Guest List Culture: Is the Live Music Industry eating itself?

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Revenues from live music events in the UK reached a record £1.6bn in 2011. Although the figures for last year are projected to be slightly down on that total, the live sector remains big business and an integral part of the industry as a whole; although it is worth noting that that figure has been inflated thanks to the work of the often maligned promotions and ticketing conglomerate Live Nation. Live Nation know that the shows they promote, your Take That reunions and Rolling Stones tours, are going to sell out and in doing so turn a profit, once artist and venue hire fees have been paid, and the extensive rider requests and guest list requirements have been fulfilled.

The live industry is top heavy with huge sums of money being pumped in and out of arena shows and festivals; much further down the ladder, grass roots promoters are playing with comparatively small sums of money and often working alone or among friends to support local music scenes. In provincial areas like Newcastle, local promoters can’t guarantee big crowds to begin with, so programming shows with up and coming acts from outside of the region is inherently more risky. Opting to put on shows with well-known regional acts is widely considered a safer option for the passionate minority who want to play their part in the sustained growth of their local music community.

Unlike the cost of a pint or a bag of chips, venue hire does not come cheap in any part of the UK, you’d probably do well to hire out a two hundred capacity room with a house engineer for under £200. That’s already a sizeable outlay before a note has even been struck for most budding promoters. Now factor in the cost of paying a headline act who will probably want a guarantee in advance, two supports, promotional material and a little rider on the night, if you’re feeling generous. Depending on the stature of the acts, or more importantly, whether they have a national booking agent negotiating the best deal on their behalf; you could be looking at costs of around £400-£500. That’s a frightening sum of money and we haven’t even gotten to the scariest part yet: getting people through the door on the night.

If you class yourself as a gig promoter, you’ve already made the leap from fan to businessman; you aren’t paying £5 to see the band, you’re investing £500 to bring the whole experience and to do that successfully, you have to look at what prices you are being quoted for goods and services (the band and their requests, the venue and its location, aesthetics etc.) and decide, is this going to be worth it? Paying a little extra for a venue with high ceilings for beautiful acoustics, buying a rider full of beer to keep the band in good spirits and printing an additional run of posters to boost pre-sale tickets are all examples of immediate financial hits to ensure a great gig, but considered worthwhile long term investments toward building a solid reputation in the business. There is an expense left unaccounted for however, one that promoters up and down the country are simply expected to cover without question: the guest list.

Let’s not kid ourselves here, taking a guest list place is something we have all done at some point, some more regularly than others; but how did it come to be such a casually accepted practice? It’s where the argument begins to get a little uncomfortable for those privy to the incessantly whirring inner cogs of the industry. It’s important to note that the guest list isn’t evil by nature, and in some cases, can be used as a useful tool for promoters who want their shows previewing on websites and in local press; a short term financial hit which could yield improved ticket sales and welcomed promotion. Further down the line and with a bond built, reviewers might go on to regularly champion your promotions business and thus highlight your ‘brand’ and your shows as the hottest tickets in town.

However, the diluted nature of the modern dynamic means bands can have multiple PR teams, radio pluggers, management, booking agents and label bigwigs “looking after them” at any one point in time; if each of them assume a reciprocal arrangement is in place – free gig entry for helping bands get into the position to play the show – the guest list already looks considerably fleshed out, even before they add their +1′s. The promoter gets little from this arrangement and is often powerless to refuse these requests, partly because many booking agents demand a guaranteed number of guest list tickets in the contract and partly for fear of pissing off the band before they even arrive at the venue. Okay, so the room might look a little busier if the gig has sold poorly but what better way to support a fellow stakeholder who is struggling than to buy a ticket?

The same follows for friends and family requesting free guest list tickets. Granted, they probably don’t quite understand how much money gushes through each and every gig their relative or mate plays, or whom it belongs to. At Live Nation shows there is a huge demand for tickets and punters are willing to take the hit and pay £70 to watch big names playing in cavernous football stadiums and enormo-domes around the country; for every ticket given away to friends, family, management and other assorted liggers, there is a paying customer or sponsorship deal to offset the freebie and balance the books. Smaller shows rely on paying customers as capacity attendances are much rarer; for every punter who takes a guest list place, there probably won’t be another left locked outside when the band comes on stage. Friends and family ought to be made aware that they are essentially paying their loved ones’ performance fee, albeit via the hand of a promoter, and if they willingly ask to be exempted from payment, they lay the burden directly on the host who is likely to cut the support act’s non-guaranteed fee, withhold the rider or hit a cash point to delve into private funds.

Absorbing the cost of a large guest list at a Live Nation show is akin to sticking a needle into an elephant’s backside; you might draw a little blood but in all likelihood, it won’t feel a thing. The Live Nation juggernaut will charge onwards onto the next global tour while the independent local promoter begins to bleed out after suffering a deeper wound, counting the personal cost of an unprofitable, even loss making show on an already strangled monthly budget and wondering whether it’s really worth the hassle. It takes a while to grow the thick skin necessary to take on the job of promoting gigs full time; a few financially damaging shows at the beginning and the dream is over before it has begun.

Music scenes begin to falter without grass roots promoters; local bands will programme single launch parties and venues will continue to host occasional shows but an absence of ambitious visionaries like Now Wave, This Is Tmrw or Bird On The Wire comes at a cost. It’s surprising how many industry stakeholders – regional radio DJs, local magazine columnists and university newspaper editors – will take to Twitter to complain about the touring schedule of the latest buzz band; obviously simple geography plays a big part but a scarcity of promoters precipitated by a lack of paying customers may also be to blame. If you aren’t putting money into the hands of promoters who then pass it onto the bands and bookers themselves, why should someone pay directly to bring your new favourite act to your doorstep? You might feel a little agitated by this point but hear us out.

We aren’t trying to turn this debate into a philosophical polemic against the culture of our own industry but we assume that if you’re on the guest list, or want to be on the guest list, you must have been affected by the artist in question at some point in the past; you have an affinity for them and you want to share their gig experience. If you are in a position to pay the entry price, you should surely want to give your support both physically and financially.

As stakeholders, we have an obligation to safeguarding the future of the industry and if you can help out a local promoter who brings your favourite artist to your town or city, why wouldn’t you want to? It’s in everyone’s interest. If you feel you can justify your place on that powerful scrap of paper at the door, by all means take it, you might have earned it – in exchange for a promotion in advance of the show for example – or been offered it in good faith. However, if you find yourself ringing up your pals in the loop, arriving unannounced on the door with the expectation of minor celebrity treatment, or sending unsolicited texts to the promoters, all actively trying to avoid forking out five quid to see a band you actually want to support; you should really take a step back and consider the far reaching effects on the industry you have immersed yourself in. How about taking more consideration on a gig-by-gig basis and asking yourself: is someone else who works hard and loves this band as much I do relying on me for support? Just remember, you have a choice.

Photos by Sebastien Dehesdin