Over the weekend, one of your Idolators went to a concert at a medium-sized venue in the suburbs; before the opening act, an announcement came over the venue’s sound system reminding the audience that cameras and other digital-recording devices were banned from being used during the show.
Then the house lights went down, the opening act walked onstage, and about 10 flashbulbs went off to commemorate the moment. (The fact that this particular venue was “in the round,” and your correspondent was sitting on one side of the stage, made the flashbulbs a little more noticeable.) The camera-wielding patrons didn’t seem like your typical rule-breaking, boisterous, screw-’em-all concert attendees–instead, they were suburban women, seated but clapping, a few with greying hair, all with digital cameras of various sizes at the ready.
Sure, the boomer-nostalgia quotient may be a bit absurdly high in Bob Lefsetz’s music-industry newsletter Lefsetz Letter, but we subscribe for one reason: His occasional peeks behind the heavy curtains of SoundScan and concert box-office numbers. More »
Clear Channel College Entertainment’s availability list offers a peek at the ludicrous amounts of cash some bands charge for showing up and strumming a few songs. ($100K for Hootie and the Blowfish? More »
