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Opinion: Free headbanging comes with its own costs


The heavy metal community let out a resounding "zuh" this week as Sharon Osbourne announced that tickets to the 25-city 2007 Ozzfest tour will be completely free.

Zuh? Free? Osbourne said that many of 2006's acts had demanded up to 300 bones per show, for "an hour's work onstage."

Sick of paying through the nose and making others do the same, Osbourne simply refused to raise the cost of tickets. "It nearly destroyed us," she said. "With Ozzy's audience being younger, they can't afford any higher prices."

She insists there's no catch. The cost of tickets will be picked up by corporate sponsors, and the tour will run on merchandise and concession sales.

If you have any interest whatsoever in music in this day and age, you're probably aware of the high prices you often have to pay to see your favorite act in person. And if you have long scraggly hair and are fond of dragons, bloodlust and the sweet embrace of darkest night, you probably blew a gasket when you heard about Ozzfest.

I could stay up all night debating exactly how valuable it is to have a free ticket to the premier sonic arts festival of our nation's angry, bearded young white males, and Allah knows I will with whoever cares to listen, but it's undeniable that Osbourne has made a gutsy, generous move.

At times, the element of greed seems so inseparable from the embarrassing marriage of rock and roll with capitalism that it's refreshing to see promoters thinking of the fans, the people who love the music, first and foremost.

But a free tour is still somewhat curious in its altruism, because Ozzfest is backed by Live Nation, a powerful entertainment promoter and the spawn of Clear Channel Communications, the monolithic media corporation that was accused earlier in the decade of cornering the concert market and jacking up ticket prices to unbearably high levels.

The concert racket has been big business since the 1970s, and today it's the domain of multinational corporations and billion-dollar promoters. Companies like Live Nation spend big bucks to attract the fans and charm them of their money.

Meanwhile, those fans are getting fed up with unexplained service charges on tickets, exorbitant parking fees, and all the consequent headaches of huge corporate concerts: disgusting restrooms, bad food, long lines and traffic gridlock after the show.

High ticket prices are partly the nature of big-name tours, which must hire roadies, promoters, soundmen, security, cooks and marketers, in addition to the artists, but they can also be somewhat explained by the aggression of the huge corporations which, as they grow larger, are able to throw even more money at big-name acts.

The amassed spending power of the Boomer generation has also created a huge market for nostalgia acts, and it's been proven that people will docilely pay hundreds of dollars to see the icons of their youth cough up the golden oldies on request.

The answer to the enigma of Ozzfest may lie in the cyclical nature of the concert business. The big boys are quite aware when people are put off by high ticket prices, because they see an economic slump, so they work harder to keep it cheap and curry favor with the fans.

My guess is that Live Nation is agreeing to a free Ozzfest because they respect Sharon Osbourne as a shrewd businesswoman, and - more importantly - them natives are restless 'bout those tickets!

At its best, live music is a religious experience. It's unfair to economically exploit people's love for it, and when it comes to ticket prices, there's a difference between "steep" and "outrageous."

If you have the bad luck to be in love with a mainstream artist who regularly charges $50 a squawk, consider turning to the vast, hidden colonies of fascinating independent and underground acts that'll only charge you $5 admission - if that - if you can find them.

Ozzfest may not be taken up as the music industry's new business model, but it's a start.

Matthew Neff is an English literature senior. Headbang with him at

matthew.neff@asu.edu>matthew.neff@asu.edu.


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