Global financial crisis. Have I bored you already?

We all know industry is in meltdown and in most cases has already melted down. We have heard enough stories about failing banks, mining and car companies and suits with redundant share portfolios to write a thousand riches to rags best sellers… with guaranteed commission on a sequel when they inevitably bounce back to riches again.

But in a creative industry such as music, does anyone really give a shit? The majors will no doubt tell you yes but those who lay claim to – œkeeping it real’ it seems, are likely to go Sesame Street on the GFC and flip it a big bird/snuffalufagus.

I put this question to some local industry players (and one not so local) with varying levels of prominence, to gain some sort of insight into what happens to the WA music business when the world goes bust.

“We’ve had the best year ever!” mused Sunset Events Director David Chitty, sounding a little worn on the phone, the morning after Sunset won a WAMI for Most Popular Music Festival with Southbound.

“For a while there we were wondering what was going to happen, we introduced two events with Stereosonic and Laneway- both were successful in their first year, Southbound sold out and West Coast worked as well.”

West Coast indeed. Anyone who was at West Coast this year or just peered over the line up would have realised the festival was half the show it had been in the previous two years. Instead of a two day setup and list of acts based on its East Coast brother’s, it had been reduced to a Saturday with no major headlining internationals. This seemed to indicate the GFC’s hand of wrath had been slammed down upon the sunny lawns of Fremantle Esplanade. Or maybe not.

“The Byron ownership changed- Chugg Entertainment (who are tight with Sunset Events) are not involved in the Byron [festival] anymore.”

“That took a while to work out and as a result when we went to program it was October and it didn’t leave us much time to put a two day festival on.”

“I think we made a good decision… we’ll possibly go back to the two day format next year- we’ll just see how many acts come up and how things go next year.”

So in three sentences my misguided economic assumptions were thwarted but I was given hope that the West Coast Blues and Roots festival would be back to its best next year. Ultimately, it appears that while the world’s finances are crumbling, WA’s most loved and heavy hitting promoter remains as strong as it has ever been.

Chitty said the perception that the industry had slowed down, came from the national tour promoters being unable to pay the international artists with the weaker Australian dollar, but localised promoters had not really been affected.

Kevin Borusso who runs TSK eVenture and is responsible for the Rocket Room shenanigans, said he still had a steady flow of international artists despite the fact he was offering them smaller fees. He also said Rocket Room attendance is up on last year’s.

So a couple of responses that are a little too positive for 2009 business questions; where’s the tales of bankruptcy, financial suffering, and suicide we’ve become so accustomed to? Maybe a metal promoter can shed some darkness over this party: suicide and suffering have been mentioned one or twice in metal howls after all.

Glenn Dyson of Soundworks Touring in Osborne Park, who graced us with such incredible madness as Dillinger Escape Plan last year and is touring Cannibal Corpse in September is totally optimistic and absolutely no help in putting a dampener on this article.

“There are still plenty of acts of course wanting to come to Australia and now there are plenty of promoters wanting to bring them down here.”

In a deep, throaty, email growl, he said the crisis has had no effect on the range of international acts he can bring to Australia and none have cancelled since Aussie coin became a mere shadow of the dollar they signed on for.

He did take a jab at managers and booking agents though, saying they always want to suck as much cash out of you as they can. “That’s their job”.

Graham Nixon from Sydney punk label Resist Records, who recently toured Chuck Ragan and Tom Gabel and brought out Gaslight Anthem last year, also had no concerns and said that for him as a national promoter it was business as usual.

“The tours I deal with all break even and financially the crisis plays very little part… the tours most affected would be those worked out in $US and attract thousands of people not a couple of hundred.”

In defiance of such statements and the general world trend of cowardice towards risky business ventures, Birds of Tokyo had a first time crack at selling out one of those tours that attracts thousands earlier this year. History will tell you the eminent 4 piece sold every ticket on that tour.

“We’ve experienced more growth since the economic downfall than any previous album or touring cycle… Seems people still need rock.” Birds of Tokyo manager Ross Macpherson informed me.

“Let’s just say you won’t see the band stacking shelves at Fresh Provisions in Mt Lawley for quite some time.”

Ok so the tour was a success but what about the general costs of sending a band around Australia and paying promoters… etc etc… surely that was more expensive?

“Promoters are like bass players: every band has one and no one knows why, Birds of Tokyo on the other hand has a bass player but not a promoter, we do everything in house.” (no love lost between promoters and managers it seems)

“The only place we witnessed soaring costs was at the Qantas check-in, their baggage allowances and excess charges have been too fair for the touring bands of Australia [apparently] and [they] decided to…well…fuck us.” Macpherson elegantly stated.

Birds of Tokyo drummer, Adam Weston, also runs his own label and distribution service in Perth: Firestarter Music and Distribution. From his perspective as an owner of a label, he said things had been “on the up and up” for him and the artists on his roster which includes Chaos Divine and Sons of Rico.

“Perhaps the music industry is one area where people don’t mind splashing a bit of their disposable income on… Maybe punters are drinking less at licensed shows to save the coin, but the initial tickets are still being sold.”

“As long as everyone involved remains focused on increasing their profile then things naturally become more productive.”

Weston conceded that servicing and parts for printing equipment had jumped almost 30%, but in a genuine display of loyalty to the paying punters, he has made sure that product prices remain untouched.

“We were mainly concerned that stock prices remained reasonable which they have, but we played it safe by purchasing larger quantities of stock in advance for better prices. In turn as our prices have remained stable, we’ve seen an increase in clients and therefore profit.”

Profit you say Mr Weston? How dare you mention profit, profit is not spoken of in 2009.

But as I found out from 3 Perth Promoters, a Perth band and a Perth label, in the local music business it is!

Sure some of these guys might not be pulling in six figures, but they are staying solid while banks are being bought out, mortgage companies are ceasing to exist and the average business is like a buffalo soldier (fighting for survival).

Let’s recap: Sunset Events- “Best year ever”
TSK eVentures- ” Rocket Room attendance is up on
last years”
Soundworks Touring- Internationals galore
Resist Records (Sydney)- Global Financial Crisis?
Birds of Tokyo- killing it.
Firestarter Music and Distribution- Flourishing.

Economists take note of this equation: a total disregard for profit + utmost respect for the consumer = success in tough times… and maybe a bit of extra cash as well.