In Concert With Casinos

Moderator Billy Brill of Billy Alan Productions started the panel with a strategy to keep in mind for success in 2009:

“The person who wins is the person with the best B.S. What does B.S. stand for? Buy Smart. We’ve got to learn to say ‘No,’” Brill explained. “There’s not one act we can say ‘goodbye’ to that will make or break a casino.

“We as buyers, marketing people and agents have got to learn to stop the insanity. There’s always going to be a renegade buyer somewhere.”

Brill then asked the panelists what their top goal is when booking an act.

Bill Borenstein of Motor City Casino & Hotel said his goal is to break even and cover costs but to also be realistic.

“I tell the staff [to] take the emotion out of it. If we lose a show, we lose a show,” Borenstein said. “If an act is overpriced, we’ll pass.

“The most important thing is to provide the best experience you can with the entertainers and customers.”

Scott Schecter of Caesars Palace agreed.

“I think for every opportunity, you’ve got to figure it out. We do have formulas,” Schecter said. “It’s more about ‘Is it enhancing the brand?’ It’s not a one-size-fits-all thing – not every act is going to be.”

Brill asked CAA’s Brett Steinberg about his process of quoting prices to casinos and promoters. Steinberg said he keeps several factors in mind in addition to the marketplace to the best margin.

“Concert promoting and casinos are two different businesses. The casino’s business is gaming and for the promoter, it’s making money from concerts,” Steinberg said. “I could get into a lot of trouble for saying this, but it’s true: Casinos have ancillary income.

“Gaming, hotels, food, beverage. In some situations, they’ve got sponsorships. There are so many revenue sources for a casino that a promoter doesn’t have.”

Christianne Weiss of Agency for the Performing Arts agreed.

“In a typical promoter situation, we have more of an opportunity to get a back end. Casinos normally do flat,” Weiss said. “For that reason we’ll quote more for a flat up front.”

Station Casinos’ Judy Alberti asked whether acts outside the Las Vegas market would lower prices compared to what those artists may have earned last year. Weiss said that, in addition to other factors, it depends on how much an artist wants to work.

“Casinos are considered soft-ticket markets but there’s a whole other avenue of business, and that’s festivals,” she said. “They were very strong last year [and] they’ve managed to keep the sponsorship dollars up compared to other years. Classic rock, rock, country. You have to consider that, too, when you talk about getting acts on sale.”

Steinberg said he has regular discussions with artist management so they’re aware of what’s going on.

“An agent’s job is to manage artists’ and managers’ expectations. We’ve been educating our clients for six months, eight months, what the economy is all about,” he said. “As far as lowering their price, as long as a casino or promoter or festival or fair pays them more money every year and gets into that bid situation, it’s really hard to manage expectations.

“I think what’s important is that the buyers learn to say ‘No’ sometimes and walk away.”

Schecter brought up another point, which is the demographics of the artists’ fan base. A discussion on how to be more creative in packaging a deal, such as involving fan clubs and pre-sales in addition to meet-and-greets, followed.

“We’re starting to get into a different type of act-booking,” Borenstein said. “It isn’t so much about music as how to be creative with event booking ... make those an interactive experience for the customer as well as the general public.”

The panelists also said that ad-vertising through billboards, print, television and radio have been effective along with the Internet, which has streamlined reaching customers through e-mail blasts or e-cards as opposed to direct mailing.

Brill and company all agreed that 2009 is a year to be cautious about meeting business objectives. But by working together, it can still be profitable.

Weiss’ plan of action summed up that consensus.

“My goal, and probably everybody’s goal, is to search for win-win situations,” she said. “I’m finding more and more casinos are asking for a club appearance to go with a show they’re doing or photo ops or a shout-out to the crowd.

“[Artists] may not be excited to drop their fee but they might be willing to work harder on the shows that they’re doing to make it a win-win situation for everybody.”

- Reported by Tina Amendola, Pollstar
- Photos by Jason Squires and John Shearer