Music to Macon’s Ears

By Alex Pearlstein, Principal and Vice President

Have you ever been on a cross-country (or cross-state) drive playing “radio roulette” every time you enter the airspace of a new community looking for something decent to listen to? (Note: I don’t have satellite radio and my CD player is broken, but still…) 

Then, every once in a while you come into a town that has a station playing awesome stuff; the disappointment is palpable when you lose the signal. Well, I’m happy to report that the city I live in, Macon, Georgia, now has one of those stations – no worry about driving out of its airspace. It’s called The Creek FM, a for-profit venture from three local Macon entrepreneurs. This is pretty rare in that most eclectic stations playing non-mainstream formats are not-for-profits that get money from multiple sources to survive. The Creek is a purposeful attempt to put American roots music on the radio and offer hyper-local, community-focused programming serving Macon and not Faceless Corporate Interests at HQ. Caveat: if this isn’t your type of music, you’d be less excited than I was upon The Creek’s debut.

So why is this news in an economic development blog? A couple reasons: First, music is deeply engrained in the fabric and culture of Macon, Georgia. A recent Washington Post profile detailed some of this history and opportunities for tourists to experience it first-hand. Second, I think economic development should be about identifying, capturing, and leveraging the niches that make your community unique; Macon truly can stake a claim to music as an economic driver. As evidence, there are multiple live music clubs here, the CVB’s slogan incorporates music, music tourism companies are able to stay in business, we have a killer annual music festival called Bragg Jam, and a cool new project is rescuing the world-famous former studios of Capricorn Records and turning it into a mixed-use development with a music incubator run by Mercer University. A VERY progressive local economic development organization – New Town Macon – is behind the Capricorn project, compiles a CD of local artists and is doing tons of cool stuff related to parks, bike/ped systems, events, and other capacity building.

Of course, a not-so-ancillary benefit of a thriving local music economy (in my humble opinion) is that you become more competitive for young talent. Just look at Austin (writ large) or Athens, Georgia (writ small) or any number of cities that have consistently drawn young people and you’ll probably find good-to-great capacity in the local music scene. It’s not a be-all-end-all – you need much more than a few good clubs to be a talent magnet. (A major public university helps.) But it’s a start.

Certainly, cultivating a successful music economy is extremely tough, especially translating live music into actual jobs. I learned that from working in Memphis and Nashville. Memphis has the music HISTORY but not the music ECONOMY of Nashville. Similar to film, in order to build a music cluster you not only need the performance spaces, but also the full universe of specialized professionals to produce the music, digitize and distribute it, license and promote it, manage bands and songwriters, etc. An army of accountants, lawyers, engineers, marketers, and other jobs with the very particular skills needed to support a music economy is what takes a live music scene and grows it into a thriving employment sector. A music entrepreneurship program doesn’t hurt either. With the proliferation of streaming music sites and new distribution technologies, the entire business of music has been turned on its head. So you better have some folks in town who understand this, or at least what’s needed to be competitive in the new landscape, to stand a chance to sustain a music cluster for the long term.

Which brings us back to Macon. We’ve definitely got a long way to go to take music from “there’s something in our water” to “there’s something in our economy.” But a solid first step is acknowledging that music is a job-creator and making significant, sustained investments in developing a music-based economy for the region. Some in Macon whisper that “old money” at times holds Macon back from reaching its full potential. Hopefully, long-standing Maconites will be okay with music talent and some tattoos and pierced noses frequenting our streets. If they’ve got cash in their pockets from their cool new jobs, I can’t imagine anyone will much care what color their hair is.

Public Art Makes Places Better

By Alexia Alvey, Operations Manager.

When people think about public art, they often think big, recalling larger-scale works like Cloud Gate in Chicago or other large sculptures in major cities. But this is not always the case – public art can also include anything from lighting an underpass to activating underutilized spaces and buildings.  Based on what I’ve experienced, I feel like there’s an ever growing appreciation for public art around communities.  This is especially true in Atlanta, where there is an ever-growing list of initiatives that both engage the community and give back to it using public art.

One example is Living Walls, an Atlanta organization that uses local artists to paint and decorate primarily older, unkempt buildings around the city.  According to their Facebook page, they “bring together street artists, academics, and the public at large to activate and engage communities.”   A lot of the art through Living Walls is concentrated in the Downtown/Old Fourth Ward area of Atlanta (see my previous post about my neighborhood here) which is where I took notice.  The buildings are not necessarily dilapidated, but when you take an otherwise plain, older building and add something interesting to it, it makes the building aesthetically more pleasing and also makes the surrounding area seem a lot more contemporary and hip.  Since they’re focused on keeping the artist base in Atlanta, it adds another aspect of community pride.

Another art initiative that popped up in Atlanta is called Dashboard.  They have a really neat concept of taking vacant buildings and using the space to have artistic performances.  According to their website they want to “activate raw space with radical contemporary art to inspire neighborhood development and cultural awareness. “

Other examples from Atlanta and elsewhere include Elevate from the City of Atlanta’s Office of Cultural Affairs; Art on the Beltline in Atlanta; REV Birmingham light displays; Lake Worth, Florida’s Street Painting Festival; the many sculptures along the Urban Trail in Asheville, NC.

But, why the need for public art?  What does it do except add visual interest?  As Michael Beadle of Smoky Mountain News said of the public art initiative in the City of Waynesville, North Carolina, “To local residents and visitors alike, public art establishes that unique sense of place, an identity, a familiar landmark that attracts people and keeps them coming back.”  To me, the pretty much sums it up.

Leveraging Your Arts and Music Festivals

By Alex Pearlstein, Director of Projects. 

Market Street client Coachella Valley, California is slowly getting back to normal after the craziness that was the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival that wrapped up on Sunday night. Here’s the Time magazine summary of the festival. Top bands and uber-cool celebs made the scene in Indio, California for what is quickly becoming one of the nation’s top music festivals. 

For those economic development organizations who think that events like this are a good time to take that vacation and escape the crowds, do so at your peril. Creative strategies will enable you to program events at these festivals that can potentially identify employment and talent prospects. “Young and restless” talent by the thousands descend upon festival communities for days at a time to enjoy shows and other local attractions. They’re certain to have some down time and might take you up on your offer to learn more about the local economy or whether there are any opportunities for them here. 

While Coachella is growing, the festival still pales in comparison to the behemoth that is Austin’s South-by-Southwest (SXSW). Though it was once the size of Coachella, SXSW has morphed into a multi-media, multi-tracked mega-conference for everything trendy and cool. In many ways it has become the newBIO show; a must-make trip for local economic developers eager to market their community to the nation’s best and brightest techie minds. 

The Austin Chamber – another Market Street client – has been ramping up their programming at SXSW for years to the extent that it is now one of their highest-value marketing opportunities. Here’s asnapshot of the programs and events the Chamber sponsored at SXSW 2013. This is just smart economic development; when a captive audience of potential relocation prospects, entrepreneurs, and talent shows up at your door, open it as wide as you possibly can for them. 

Events like ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Jazz Fest in New Orleans, the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, and others offer opportunities for local EDOs to set out the welcome mat and roll out the red carpet for prospect companies, site consultants, investors, and other “influencers” who would gladly hear a pitch or two or take a fam tour in exchange for a free or discounted excursion to the festival. 

Economic development marketing these days is all about differentiating your community from the competition. Leveraging a high-profile festival or cultural event is low-hanging fruit when it comes to standing out from the crowd.

Learning From The City Different

By Jim Vaughan, Senior Fellow.

I am writing this post in Santa Fe – one of America’s great and unique cities – and wondering, as I do every time I visit, why I don’t live here. 

As with most visitors, I come to enjoy the art and history of the place and for fine dining! But as a career chamber executive and now Senior Fellow at Market Street, I spend a good part of each visit thinking about how other cities could learn from Santa Fe. 

Lesson No. 1 – Santa Fe, early on, realized the importance of place and determined to capitalize on being Santa Fe. A landmark urban plan was adopted in 1912, the year of New Mexico statehood. The plan set out, in firm language, to protect the city’s streets against change that would affect their appearance. Fast forward 45 years, a group of citizens “imagined, drafted and lobbied for the landmark urban-planning guidelines that have kept Santa Fe looking like Santa Fe,” writes Jason Silverman in Santa Fean magazine. 

Lesson No. 2—Santa Fe has proven that arts can drive economic development. From early beginnings as an art colony in the first decade of statehood, “Santa Fe has grown to be the third-largest art market in the country, after New York and San Francisco—remarkable for a city of only 68,000,” writes Stacia Lewandowski in New Mexico magazine. On Santa Fe’s Canyon Road, there are more than 130 art galleries, studios and restaurants. The city of Santa Fe recognized Canyon Road’s uniquely beautiful combination of shops, studios, and homes in 1962, when it designated the Road a “residential arts and crafts zone.” 

Lesson No. 3—Santa Fe cares for and invests in public spaces. The city’s historic, cultural and geographic center is the Plaza at the end of the Santa Fe Trail. Visitors and residents enjoy Cathedral Park next to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. The newest and most popular park, the Railyard, opened in 2008 after years of planning and with significant public input. The Railyard is home to a vibrant mix of tenants such as the Farmers Market and Artists Market, Hispanic cultural center, and an eclectic mix of restaurants, performance art spaces, shops, and contemporary art galleries. 

Lesson No. 4—Being a state capital has its advantages. The Museum of New Mexico includes the History Museum and Palace of the Governors, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Museum of Art and Museum of International Folk Art. And while it’s not a gallery, the State Capitol features a spectacular collection of art by New Mexicans assembled since 1991 and valued at more than $6 million. 

Santa Fe’s commitment to planning and preservation throughout the 20th century is not without controversy. Architects and real estate professionals, for example, sometimes feel stifled by the design board and the “Santa Fe Style.” But the city’s neighborhoods have succeeded in avoiding being overrun by McMansions, view-obstructing structures, and development patterns that are indistinguishable from “Anyplace USA.” 

They don’t call it “The City Different” without reason.

Creatively Funding Creative Entrepreneurship

By Jonathan Miller, Project Associate. 

If there is one thing that I am not, it is artistic. I learned that I was not artistic in elementary school when the only part of the student mural (a seascape) I was allowed to paint was the sea slug… that’s really just an oval. Though I was never destined to be an artist, I can appreciate art and its importance in making places interesting and visually vibrant. One of the greatest public art installations that I have visited isCloud Gate in Chicago (aka “the bean”). Not only is it cool to look at, but it is a central space that draws crowds. Creating these kinds of spaces is beneficial because it stimulates interaction of people with art. However, one of the more intriguing points of collision between art and the public is when it meets entrepreneurship. 

In 2011, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) began its Our Town grant program. The program provides funding (ranging from $25,000 to $200,000) for “creative placemaking projects that contribute toward the livability of communities and help transform them into lively, beautiful, and sustainable places with the arts at their core.” The program requires 1:1 non-federal matches and a partnership between a nonprofit and a local government entity. Since 2011, the program has invested more than $11 million in projects located in all 50 states. 

Better yet, the program has a funding category for creative entrepreneurship. Exactly $1 million has been awarded to creative entrepreneurship projects. These types of projects seek to integrate business principles with creative endeavors. Such projects are also taking place in the public eye, adding to the vibrancy of public spaces and streets. 

The following project descriptions, drawn from the grant program website, are great examples of the types of projects that are being funded and how they intend to make a difference. 

STONE MOUNTAIN, GEORGIA: ART STATION 

The City of Stone Mountain, Georgia, is a community of 12,000 about 16 miles from downtown Atlanta and located adjacent to a 3,200-acre state park, Stone Mountain Park, which receives seven million visitors annually. 

ART Station, a major arts not-for-profit in Stone Mountain for more than 25 years, is partnering with the City of Stone Mountain on the Stone Mountain Arts Incubator program (SMart, Inc.) to nurture the city's creativity and turn it into an arts destination. SMart, Inc. provides technical assistance, marketing training, and space for artists to create, exhibit, sell, and share their work with residents and visitors to the city. The program consists of eight artist studios and five art galleries refurbished by local building owners to bring economic development and creative activity to its struggling downtown district. Additional project partners include DeKalb County, Stone Mountain Park, the Georgia Department of Economic Development, and the Stone Mountain Visitors Center. 

CITY OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT: PROJECT STOREFRONTS 

In 2010, the City of New Haven launched an innovative pilot program called Project Storefronts. In cooperation with business counselors and property owners, the program enables individual artists, not-for-profits, or teams of creative workers to set up 90-day businesses in vacant storefronts in New Haven's Ninth Square Historic District. 

Support from the Arts Endowment will help expand the award-winning Project Storefronts pilot, an initiative of the City of New Haven's Office of Economic Development, Department of Cultural Affairs, Artspace New Haven, and private property owners. Artists and arts organizations will receive financial and business counseling to help launch or expand a creative business in the retail-deprived Ninth Square. Meanwhile, artist programming and events will raise the profile of the creative businesses, continuing to attract new visitors to the Ninth Square Historic District. Project Storefronts will result in the opening of previously shuttered storefronts with creative businesses, increasing foot traffic, attracting new residents to the area, and growing the local creative economy that accounts for seven percent of New Haven's workforce. New Haven has a population of 129,700. 

* * * 

I provide these examples because they underscore a very important lesson about entrepreneurship: not all entrepreneurs are made in the mold of Mark Zuckerberg. Tailoring entrepreneurship programs and policies to different types of startups is important to not only stimulate diversification within the entrepreneur community, but also because a singular profile may deter someone who doesn’t “fit the profile” from pursuing their idea. Further, these types of project are the intersection of the public, art, and business, something that is a win-win-win for local communities.

A State of the Arts Event

By Alex Pearlstein, Director of Projects.

As I’ve mentioned often, it’s tough for a community to get the word out about its competitive assets and advantages in the cacophonous world of modern media and multi-platform marketing. Only a few places – most notably, Las Vegas – have really entered the national mindset via a community-focused marketing campaign. This includes major population centers and high-profile regions with built-in name recognition. What can a small to mid-sized community possibly do to get its brand out there and capture the attention of companies and talent? One answer is to think outside the traditional boundaries of what constitutes “marketing” and develop something awesome that may or may not ever result in a spike in external perception. At the end of the day, you might just have another cool thing for locals (or folks in adjacent communities) to do, and that ain’t nothing.

What I’m thinking of specifically in terms of this topic is an event called ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  This is the fourth year of the competition, which involves the placement of art pieces in various venues in Downtown Grand Rapids (the details are all worked out between the artists and venues themselves) for viewing by the public. At the end of the competition, the public votes on their favorite art installation and the winning artist gets a couple hundred thousand dollars in prize money. Over 1,500 artists from 39 states and 46 countries will be showing their work in more than 160 venues for this year’s ArtPrize. Even better, over 300,000 visitors will likely head to Downtown Grand Rapids to view the art during the two-week-plus competition.

Analysts have estimated the economic impact on Grand Rapids’ economy from ArtPrize at around $15 million. What’s almost more important – and something you can’t put a price tag on – is the national and international attention the contest has drawn to Grand Rapids. Akron, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles are just three of the communities that have launched their own versions of ArtPrize.

A caveat here… ArtPrize was founded and funded by a scion of a local billionaire; most communities cannot count on such largess to advance their attempts to do something awesome and become known for it. So why not start small and build from there? Or so something online that’s less cost-prohibitive. Or leverage social media to make an impact (another Grand Rapids effort I’ve blogged about before, the Grand Rapids LipDub, fits into this category).

Bottom line – you are not going to get people’s attention about your community in the traditional ways anymore. Sure, site selectors will probably find you if your competitive dynamics are right and your website is effective. But grabbing the eyeballs and earlobes of John and Jane Skilledperson or an entrepreneur looking for the right place to launch his or her cool new tech startup will take some moxie, creativity, persistence, and, yes, funding to accomplish. The ultimate “prize” will be sustained the success of your economy, residents, and businesses.

Arts on the Go

By Kathy Young, Director of Operations.

I'm still pretty excited about the food truck movement, recently blogged about with savory enthusiasm by my colleague Evan Robertson, so you can imagine my delight upon learning of Dance Truck, an Atlanta-based organization formed in 2009. I stumbled across Dance Truck while facilitating a focus group for a good friend and founder of another innovative Atlanta dance troupe, Zoetic Dance Ensemble, during an outreach project they've begun. Our dialogue led us into a discussion about other cutting edge dance companies and arts organizations, which led me to add "Dance Truck" to the group's list of peer organizations as we filled up several flip charts. This entry gave me pause, as I was wholly unaware of what was being referenced. So then,  in the company of a diverse group of arts professionals and enthusiasts, I dared to ask, "What's Dance Truck?" The answer was embarrassingly simple... "like food trucks, only with dancers."

Brilliant.

If you're like me - you value new cultural experiences but don't always make the time to seek them out, let alone carve out time to actually go to new venues or check out new groups - the idea of having art being mobile is quite intriguing. In the case of Dance Truck, over the course of the first two years, the organizers presented programs by more than 50 local artists at festivals, museums, galleries, and roadside gathering spots using the back of a rental truck as a stage platform. *I should note here that its reflects much more on me than the Dance Truckers that I haven't encountered them in the past couple of years. Clearly, they are out there, I am not.

For some of us, our first exposure to mobile arts and culture may have been the time-honored bookmobile... for hard-core bibliophiles, I would venture to suppose that the arrival of the bookmobile was not unlike the excitement churned by the jingle of the ice cream truck. Now, there are more and more opportunities to experience varieties of mobile art. Several communities have programs that bring art to children, but my current favorite is Art Feeds, based in Joplin, Missouri. In addition to delivering program onsite in schools, churches, and other locations, the Art Feeds folks can also serve up to 15-20 children inside their mobile art center. The Mobile Arts Program is another interesting idea operated by artists in the San Francisco Bay area. To quote from their website, "In essence, we build a temporary, creative microcosm where community and creativity can intersect and flourish. In a world where we are becoming more insular with advanced technologies our events hope to bring residents together through positive interactions with neighbors and their neighborhood."

For communities seeking to build their arts community as a benefit for residents,a draw for tourists, and a memorable experience for prospective residents, business owners, investors, and the like - supporting low-cost, highly flexible mobile arts organizations seems like an easy win. With mobile arts, a little investment can go a long way, and lead to a number of unexpected collaborations. Or, somewhat expected... recently, Dance Trucks teamed with The Good Food Truck to double the delivery of quality "truck-based" enjoyment.

Waste Space to Public Space

By Matt Tarleton, Project Manager.  

This past weekend I traveled to New York City to visit friends and family. It was a wonderful trip. While I can’t quite picture myself living there, it is such an incredible place to explore, especially for someone that is interested in cities and food (that’s me). There are countless lessons to be learned in every borough and corner of the city and the larger metropolitan area. I wish I had more time to explore the transformation happening at Governor’s Island, the degree to which Little Italy has been overtaken by Chinatown, and the impact of the High Line on redevelopment in Chelsea and the Meatpacking District. There’s always next time. But on this most recent trip, I did get to experience Socrates Sculpture Park, an impressive story of environmental remediation, revitalization, and community engagement. 

Located along the East River in Long Island City (Queens), the park is filled with multiple large installations by various artists, with exhibitions rotating throughout the year. Adjacent to the park is a large area where resident artists and sculptors can design, weld, and assemble their pieces, some of which are as large as your average American home. It possesses and incredible view of the Upper East Side. On a slightly chilly and breezy Sunday afternoon, I think we were the only non-residents. This is not a destination; it is a place for the community. It’s a place for residents, their children, and their dogs; dogs like Nero, an English Mastiff that, according to his owner, could speak five languages.

In 1986, a group of artists and community leaders developed a vision for the Socrates Sculpture Park. At the time it was an abandoned landfill and illegal dumpsite. Twenty five years later it has grown into more than simply a park. It is an artist residency program, an operator of arts education programs for local youth, and a provider or community employment and training programs. It is home to bike rehabilitation programs, international film screenings, and a farmers market. Its Community Works Initiative Program teaches landscaping and horticultural skills to local residents, including those in nearby Astoria and Queensbridge housing projects, and provides employment to program participants as grounds maintenance workers. 

Perhaps the most remarkable achievement is simply the vision to transform a previously dilapidated and hazardous space into such a vibrant public space. The park was primarily the vision of Mark di Suvero, a sculptor and founder of the Athena Foundation. As a former landfill turned illegal dumpsite, the nearly five acre site required a year to clean up and prepare for public use. The site was leased from the Department of Ports and Trade for one dollar each year. After roughly seven years of operation as a sculpture garden, the area was officially designated as a park within the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation in 1993. Since that time, Socrates has received numerous awards for its transformative effect on the neighborhood and its successful transition from waste space to public space.

There are sites like this all over the country that have tremendous potential. Communities simply need to have the vision and the will. New York City saw that the nearly five-acre Socrates Sculpture Park was a successful project. Today, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation is working ardently to transform the 2,200 acre Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island into a public park. Yes, you read that correctly. At 2,200 acres it was the largest landfill in the world. Upon completion the park will be nearly three times as large as Central Park. But it’s a project that should take thirty years to finish. I guess that won’t be on the agenda for next year’s trip. 

Crowd Surfing and Cluster Development

By Kathy Young, Director of Operations.

Remember mosh pits? If you're like me  and you came of age at the height of this late 80's/early 90's concert experience phenomenon, then you either get a burst of adrenaline recalling the energy-infused atmosphere or are glad you avoided it, having chosen against getting up close and personal in an act of self-preservation. Maybe it's my size and gender, but the thought of being man-handled by a sweaty crowd and potentially dumped on my head seemed like something I could live without ("Really, I can hear them just fine from back here!").

For those who were either too young or had already moved on to civilized concert venues (where you can sometimes sit down during a show) during the explosion of "grunge," undoubtedly you've seen the photos, videos, and are probably picturing flannel shirts, that baby on the cover of Nirvana's Nevermind album, and maybe even the Seattle skyline right about now.

And what does this have to do with economic development? Well, last week, while at a one-night viewing of Cameron Crowe's Pearl Jam 20 documentary (coming soon to PBS and DVD!), I found myself thinking about target clusters. Yes, I realize that flies in the face of the anti-establishment mantra of alternative bands,  but in my defense, I'd spent the day discussing target sectors for the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce with my colleagues and I guess you could say I had clusters on the brain.

One of the really interesting observations in the documentary was how the early 90s Seattle music scene was so different from the punk rock scene in New York, as apparently pointed out to Chris Cornell by Johnny Ramone. The Seattle bands by and large enjoyed a strong camarederie; even Cobain and Vedder weren't the arch-enemies that the media always suggested. They went to each others' shows, played on each others' albums, and generally were as wildly excited about other bands' music as the fans were.

The closely knit music community formed more than 20 years ago has evolved into a significant part of the Seattle economy. While not a formally targeted economic cluster, according to a 2008 Economic Impact Study, the direct, indirect and induced impacts of the music industry translated to 22,391 jobs, $2.6 billion in sales, and $972 million in income in the city of Seattle alone. Further, Seattle’s strong technology sector (which is a formally targeted cluster) plays a significant role in the industry's evolution and has helped music industry jobs and wages in the region increase.

Developing an arts-related cluster is something that can be particularly challenging, but some communities, including several of Market Street's clients (Nashville, Austin, Memphis, Piedmont Triad, and the Coachella Valley to name a few) have thriving creative economy sectors of one kind or another. There are a number of factors that affect the long-term success of economic clusters. As so eloquently described by my colleagues recently:

A true cluster represents groups of interrelated businesses that choose to co-locate for one reason or another. Whether clustering occurs among competing or cooperative firms, there are a variety of different catalysts. Suppliers may choose to locate in proximity to a major manufacturer for research and development efficiencies and reduced transportation costs. Other firms may co-locate in a specific area in order to take advantage of a specialized labor pool or to be in close proximity to specific infrastructure. The advantages derived by firms from these catalysts, coupled with the network effects that often exist within clusters, often result in comparatively high potential for employment growth and wealth creation.

The many subsectors and niche industries captured under "arts" or creative media have a role for communities, whether through the development of a heavily targeted cluster initiative, or through the everyday nurturing of individual efforts or an emerging art scene. As Ford Foundation President Luis A. Ubinas recently noted upon the launch of the "ArtPlace" consortium (to be led by former CEOs for Cities President and CEO Carol Coletta), "too many people think of the arts as luxuries, as jewels, things that may not be necessary in times of need, things that can be put off. The arts are inherently valuable, and they’re also part of what’s going to get us out of this economic problem we’re in."

I agree, and I'm pretty sure Pearl Jam band members said something along those lines when theytestified before Congress in 1994 regarding Ticketmaster's possible breach of antitrust regulations. Actually, that's probably a topic for another blog... In the meantime, support your local bands!