IT'S set to be another busy Friday at Ticketmaster HQ. This morning, thousands of Irish music fans will pass over thousands of euro for Oxegen festival tickets and the same again for the ticket agency's various handling charges, writes Jim Carroll
Such A-list acts as Arcade Fire, Snow Patrol, Muse, Razorlight, Daft Punk, Kings of Leon, Bloc Party and Scissor Sisters are already in the frame for the July bash at Punchestown Racecourse. It would be a huge surprise if this year's two-day beano does not sell out in a couple of hours, thus confirming Oxegen's pole position in the Irish summer festival pantheon.
Many Oxegen ticket-seekers will already have bought tickets for the Arctic Monkeys in Malahide Castle; now they've added a second show after the first one sold out in a day. There are already tickets on sale for summer shows by The Who, Justin Timberlake, Damien Rice, Aerosmith and Flaming Lips.
Then, there's the Electric Picnic at the tail-end of the summer. The organisers are keeping details of headliners for this year's festival under wraps, but some names (like Björk and Chemical Brothers, we reckon) should be revealed in a couple of weeks when tickets go on sale.
Given the successful Picnics of the past two years and the fact that the festival pulls 30,000 people to Stradbally as much for the atmosphere as the acts, a sell-out here is also expected.
It really does seem as if the summer festival season is beginning earlier and earlier every year. A couple of years ago prospective festival-goers could leave it till a week before the event to purchase tickets. They'd probably also check the long- range weather forecast before parting with their cash. Now it's a case of getting in early doors or spending the next couple of months dealing with eBay eejits.
Naturally, concert promoters are extremely happy with this new way of doing business. They know from the get-go that they will be dealing with a full field and big bags of cash. Add in additional revenue streams from brand owners (who are virtually arm-wrestling each other for the right to stick up banners on tents and trees) and concessions, and you have a lucrative sector which has still not peaked.
The time may be right for Rabodirect to introduce a special Concert Promoter's Deposit Account with a limited-edition interest rate just to deal with the millions slushing around the place. Do the sums and you can see why the Revenue Commissioners decided to go with a new stealth tax on having a good time by hiking up the VAT rate on tickets.
Past Discotheques have noted that the live music business is increasingly showing the record business how to adapt to changes in music consumption.
While record labels continue to bleat about their woes instead of doing something about them, live music promoters are finding they don't have fields big enough to hold the crowds who want to see certain acts. There may even be a real act other than a wedding band for Slane Castle this summer.
Both sides of the industry, though, are dealing with the same raw material. The fact that music fans are more interested in seeing an act play live than purchasing the music on disc or download probably has more to do with the community experience of a live show than the price of a CD.
Call it the Bebo-isation of the process because the escalating cost of tickets for live shows has not caused any discernable dip in audience attendances. Even rises in the European Central Bank's interest rate, which may well lessen the amount of money in your pocket, have not put a halt to the new mainstream's yearning for summer festivals.
These days, when you follow the money in the music industry, chances are you will end up on a stage in a big field.
jimcarroll@irish-times.ie
