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Mike Reynolds
From teenage idols to older icons, crossover artists and country stars, and other genres in between, the PPV music business proffered a symphony of sounds to viewers in 1999.
Indeed, fans of Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync, Shania Twain, Ricky Martin, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bruce Springsteen, Alanis Morrissette, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Sarah McLachlan and Merle Haggard, were all able to see and hear their favorite performers, courtesy of PPV this year.
In turn, this diversity not only drove purchases for the music category, but, according to John Rubey, president of Spring Communications, expanded the base of PPV buyers and cable customers overall.
"For a lot of the wrestling and boxing matches, there are a core group of fans that keeping coming back. With music, people have different tastes, so there is a much wider group coming to the medium," Rubey said. "And when they buy a concert, that increases the likelihood that they will come back for other events or movies. They are also exposed to the other services, like cable modems, digital cable or Internet access, that operators are offering."
Rubey also avers that the music category in general and Spring - which as a producer, promoter, distributor or sponsorship agent, has been involved with 27 musical and other events during 1998-99 that produced some 500,000 buys - in particular has raised the banner for the industry in the advertising community.
To that end, Spring has inked or facilitated deals bearing media/marketing support to include such categories as: automotive (Oldsmobile), restaurant (Hard Rock Cafe), retail (Best Buy), online (BMG Direct, ColumbiaHouse. com and Woodstock. com), beer (Budweiser) and travel & leisure (United Airlines and Las Vegas Hilton). This list excludes the record labels for the performing artists.
Already on cue for Spring next year: Rodeo Houston in the first quarter, CMA female vocalist of the year Martina McBride in the second quarter; its Summer Concerts and Festivals series (last year, the lineup included Bad Company, McLachlan, Barenaked Ladies and a Sinbad comedy event); a reprise of the CMA Award Backstage Pass show in September and another "For The Record' event for a country legend (last year it was Merle Haggard); and a Kenny Rogers' Christmas show.
SET also seems committed to making concerts a regular part of the pay-per-view programming mix. At press time, EVP/GM Mark Greenberg said SET, which secured 160,000 buys for its Backstreet Boys show Feb. 6, a total that surpassed The Spice Girls' 135,000 count in 1998, was in "the process of negotiating for other concerts" for early in 2000. "Music is a franchise that adds value to PPV overall. We're looking to do more shows next year, and are also pursuing other unusual events."
Meanwhile, 1999 was a year that featured several major festivals. On April 3, Viewer's Choice struck up several bands with The Paris Concert for Amnesty International: The Struggle Continues ... The three-hour event, recorded from Bercy Stadium Dec. 10, carried a suggested retail of $20.95, and featured a diverse list of performers including Twain, Springsteen, Morrissette, Plant and Page, Peter Gabriel Tracy Chapman, Radiohead, Youssou N'Dour and Asian Dub Foundation.
For bad or for good, the big concert of the year was Woodstock 99, where it was not all peace and love for the July 23-25 event from Rome, N.Y. First, there was controversy over Viewer's Choice's carriage commitment, which was restricted to some 23 million cable PPV households, not its full universe of 28 million, owing to a conflict with a WWF event.
Of course, the lasting images of Woodstock 99 in the eyes of the news media and the public were of bonfires, nudity, violence and charges of sexual harassment and rape. These crimes and the attendant publicity have thrown into doubt the future of any succeeding Woodstock festivals and have resulted in organizers of other large-scale musical events stepping up their security measures.
Still, the event, promoted by Metropolitan Entertainment Group, which along with concert veteran Ossie Killkenny and past Woodstock promoter Michael Lang, comprised Woodstock 99 LLC, showcased more than 40 artists. It included such acts as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews Band, Alanis Morrissette, Jewel, Metallica, Sheryl Crow, Aerosmith and Collective Soul. The concert generated a reported 150,000 buys.
At press time, Viewer's Choice and the promoters had yet to release a definitive revenue figure for the show, which had some viewers opting for a $59.95 price for the full three days of coverage, and others purchasing singleday telecasts at $29.95.
Things were a little bit more orderly in London for SET's telecast of "The Prince's Trust Concert" Sept. 25, which generated some 40,000 buys, according to Greenberg, a number that on the surface seems a little disappointing given the profile of the two leading performers on the bill: Martin and Twain.
"What we've found is that all-star lineups are nice, but that hard-core fans of certain performers want to see their favorite."
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