Aussie entertainment veteran urges music promoters to stop being stupid
Entertainment promoters need to push their marketing promotions for longer and embrace new technologies, says veteran Australian music promoter, Michael Chugg.
The chairman of Chugg Entertainment was speaking at Mumbrella’s Entertainment Marketing Summit this morning, where he expressed his frustration with other promoters and labelled some industry practices as ‘stupid’.
Michael Chugg and Havas Sports & Entertainment’s Francis Coady
“I get a bit frustrated with other promoters,” said Chugg who founded the Frontier Touring company in 1970 and was responsible for bring performers including Elton John, Robbie Williams, Bette Midler, Prince, Coldplay and Radiohead to Australia.
“You sell out a tour quickly because all the fans have gone and bought all the tickets, so stop advertising, so when the act arrives five months later the only people who know they are coming are the people who got the tickets.
“That is just stupid, if you want to build an act and grow an act you need to tell the other 19 million people that they fucked up and missed out on getting a ticket,” Chugg told the audience.
The entrepreneur, businessman and concert tour promoter said the entertainment businesses should never stop promoting, and with modern technology it isn’t hard to do.
“Back then you had your radio, you had your press ads sold out but of course it has changed so much now that you can get to everybody through the socials and the databases and everything, but it is important to grow an act,” Chugg explained.
Chugg used the example of John Mayer arguing he knew a lot of people didn’t know who the musician was, but they still managed to sell 10,000 tickets and when he returns next time, they can sell out an extra concert.
Elton John was another example used by the promoter explaining how Chugg Entertainment sold John’s shows in Cairns, Mackay, Wollongong and Hobart by calling it a “once in a lifetime” concert and using marketing campaigns as well as getting the towns, Queensland tourism and the councils involved too.
“We ended up selling 23,000 tickets in Cairns, 16,000 tickets in Mackay and we sold 21,000 tickets in Wollongong in half an hour because of this massive campaign.
“Not only did we turn the whole towns on, we got massive, massive national exposure.
“It’s about just making it an event and everybody participates,” he said.
Chugg gave the audience some insight into how 18 to 25 year-olds are consuming their music stating live music is still extremely relevant.
“With technology and the way the world moves so quickly now, they are much more sophisticated but it is still all about great live music and you can stream till your hearts content, you can walk around with your ear plugs in and listen to Spotify playlists and everything, but the bottom line is that there is still nothing like a great live concert,” Chugg concluded.
Chugg made predictions to the audience about the future of technology, brands and live concerts.
“Virtual reality is going to be massively big, and I know there are companies that are looking at doing virtual reality in live concerts and it’s all a bit too expensive at the moment but like anything it’ll become affordable.
“I still don’t think sitting at home watching virtual reality of the concert is as good as actually being there but technology is moving so quickly.”
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Keeping the artists alive in peoples’ heads even when tours sell out can also open up different approaches for the cities and towns themselves.
One way would be to interest cities and towns in the idea of establishing quality indoor and outdoor concert venues that can attract and host the headline acts. These then attract more visitors to the town and create more employment for the food, beverage and accommodation businesses in that town, with the town and the venue being “put on the map” as far as neighbouring cities are concerned.
This is very important as the capital cities sprawl outwards along with an increased effort in activating the regional cities so they are not seen as second-class citizens.
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Chuggi is my favourite promoter and I’ve admired his guts and commitment for over 40 years. What he doesn’t know about promoting (marketing) music ain’t worth knowing.
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