The One
18th May 2007, 07:45 PM
It's Only Rock 'n' Roll -- at $15,000 a Seat
By HANNAH KARP and SAM SCHECHNER
http://www.thedawnexperience.co.uk/images/poster.jpgT[/URL]his summer, promoters are offering a new service for VIP concert-goers: eliminating the riffraff altogether.
A new five-concert series called "Social" will debut in East Hampton, N.Y., in July, with a pass to all five shows costing $15,000. (Tickets aren't available for individual shows.)
WSJ's Sam Schechner on a concert series featuring Prince and Billy Joel, a pass to all five shows costing $15,000; and the growing buzz for the New York band Battles.
The series is a new extreme in the concert industry's increasing attempts to woo big spenders. But it also reflects promoters' attempts to cash in on demand that's pushed prices on ticket-resale sites like StubHub to the stratosphere. This way, promoters can price tickets at the same level -- and keep the money for themselves.
The Social lineup is hardly cutting-edge -- it includes Prince, Billy Joel, Dave Matthews, Tom Petty and James Taylor. (Bulldog Entertainment, a two-year-old promotion company, says it sought mainstream artists with the help of former Warner Bros. and DreamWorks record executive Michael Ostin.) Then again, it's not just about music: At Social, artists will exhibit, celebrity chefs will cook, parking will cost nothing and seating will include daybeds, ottomans and Moroccan pillows. Social will be marketed as a lifestyle, says Bulldog, to Wall Street executives, Hamptons socialites and the ultrarich.
Of course, other music festivals have introduced luxuries for their VIPs, though never with ticket prices like these: Lollapalooza now offers cabanas on Lake Michigan and mint-infused cooling treatments; and in Washington state, Sasquatch this year offered a $500 festival pass that comes with hot showers and air-conditioned bathrooms.
The prices of Social, which work out to $3,000 a concert, may not go down easily, some music-industry analysts say. Barbra Streisand's Las Vegas show was last year's most expensive regular ticket in the U.S., at $1,000 a pop, concert-tracking company Pollstar says. Tickets for Alabama's farewell tour also cost $1,000 but included meeting the band and an autographed guitar. "You're definitely pushing the outer bounds with this," says Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of Pollstar, "even with prime rib and lobster."
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/WK-AJ324A_adv_m_20070517201021.jpgPrince, for a king's ransom: The singer will appear in the concert series 'Social.'
But Joe Meli, Bulldog CEO, says prices are in line with the secondary market. Tenth-row tickets to the Jimmy Buffett concert at New York's Madison Square Garden this September, for example, are being offered for $2,995 on StubHub. Though no one may be willing to pay that much, a buyer from Omaha, Neb., did pay $11,000 for two front-row seats at Elton John's 60th Birthday Bash in March at Madison Square Garden.
Each of the musicians is likely to have a seven-figure payday for his appearance, according to several managers of high-profile acts not involved with the concert series. The stars' representatives either didn't respond or declined to comment on their pay.
Mr. Meli says some of the 1,000 passes to all five concerts have already been sold but declined to say how many, and also declined to say how many tickets he needs to sell to break even.
The concert site, East Hampton's Ross School, will put its set fee from Bulldog into its scholarship fund. But, says Mr. Meli, "We're not obfuscating what we're doing by calling ourselves a charity."
Source: [URL]http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117944556343306910.html (http://www.discoversocial.com/social.asp)
By HANNAH KARP and SAM SCHECHNER
http://www.thedawnexperience.co.uk/images/poster.jpgT[/URL]his summer, promoters are offering a new service for VIP concert-goers: eliminating the riffraff altogether.
A new five-concert series called "Social" will debut in East Hampton, N.Y., in July, with a pass to all five shows costing $15,000. (Tickets aren't available for individual shows.)
WSJ's Sam Schechner on a concert series featuring Prince and Billy Joel, a pass to all five shows costing $15,000; and the growing buzz for the New York band Battles.
The series is a new extreme in the concert industry's increasing attempts to woo big spenders. But it also reflects promoters' attempts to cash in on demand that's pushed prices on ticket-resale sites like StubHub to the stratosphere. This way, promoters can price tickets at the same level -- and keep the money for themselves.
The Social lineup is hardly cutting-edge -- it includes Prince, Billy Joel, Dave Matthews, Tom Petty and James Taylor. (Bulldog Entertainment, a two-year-old promotion company, says it sought mainstream artists with the help of former Warner Bros. and DreamWorks record executive Michael Ostin.) Then again, it's not just about music: At Social, artists will exhibit, celebrity chefs will cook, parking will cost nothing and seating will include daybeds, ottomans and Moroccan pillows. Social will be marketed as a lifestyle, says Bulldog, to Wall Street executives, Hamptons socialites and the ultrarich.
Of course, other music festivals have introduced luxuries for their VIPs, though never with ticket prices like these: Lollapalooza now offers cabanas on Lake Michigan and mint-infused cooling treatments; and in Washington state, Sasquatch this year offered a $500 festival pass that comes with hot showers and air-conditioned bathrooms.
The prices of Social, which work out to $3,000 a concert, may not go down easily, some music-industry analysts say. Barbra Streisand's Las Vegas show was last year's most expensive regular ticket in the U.S., at $1,000 a pop, concert-tracking company Pollstar says. Tickets for Alabama's farewell tour also cost $1,000 but included meeting the band and an autographed guitar. "You're definitely pushing the outer bounds with this," says Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of Pollstar, "even with prime rib and lobster."
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/WK-AJ324A_adv_m_20070517201021.jpgPrince, for a king's ransom: The singer will appear in the concert series 'Social.'
But Joe Meli, Bulldog CEO, says prices are in line with the secondary market. Tenth-row tickets to the Jimmy Buffett concert at New York's Madison Square Garden this September, for example, are being offered for $2,995 on StubHub. Though no one may be willing to pay that much, a buyer from Omaha, Neb., did pay $11,000 for two front-row seats at Elton John's 60th Birthday Bash in March at Madison Square Garden.
Each of the musicians is likely to have a seven-figure payday for his appearance, according to several managers of high-profile acts not involved with the concert series. The stars' representatives either didn't respond or declined to comment on their pay.
Mr. Meli says some of the 1,000 passes to all five concerts have already been sold but declined to say how many, and also declined to say how many tickets he needs to sell to break even.
The concert site, East Hampton's Ross School, will put its set fee from Bulldog into its scholarship fund. But, says Mr. Meli, "We're not obfuscating what we're doing by calling ourselves a charity."
Source: [URL]http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117944556343306910.html (http://www.discoversocial.com/social.asp)