BOULDER (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — 2008 has been a wild ride for all of our colleagues in the music business and there have been a number of major stories with far reaching impact on our industry and as this is our final edition of Encore for 2008, we thought we'd take a moment and look back at some of this year's headlines.
The financial crisis that has gripped the US, as well as other world markets this year, seems to have taken the center stage of our industry. It's ramifications have, and will continue to affect many areas of the entertainment business. Major tours have been cancelled, money for the construction of new venues is vanishing, and sponsorship deals for existing venues are evaporating. How these factors will affect our industry moving forward remains to be seen.
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Live Nation's move into the ticketing industry and Ticketmaster's blockbuster agreement to acquire a controlling equity interest in Irving Azoff's Front Line Management Group may well herald major shifts in the landscape of the music business.
Less than one month remains before Live Nation launches its in-house ticketing platform. Live Nation, whose ticketing deal with Ticketmaster expires at the end of this year, has partnered with German ticketing company CTS Eventim to help launch its ticketing operation.
With Azoff now serving as CEO of newly dubbed Ticketmaster Entertainment, competition between the two companies is sure to be intense.
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Phish is starting to swim again. Those reunion rumors weren't just cut bait. Four years after disbanding, the time seems right to Phish.
The Vermont-bred foursome announced that after more than four years they will tour again. After a 20-year run that saw its audience build from a few people in bars in Burlington, Vt., to a Grateful Dead-like cult following, Phish called it quits in 2004. Fans will pack stadiums and venues around the country next year thanks to Phish re-uniting.
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iTunes became the top US Music Retailer, but Amazon's new music service is gaining traction.
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This year Sirius & XM merged and projected it will end 2008 with 19.1 million subscribers and 2009 with 20.6 million subscribers despite the difficult economic times.
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Despite the economic woes, a number of artists still posted huge touring numbers, including Bon Jovi ($210 million,) Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band ($204.5) and Madonna ($120 million and counting.)
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It was the year of the 360 deal, with Live Nation inking a number of high profile acts such as Jay-Z, Nickelback and Shakira to broadly-inclusive deals with astounding price tags.
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Britney Spears appears to have staged a successful return, rising like a blonde phoenix from the ashes of her career after being written off by many pundits.
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Things continued to look grim for the major labels and they continued to post massive losses that have left many in the business wondering if they can survive and what new paradigm will arise in their place.
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Finally, what amazed all of us at CelebrityAccess this year is that despite the turbulent financial climate we have continued our upward growth. This past year will go down as our best ever, and we have always believed that our tremendous success is attributed to YOU. Without you we would not, and could not, be in business. From your supportive suggestions to your efforts in spreading the word across the globe – we learn from you and get better at what we do. CelebrityAccess now has customers in 72 countries across the world. Wow!
We can't thank you enough for that support. We thank you for your business. We thank you for being there for us. We have always viewed our relationship as a partnership and we believe in working hard to make your goals, our mission.
We wish you and your family a very happy holiday and a prosperous new year. We look forward to continuing to work with you for many years to come.
Marc, Peter, and the gang at CelebrityAccess
