Thursday, January 20, 2005
Is Clear Channel Trying To Hide Their Presence In NYC?
I was perusing the Village Voice club listings last night and when I hit the ad for Irving Plaza, I noticed that the usual "Clear Channel Presents" at the bottom was replaced with "Ron Delsener Presents." I thought that this was strange, as I heard nothing about Clear Channel pulling promotion of Irving Plaza, Beacon Theater, Hammerstein Ballroom, Town Hall, etc..., all venues that they book and manage in NYC. Thanks to the Internet, I uncovered that Ron Delsener, who is a long time promoter in the NYC area, is a Clear Channel consultant, which is clearly misleading as he is the Co-Chairman and Co-CEO of Clear Channel Entertainment. (www.crainsny.com/news.cms?id=9326 and http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&id=658)
"In addition to large outdoor shows, Ron Delsener is an active participant through his role as consultant for Clear Channel Entertainment in the production of all concerts booked through Ron Delsener Presents for the New York/New Jersey area including Roseland Ballroom and Irving Plaza ,Beacon Theater, the Theater at Madison Square Garden, Nassau Coliseum, Madison Square Garden and the Continental Airlines Arena, and stadiums such as Giants Stadium, Shea Stadium, Yankee Stadium, and Randalls Island."
Is it that NYC folks and the competition from local promoters like, Bowery Entertainment, North Six, and Southpaw, plus a slew of other new clubs who are doing their own booking, presenting competition to them?
Might it be that the Clear Channel Brand and all of the baggage that they are accumulating might be seeing sagging profits? Might it be that their flag waving is hurting their bottom line?
It is obvious that they are making some change due to dollar concerns as they are adding progressive/liberal talk radio to some markets.
It is doubtful that they will change their bad for consumers business practices any time soon, but this sounds intentionally deceptive.
NYC, being largely educated and fairly hipsterish, might be getting hip to the fact that Clear Channel is ruining music. There are quite a number of bands that are refusing to play CC venues and, at least here in NYC, there are venues willing to book these bands. Lower door prices and more fans, may be the ticket. Since the Clear Channel monster ate up all of their competition, concert and club prices have been skyrocketing. $30 dollar door prices for some awful emo-band that is barely known, is pretty steep. Along with the Ticketmaster charges, which by the way you can bypass by purchasing your tickets at the box office, ticket prices are out of control. I once paid $8 dollars in Ticketmaster charges for a $12 dollar ticket. It was ridiculous. Now, I go to the box office to buy my tickets. I cannot in good conciense give my money to Ticketmaster with the knowledge that the band themselves are not getting a dime of the extra charges that are being added on for a "convenience." That type of convenience I can do without.
I won't get into the conflict of interest with the CC's ownership of radio stations. If you want more information on why Clear Channel and its ilk are bad for music, check out http://clearchannelsucks.org/ and The Future of Music Coalition. Now with the FCC and Eliot Spitzer, New York's Attorney General, looking into new payola charges, Clear Channel and other radio conglomerates are clamoring to make themselves look more amenable to real competition. BTW, Michael Powell, the head of the FCC, is resigning. Thank God as this asshole has fought tooth and nail to promote the consolidation of the broadcast industry despite a broad bipartisan consensus that it is bad for the country. I doubt that George W. Bush will nominate anyone who will change the trend, but maybe Michael will now be able to recover some assemblance of pride in whatever he does.
"In addition to large outdoor shows, Ron Delsener is an active participant through his role as consultant for Clear Channel Entertainment in the production of all concerts booked through Ron Delsener Presents for the New York/New Jersey area including Roseland Ballroom and Irving Plaza ,Beacon Theater, the Theater at Madison Square Garden, Nassau Coliseum, Madison Square Garden and the Continental Airlines Arena, and stadiums such as Giants Stadium, Shea Stadium, Yankee Stadium, and Randalls Island."
Is it that NYC folks and the competition from local promoters like, Bowery Entertainment, North Six, and Southpaw, plus a slew of other new clubs who are doing their own booking, presenting competition to them?
Might it be that the Clear Channel Brand and all of the baggage that they are accumulating might be seeing sagging profits? Might it be that their flag waving is hurting their bottom line?
It is obvious that they are making some change due to dollar concerns as they are adding progressive/liberal talk radio to some markets.
It is doubtful that they will change their bad for consumers business practices any time soon, but this sounds intentionally deceptive.
NYC, being largely educated and fairly hipsterish, might be getting hip to the fact that Clear Channel is ruining music. There are quite a number of bands that are refusing to play CC venues and, at least here in NYC, there are venues willing to book these bands. Lower door prices and more fans, may be the ticket. Since the Clear Channel monster ate up all of their competition, concert and club prices have been skyrocketing. $30 dollar door prices for some awful emo-band that is barely known, is pretty steep. Along with the Ticketmaster charges, which by the way you can bypass by purchasing your tickets at the box office, ticket prices are out of control. I once paid $8 dollars in Ticketmaster charges for a $12 dollar ticket. It was ridiculous. Now, I go to the box office to buy my tickets. I cannot in good conciense give my money to Ticketmaster with the knowledge that the band themselves are not getting a dime of the extra charges that are being added on for a "convenience." That type of convenience I can do without.
I won't get into the conflict of interest with the CC's ownership of radio stations. If you want more information on why Clear Channel and its ilk are bad for music, check out http://clearchannelsucks.org/ and The Future of Music Coalition. Now with the FCC and Eliot Spitzer, New York's Attorney General, looking into new payola charges, Clear Channel and other radio conglomerates are clamoring to make themselves look more amenable to real competition. BTW, Michael Powell, the head of the FCC, is resigning. Thank God as this asshole has fought tooth and nail to promote the consolidation of the broadcast industry despite a broad bipartisan consensus that it is bad for the country. I doubt that George W. Bush will nominate anyone who will change the trend, but maybe Michael will now be able to recover some assemblance of pride in whatever he does.
