According to consequence.net, ticketing company Live Nation have announced they will no longer be taking cuts of merchandise sold by artists playing at any of their club-sized venues. Also at the end of this year, the company will offer $1,500 stipends per show to all headlining and support acts.
The decision follows a new developing artist program Live Nation has launched with country artist Willie Nelson. The program “On the Road Again” is designed to give a helping hand to smaller and developing artists, who have faced increased economic difficulties in recent years.
Not only have merchandise fees have been removed, the artists will receive an additional $1,500 stipend to cover “gas and travel,” crews, local promoters, tour reps and more will all be given unspecified bonuses.
Live Nation has hinted that the program will be implemented over the next several months at each of its 77 club-sized venues, which includes all of the House of Blues and Fillmore locations.
All of this comes just weeks after the topic of merch cuts went viral online. Veteran punk rocker Jeff Rosenstock kicked off the conversation by sharing a breakdown of his 2023 tour and the various merch cuts venues were taking, many of which were 20%.
“This is going to cause us to sell our merch for higher prices than we’d like to at certain venues,” Rosenstock wrote. “We think that sucks… So much of the time all that money goes to big corporations like AEG & LiveNation. Seems like the fuckin’ rule now: if you work in a creative field, you’re supposed to feel lucky and happy enough to be there to get raked over the coals by millionaires and billionaires who will give you as small as slice of the pie as they can to perpetually show growth in profits.”
Live Nation is not the only company responsible for taking a cut of artists’s merch sales but now the company is making an attempt to make things right.
“Delivering for live artists is always our core mission,” Michael Rapino, President and CEO of Live Nation Entertainment, said in a statement regarding the new program. “The live music industry is continuing to grow and as it does, we want to do everything we can to support artists at all levels on their touring journey especially the developing artists in clubs.”
For his part, Willie is glad that he is not the only one performing live.
“Touring is important to artists, so whatever we can do to help other artists, I think we should do it,” Nelson said in a statement. “This program will impact thousands of artists this year and help make touring a little bit easier.”
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