Ozzfest free???

[dd3keegs]

...TicketMaster must be shitting!

It will show just how much of the ticket sales goes to the actual production if they can make it work without selling seats.

Interesting.

+1 LOL!

[St.James]

Sharon has truely lost her mind.
I mean... Sharon Osbourne doing something and NOT trying to make a buck off of it.
Someone check hell... I think it just froze over.

Sharon lost her greedy mind many years ago. I think it just took a season or 2 of "The Osbournes" for most people to really pick up on it and realize OZZY is the normal one!

[rjohnstone]

I guess I should clarify my statement.
Sharon Osbourne is a greedy bitch who will screw anyone out of a buck if given the chance.
Raising prices on items sold inside the venue is one thing, but that will still not make up for the loss of revenue on ticket sales.
Typically EVERYONE has to buy a ticket to get it. That's money in the bank right there.
If it's free, there's no obligation for you to spend a dime once inside.
That's a pretty big gamble to take, unless she somehow managed to get all the acts to work for free and have the owners of the venues donate the use of the facility. NOT!
I would love to see the contract details for this tour.
Did someone chisel the ice from Sharons heart?
I'm still checking on hell. I heard the temp did drop a few degrees.
Hey BillZ... what's your temp reading down there?

[toejam]

Fuck Ozzy. I haven't bought one of his albums since Ozzmosis came out in 1995. And is Ozzfest any good any more? I haven't been there since 1999.

[Argos]

After she fucked Maiden on Ozzfest, I'll NEVER support anything Sharon is involved with ever again. I hope she gets hit by a bus.

Bitch.

[rjohnstone]

Last time I went to one, some assholes started lighting trash cans on fire an then tossed them into the crowed.
Waste of my time and hard earned $$$.
And most of the bands sucked.

[zeegler]

Buffalo is listed as July 27th.

I think that is still last years schedule Scott. The dates are the same.

[Soap]

Who cares about any of this, I know I don't.
I have yet to attend any Ozzfest.
I like Ozzy, but I don't think he's worth the money or time of such an event. Personally, I don't have that kind of time, a whole day of every thing I don't care for.
If I was gonna see Ozzy, I'd rather see him with an opening band then a whole day of a bunch of nonsense and stupidity. Some people are into that sort of thing but I'm not.
Personally, I think the whole "free thingy" smells like a scam or a screwing.
Somebody is gonna make up for it, and you know its not gonna be Sharon and the rest of management. You just don't remove part of the money making process without a back lash somewhere at some point.

[sevser]

They have some big sponsors who will probably be paying some big advertisement $$$...And the fact that kids will spend more money on merch is pretty much a sure thing. This kind of marketing has been around forever...Casinos giving free drinks for example...People spend way more money on other things...More than they would have in most cases...

[Argos]

Makes one wonder how slim purported razor thin tour margins really are.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

you're all are forgetting that each band on the bill has to pay upwards of $100,000.00 for a slot. so the productions costs are basically paid for by the independant artists and labels getting their bands on there.

[rjohnstone]

According to the press release on CNN, the bands are all doing the tour for free.
They will have to rely on merchandise and CD sales to make money.
I don't know how many up and coming bands can afford to do a 25 date tour and rely solely on their mechandise sales for income.
Granted the exposure will be awesome, but still a tough time finanacialy speaking.
The sponsors are only covering the production costs (i.e.; venue, staging, etc.)

[pro-fusion]

you're all are forgetting that each band on the bill has to pay upwards of $100,000.00 for a slot. so the productions costs are basically paid for by the independant artists and labels getting their bands on there.

That was the first thing I thought of when I read this. Plus, I'm guessing that participating bands will be handing over a sizable percentage of their merch profits to the Osbournes.

For large tours, typically the artist is paid a set fee upfront by the promoter, who is basically gambling that he can make more off of ticket sales than he paid to the band. Since Live Nation is pretty much the only big concert promoter left, they have more of an incentive to work on a new way of generating concert revenue than would a local promoter. So here's my guess as to the revenue stream for the Osbournes/Live Nation:

1. Upfront payments by sponsors
2. Upfront entry payments by participating bands
3. Downstream merch sales by all bands
4. Perhaps downstream payments by sponsors if certain sales targets are met?

I'll be curious to see if this revenue offsets touring costs and venue rentals, and provides profit for both the Osbournes and Live Nation. I can see Sharon Osbourne doing something stupid (though she *is* good at making $$), but I cannot see the suits at Live Nation doing this unless they had a pretty good expectation of profit.

Speaking personally, I am MUCH more likely to go to Ozzfest due to this. Most years, there are only a couple of bands I know I want to see, and that has prevented me from going except for the year that Priest played it.

[VitaminG]

According to the press release on CNN, the bands are all doing the tour for free.
They will have to rely on merchandise and CD sales to make money.
I don't know how many up and coming bands can afford to do a 25 date tour and rely solely on their mechandise sales for income.
Granted the exposure will be awesome, but still a tough time finanacialy speaking.
The sponsors are only covering the production costs (i.e.; venue, staging, etc.)

from the sound of it, bands can sign on for a few dates if playing the whole 25 isn't viable, and can play side gigs. So the opportunity is there for smaller bands to get some exposure and make some money too

[slayer]

Anyone notice Ozzfest getting more and more "No Name Band" oriented? As in, who are these guys? Jack.