Santigold

A young artist I've been following, Niki, seems to be selling out theaters in every city on her current tour. I have no doubt the factors Santigold described are putting the squeeze on artists in a certain category, but it doesn't just seem to be the Harry Styleses or Lady Gagas of the world (as that Variety article says) who are selling out venues.

xp - I don't doubt that venues and everyone along the chain are suffering and dealing with increased costs, I'm sure that's true. I think this is where it might help to have more transparency about what the fees mean, but that ship has long since sailed. Ticketmaster and others have abused the opaque and byzantine "fees" labyrinth for so long that I think people are, understandably, skeptical about where that money may actually go. I mean, I know Metro and some venues actually give you the option to tack on more money, independent of the fees, to donate to the Chicago Independent Venue League (CIVL). I'd rather toss money there than some unknown "fee". None of which is to say that the fees aren't going to the venues and staff that need it, but Ticketmaster has trained me to be very skeptical that it will be going in the right pockets when I buy tix from bigger venues (not talking places like Empty Bottle or Thalia Hall here).

Back on topic, I don't doubt that all of the problems and hurdles she identifies are very real, but I can't help but wonder if her six year absence might mean she was overshooting a little bit on the size of venues.

I agree that things seem to be overbooked right now, all 3 shows I've been to this year I've heard people talk about how there was something else crosstown that they also wanted to go to. Covid in general is still a huge factor. When I saw Animal Collective in Madison it was actually rescheduled from a couple months earlier, since someone in the crew got it and they had to postpone 2 weeks worth of shows. I have to imagine that had a pretty big financial impact & a lot of bands probably just couldn't handle something like that happening.

As bad as the touring situation is I think a lot of issues could be alleviated if we had politicians who actually looked out for musicians. If streaming services were forced to actually pay a fair royalty to artists it might make these tours feel a bit less life-and-death. Just a thought there

Yeah, I mean the streaming issue is a whole separate thing.

It's just incredibly bleak for artists right now - don't get paid shit for streaming, can't press their records and can't even make money from touring.

Honestly, I wonder if the ever shrinking presence of the music press has had an impact as well. Multiple times this week alone I told someone that I saw Roxy Music the other night, and they literally had no idea the band was in town.

Love this album. "No Paradise"!