From Digital Music Forum West 2006: Moderator Kelli Richards, a digital music veteran who currently serves as President and CEO of her own company, The All Access Group, promptly re-named this Digital Music Forum panel "The Concert of the Future." Much of the discussion centered on how the companies represented are trying to generate additional value (for fans, artists and themselves) from an ephemeral experience — going to a concert. The consensus was there are many trails yet to be blazed in efforts to help artists better connect with, and maintain interactive relationships with fans, as well as get their music to both hardcore and potential new fans through new channels and new technologies.

Ticketmaster's Vice President of Strategic Marketing and Business Development, David Marcus, pointed out that 50% of concert tickets still go unsold, in spite of the fact that around 70% of tickets are now sold online. Helping artists let their fans know about tour dates was a problem being addressed by several on the panel. "I was shocked when I tried the new widget for iTunes (called OnTour, from fellow panelist Dave Jarworski's Passalong Networks — which runs your music library through Pollstar and generates a calendar of upcoming shows) to see there were bands even I wasn't aware were coming to town…and I work at Ticketmaster," said Marcus.

The company reviled by most concertgoers for its "convenience" charges has lately ventured into a new market segment where it doesn't yet hold major sway — the over $2 billion in online secondary sales. To compete with both scalpers and sites like eBay, Craigslist, StubHub and RazorGator, Ticketmaster in 2003 launched an online auction service for top seats on big tours that lets fans determine the prices they're willing to pay, by bidding on tickets. "Tickets are the worst-priced product out there in terms of determining market value," said Marcus. Winning bids for prime seats at Madonna shows this summer averaged about $450 for a $350 face value ticket, while $175 Waters tickets went for $500+, the company told USA Today. "Auctions have skyrocketed in the past year," Marcus confirmed. But, in a departure from its C. Montgomery Burns image, Ticketmaster splits profits between artists and promoters (minus the omnipresent service fee, of course).

Marcus also said that next week Ticketmaster is set to announce that a "national touring band" will adopt its TicketExchange service, another feature aimed at both scalpers and the resale market. Tickets sold for the tour will feature a unique bar code — like the ones on the company's print-at-home tickets — that buyers can use to post unwanted tickets for sale on TicketExchange at whatever price they choose. Whoever buys the ticket then pays Ticketmaster, which in turn remits the price paid to the original buyer-turned-seller. (The company adds both "seller" and "buyer" fees.) The original bar code is then cancelled and a new one is assigned to for the new buyer — and no one is turned away at the door at a Barbara Streisand show for having unwittingly purchased a fraudulent ticket.

Secondary sales aside, concert tickets are a topic of somewhat bitter contention between Ticketmaster and several of the other companies represented on the panel.

Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino recently told the L.A. Times that "Seventy percent of people didn't go to a concert last year," adding, "We can grow this industry by lowering [ticket] prices." The company, which books 153 venues worldwide and produced over 29,000 events last year, has a contract with Ticketmaster that expires in 2008, and its own existing ticketing service as leverage in the argument.

Live Nation is also one-upping Ticketmaster with its Instant Live service that records shows and offers concertgoers a CD at the venue directly following the performance. Those who weren't there can purchase and download the concert online. "We need to offer more than a 'two-touch' interaction with concertgoers," remarked Live Nation SVP and Executive Producer, Scott Fedewa, referring to the ticket purchase and attendance at the show.

Basecamp Productions, co-founded by Pearl Jam live sound engineer Brett Eliason and panelist Joshua James, was launched as a result of that band's very public campaign against Ticketmaster's pricing and business practices that reached its apex with Pearl Jam's testimony before Congress in 1994. The "bootleg" CDs and downloads that Basecamp sells for Pearl Jam include photos of the show and unique album artwork. James said the company strives for a "Grateful Dead-style" distribution philosophy, adding that "the hardcore fan is an interesting animal" with a different relationship with a band than casual listeners. "They don't want to see brands, don't like the label, or anyone else doing 'business' with the band. We try to streamline ourselves as much as possible to highlight the relationship with the band." The company has sold 10 million downloads in the last twelve months, and further ingratiates itself with artists by splitting profits 80-20 or 75-25.

PassAlong Networks is also selling live concert downloads, and cranked out multi-track live mix recordings within 24 hours for former Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler's recent tour. Founder and CEO Dave Jarworski said his company's other offering, the OnTour iTunes widget, was born out of "the experience of excitement on seeing a poster announcing a show and the frustration when you realize you already missed it."

Last week, House of Blues addressed this disconnect by introducing text alerts that can notify fans at the moment onsales begin, reported Steve Macfayden, the company's VP of Operations for Concerts and Amphitheaters. "We will see text ticketing this year," Macfayden predicted. Ticketmaster's Marcus chimed in to say, "the 10 a.m. Saturday onsale model a year from now will have a very different reality."

"The concert experience can never truly be replicated," admitted Ron Milkes, general counsel at Control Room, a company originally called Network Live that records and distributes live concerts on the Internet, radio, TV, mobile phones, in theaters and at retail. But, says Milkes, "When you see a good show, it motivates you to buy a ticket." The company's webcasts also promote album releases and upcoming shows. Control Room was initially launched as a joint venture with XM Satellite Radio, AOL and AEG, which owns sports arenas and has stakes in sports teams. The company recently ended its relationship with AOL, and signed with rival MSN, who Milkes asserted will be a more truly global distribution partner.

Moderator Kelli Richards peppered the conversation with name-drops of other firms offering artists new means of connecting with fans. On the radar of a woman who advises companies and artists including Apple, Motorola, Sony, David Bowie and Todd Rundgren — with whom she developed the pioneering PatroNet service: Rehearsals.com, OnlineGigs.com, and a stealth-mode company working on live IPTV concert streaming.

Mark Hefflinger