By Dave Brooks, Billboard | Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, is launching an ambitious new program to improve the lives of touring musicians and cut down on the growing costs traveling artists facing criss-crossing the country.
Today, the concert giant has announced the launch of “On the Road Again,” a new program inspired by legendary singer/songwriter Willie Nelson to support developing artists and their road crews. The program — which has no expiration date and is expected to save artists tens of millions per year — tackles the growing costs of travel expenses and the ability of artists to make money through merch sales.
“Touring is important to artists so whatever we can do to help other artists, I think we should do it. This program will impact thousands of artists this year and help make touring a little bit easier,” said Nelson, who provided his famous hit song On the Road Again as the anthem for the program.
Starting today, all acts playing Live Nation owned and operated clubs, will receive a $1,500 gas and travel cash stipend per show to all headliners and support acts, on top of nightly performance compensation.
As part of the program, the company’s clubs will no longer charge merchandise selling fees, allowing artists to keep 100% of merch profits. Many artists rely on merch sales to generate cash for the band while they’re on the road. In January, Ineffable Music Group became the first company to waive merch fees for the company’s 10+ venues and showrooms. The decision by Live Nation to waive these fees will likely lead to more cash in the hands of touring artists.
“Touring is a crucial part of an artist’s livelihood, and we understand travel costs take one of the biggest bites out of artists’ nightly profits,” a press release from Live Nation reads. “By helping with these core expenses, we aim to make it easier for artists on the road so they can keep performing to their fans in more cities across the country.”
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For more information on the program and a list of participating venues, visit https://www.roadagain.live
Participating venues in Colorado are Summit Music Hall and the Moon Room at Summit, Denver; and the Marquis, Denver!
https://www.billboard.com/pro/live-nation-drops-merch-fees-club-acts-stipend-program/
[Thanks to Alex Teitz for contributing this article! http://www.femmusic.com]
September 28, 2023| Music-Related Business| Barb Dye