Kid Rock's fixed-price ticket partnership this summer with promoter Live Nation is "a Robin Hood pact . . . [that] might redefine the concert biz," says a guest column in the entertainment industry newspaper Variety..
Bob Lefsetz, an industry attorney and newsletter publisher in Santa Monica, Calif., sees the 27-city sale of $20 tickets without any fees as a thing of beauty and a possible game-changer.
Rock’s goal was to give back. To return concert-going to what it once was. A regular habit as opposed to a vacation. That’s how the business revitalizes, by getting people to the show.
Kid Rock, aka "Robin Hood"
Lefsetz contrasts the Michigan star with artists who "all blame someone else" for high concert seat prices and add-on fees.
But Kid Rock is different. He grew up in a middle class-family. . . . And first and foremost he believes in giving back (i.e., his beer and clothing company in Detroit that employ locals as opposed to exporting the jobs to Asia and crying there was no choice).
The writer summarizes how Kid Rock negotiated the deal with Live Nation chief executive Michael Rapino and Wal-Mart, and asks:
So what happens now? I’m not sure.
Rock has opened the door. Will anybody else go through?
Earlier coverage
