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan South Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 That's $81.50 per boob. The Black Knight always triumphs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 Originally posted by Dan South: That's $81.50 per boob. Damn you for that visual, Dan ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiveMusic Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 I saw something recently and I don't recall who, it might have been Madonna. The t-shirts were going for $45. When I went to see Dylan, I actually did want to buy something. I finally decided on a cool poster for about $10, I think it was. I thought that was reasonable. Hell, it was DYLAN. > > > [ Live! ] < < < Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Force Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 Originally posted by Dan South: That's $81.50 per boob. Well, if you put it that way it must be a bargain! Steve Force, Durham, North Carolina -------- My Professional Websites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ITGITC Posted August 18, 2004 Author Share Posted August 18, 2004 I took another look at the article in Rolling Stone Magazine (Issue 956, September 2, 2004) tonight. One paragraph struck me as most poignant: "...(Clear Channel) at the end of 2003 controlled 1,182 radio stations 788,000 billboards and 103 venues in the U.S., not to mention an event-promotion business that sold more tickets in the first half of 2003 than its closest forty-nine competitors combined. There is no bigger company in the music business, and none with such close ties to conservative politics..." Clear Channel controls about seventy percent of all live events that are promoted in the United States. The owner, Lowry Mays, refused to be interviewed for the article. But he told Fortune Magazine in 2003 "We're not in the business of providing news and information. We're not in the business of providing well-researched music. We're simply in the business of selling our customers products." No other company in recent history has had so much power over what the world hears and so few top executives with a background in music. Scary stuff, huh? For more information, buy a copy of Rolling Stone Magazine, September 2, 2004 (unfortunately the article is not available on-line). Tom "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." - Victor Hugo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Force Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 Actually, to read what Clear Channel is all about I suggest you read their annnual SEC 10-k filings . Chock full of interesting tidbits. Steve Force, Durham, North Carolina -------- My Professional Websites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FULLREFUSAL Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 I want tornados and locusts and hurricanes and tidal waves and earthquakes to erase them all from the universe.......Motherf@#$%^&bastards!!! die die die die die die die die die die die die..... Have a nice day! www.seanmormelo.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
songrytr Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 Salon's Eric Boehlert has been writing about Clear Channel for a few years now. He's accumulated an impressive collection of articles . This isn't the political forum so I won't get into the issue of CC being a horn for the Bush administration. (but it's no secret that karl rove and the mays bros go waaaaaay back) that's all. this house is empty now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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