The Business of Live 8

Well, I kept meaning to write about Live 8 but with this disturbance and that illness, etc., etc., I never quite got around to it. But partly it's because I allow myself to ignore anything that's not straight up business news since there's so much news to consider, even though there are plenty of ways in which such events can effect business.

Actually, much of the post Live 8 news is focusing on the business angle as both bootleg dvds and album sales take off. So far it looks like aging rock acts benefited the most and many of them seem to be donating their profits. However, the bootleg dvds for sale on Ebay are said to have included footage from the Philly show that featured hip hop artists. BBC News has more about increased album sales including some info from Amazon.co.uk.

Though Ebay was also the site of sales of freely distributed Live 8 tickets, they removed them in response to widespread concern. However, Geldof's statement that "they should have thought about it before they did this" [i.e. posted the tickets for sale] reveals that he doesn't actually know how Ebay works, since they simply provide electronic auction services. Furthermore, his description of Ebay as "electronic pimps" shows that he doesn't get the fact that Ebay has empowered a huge number of small businesses that would otherwise not exist.

Digital downloads were also affected with London's opening McCartney/U2 track, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, hitting "No. 1 on the iTunes charts in Britain, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Belgium . . . No. 2 in Spain and No. 3 in France." Universal says it will donate its take to Live 8.

AOL also benefitted from its free offering of concert streams that is thought to have attracted over 5 million viewers. Though AOL paid for exclusive Internet, television and radio broadcast rights and financed crews to tape the shows while providing live streams online, they got a lot out of the deal. They resold tv and radio rights and jumpstarted their attempt to rebrand themselves as a free online portal. Live 8 may have been a huge expense but it will certainly pay off in attracting advertisers and helping them catch up to Yahoo and Google.

Clearly AOL spent its money much more wisely than the celebrity gift bag providers who got slammed by ethics experts. And, though I think MTV News has done a good job with online text coverage, some feel that AOL upstaged MTV with their live coverage and flexible approach to online programming.

It will also be interesting to see how Live 8 affects hip hop mogul branding with P. Diddy skipping out while Russell Simmons made the most of the moment. I guess Damon Dash was too busy gathering up the broken pieces of his empire to participate.

Update:
It looks like Bob Geldof may get the grand prize for organizing Live 8 as he's now been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel includes a cash prize of 10 million Swedish kronor which, according to the Universal Currency Converter, is currently equal to $1,270,245.91 in U.S. dollars.

Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and The Who and Keane have pledged to donate royalties attributable to their Live 8 performances to charity.

Comments

[TR$$]

Where was Paul Simon?

[Clyde Smith]

I have no idea.