Imogen getting squeezed on tour

posted by Jeff | Friday, June 4, 2010, 10:52 PM | comments: 0

Gonch just made another post about how f'd up the music industry is when it comes to actually trying to make a living at it. Coincidentally, I saw an article today about Imogen Heap, and how screwed she's getting trying to tour. (Also: Imogen on the BBC.)

The articles point out an even worse situation than the labels not getting it, and that's the completely fucked up arrangement with tickets and venues in this country. If the Ticketmaster/Live Nation monopoly doesn't own a venue, they have exclusivity agreements with it. The $26 ticket becomes nearly $50 by the time you pay all the extra fees to Ticketmaster. What exactly is convenient about a fucking convenience fee? It's only convenient for Ticketmaster because it doesn't have any value to anyone else.

I first saw Imogen at some little club in suburban Detroit a few years ago with Kara and Tobe (sleeping on his couch), and I honestly don't think we paid more than fifteen bucks for each ticket. This time we paid nearly $50 to see the forthcoming show at a theater here in Seattle, and it annoys the piss out of me that a self-funded artist, who has a hundred times the talent as the hacks being pushed by record companies, will see so little of that money.

I suspect Schuyler Fisk is in a similar boat (imagine what the fans of those two could do together), in that she apparently told the labels to piss off and she does her own thing. We saw her in a tiny little dive in Cleveland last year the day after her album came out. Again, I don't think we paid more than $15. I'd gladly pay more to see her or Imogen any day, if I knew they were actually going to get some of that money. I get a lot of joy out of music, and I can't put a price on that.

So buy the albums (or MP3's), reluctantly buy the tickets, and be sure to get a T-shirt or something.


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