The recent state of the American economy has clearly taken a drastic toll on the music industry within these last few years, but it is this summer that I am finally starting to notice these copious changes more than ever before.
With record sales dropping it is unreasonable not to expect an increase in tour ticket prices, as it is becoming more and more expensive for bands to put themselves out on the road. Many bands are touring throughout the country just hoping to make ends meet and break even, depending mostly on merchandise sales in order to gas up their tour buses and stock up on food for the following day. Needless-to-say, unless you belong to a mainstream, radio rock or hip-hop, well-recognized band, touring is no longer the glamorous, exciting life of the rock star that is was one considered to be, but rather, the new-found struggle of the rock star.
This summer alone we have seen many tour cancellations (or at the very least show cancellations throughout a tour); we have seen bands (or certain members of bands) drop off of tours right in the middle of them and head back home; we have seen more promotional ticket-pricing deals than ever before, and we have seen infinitely less “SOLD OUT” signs hanging above the marquees of our favorite venues.
With big, national summer tours there are usually many surprises to be anticipated: surprise special guests, longer sets, meet-and-greet contests, etc. but this summer seems to be lacking in many of those special little concert additives due to their expenses. Instead of a trend of tours featuring very popular mainstream bands headlining, with a few smaller up-and-coming bands that you may or may not have already heard of supporting them, artists are choosing to couple off with other bands on the same level, pairing up for joint-headlining tours and sharing the limelight in order to guarantee decent ticket sales. The need for a band that is already doing well to bring out fellow popular artists on the road with them is a major setbacks for smaller bands that have been yet to fulfill their potential, as these tours are lost opportunities for them to gain better exposure.
The economic toll that has been taken on the music industry became most apparent to me while I was attending Warped Tour last week. Warped Tour is by and large one of the best ways to find young, impressionable, open-minded music enthusiasts and begin to develop a following. Newer artists can only hope to be lucky enough to be asked to be a part of the summer tour. In years past, many of these hopeful bands would attend the tour dates nearest to their home town, or follow the tour throughout a certain region, and spend their days at Warped Tour promoting their own band instead of enjoying the others. Typically, band members scatter throughout the venue and approach individuals to listen to some of their music. They then follow up with an attempt to sell their CD and usually hand out a postcard or business card to anyone who seemed to enjoy what they heard. Although I did come across a few new bands this way at Warped Tour last week, in summers past this seemed to be much more common place. But if it’s becoming expensive for the bands that are playing these big summer tours to remain a part of it, it is becoming that much more difficult for these undiscovered bands to get their names out there.
Touring expenses are not the only thing bands have had to cut back on as of late. Back in April I spoke with Danny Stevens, lead vocalist for The Audition, regarding the band’s latest release Self-Titled Album, which I had heard would include vocal appearances from Andrew McMahon of Jack’s Mannequin and Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low. Although that was the original plan, neither McMahon nor Gaskarth makes an appearance on the record. Stevens explained that his band and the singers were all really excited to work with each other (as they were already good friends) but that it just wouldn’t have been worth it at the time. He said it would have ended up costing his friends much too much money and time just to do them a favor. With that said, I am sure there are many other issues regarding recording costs at this time as well.
If you have anything to say regarding the economic state of the music industry, feel free to share in the comments section.
Post by Jillian Polak - Meet Me
A 21 year-old, full-time student at The College of New Jersey, majoring in Journalism/Professional Writing with a minor in Women's and Gender Studies. At TCNJ, she is a Co-Chair for CUBRat and is responsible for booking small-scale, intimate shows as part of a free concert series at the College.
