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Digging Out
The Plan to Save Live Entertainment
There are times in life where you have to make a hard choice. There are times in life when the hard choice is forced upon you. There are times in life where everything which defined your life evaporates in an instant. There are times when you hold the power to make changes but you have to reach deep into yourself beyond fear and complacency to revisit every assumption you ever made and redirect your efforts to the future as it is, not as it was.
Adversity does not define your character. Adversity reveals it.
In the past week the vise has been tightened on everybody’s head. Festivals are canceling, concerts are being postponed into 2021, sporting events are planning to play for TV only. The entire live entertainment industry is beginning to understand they are going to refund most of the money they’ve taken in for events after March 19th, 2020 through the end of the year. And, they’re not really going to be able to generate much, if any, revenue until Q4 when tickets for 2021 might go on sale.
Major League Baseball has just conceded what was obvious, the full season isn’t going to be played and is the process of figuring out ticket refunds. Live Nation and AEG are opening their refund windows and demonstrating how refunds should be handled. StubHub is still holding the line against refunds but consumer and regulatory pressure is building.
So, this year is all about refunds and zero revenue. Who lives to play another day and what will that day look like when it arrives?
I’m a guy who loves live events. Last year I was at 11 music festivals and 75 other events ranging from arena shows and conferences to small clubs and theater. So, I’ve watched with horror as theaters across the world have locked their doors and turned off both the lights and the power. And then I had the following epiphany: “Oh, hell no! Not on my watch.”
Today, I’m stepping out from behind the keyboard to help guide the Live Entertainment industry back onto the stages of the world. I’ve created https://www.RescueMeet.com to organize a coalition of top entertainment experts and companies and plan how to restart sporting events, concerts and theater. We will hold a virtual conference on May 19th, 2020 to raise the curtain on raising the curtains. I’m…
