May 13-19, 2004

music

Something Corporate

different PERSPECTIVE: The Trocadero's new bookers are considering reopening the third-floor balcony. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

House of Blues has big plans for the Troc.

by Patrick Rapa

The view from the third floor of the Trocadero is pretty sweet.

The main room is always sweaty and intimate, of course, and the second floor’s comfortable, provided you’re lucky enough to get a seat. (Standing can be an ergonomic challenge beneath that low ceiling.)

But this third floor -- this secret second balcony so close to the domed ceiling that you can touch the protective netting stretched across it -- provides impressive sight lines. The stage is far enough away to be seen all at once, but big enough to feel majestic.

This terrace has been here, most likely, since the structure was built in 1874, but it hasn't been used in years. The floor creaks. The wooden benches are falling apart. But the view

Kevin Morrow is practically salivating at the possibilities.

He's the soul-patched, baseball-cap-wearing senior vice president of entertainment for L.A.-based House of Blues -- the world's second largest concert promotion company -- and to him, fixing up the forgotten balcony could be an excellent business decision. More seats means more people. More people means more money and the chance to compete with Clear Channel (aka the largest concert promotions company) for more popular acts.

HOB was recently hired to book the Troc, filling the vacancy left by Jon Hampton, who was hired away by Clear Channel. Up until that point, the 1,100-capacity Trocadero -- run by Joanna Pang and owned by her father Stephen -- was the largest independently booked rock venue in Philadelphia. The Troc and HOB have worked together on individual shows for a couple years now. Now that the House of Blues has arrived at the famous old theater, Morrow says some "upgrades in the facility" can be expected.

Like what?

"Well, I would say throwing some coats of paint on," he says. "It's an older facility that's got great bones but it needs probably some cosmetic stuff on the outside."

Refurbishing that second balcony is another possibility. Even though HOB doesn't own the Troc, the company will crunch numbers to determine whether the money it would make from the added ticket sales would be worth the investment it would take to get that floor in concert-shape. Morrow couldn't even estimate how much such a project would cost.

Generally, HOB books clubs it actually owns, setting up a small network of 1,000 to 2,000-capacity venues across the country through which to funnel artists of a certain caliber. (For instance: Fuel, The Subdudes, Talib Kweli and Cypress Hill all play HOB Chicago this week.) This foray into hired booking is relatively new. "We have a deal right now in San Antonio, where we book a place called Sunset Station. We've been doing that for about three months," says Morrow. "We have a place in Vancouver called the Commodore Ballroom. There are probably three other venues that we're looking at now that we're in the middle of negotiating."

But was there ever any talk about just plain old buying the Trocadero and turning it into a House of Blues?

"Right now it's really a booking deal," he says. "It's a great room, great location. One of the best markets in the country. But right now it's really a booking deal, I just wanna get this up and going for these guys. They're kind of left without a booker, you know?"

Morrow does have a certain reverence for the old venue. "Listen," he says. "The Troc is one of the most legendary clubs in the country. I don't even think people in Philly realize that people in L.A., or people in San Francisco, on the West Coast, even know about this place. But kids know it, OK? So when we got the opportunity to come here, it was like, how great is this? How can we make it a little bit better for Joanna and the team here?"

Sean Agnew of R5 Productions, which books all-ages shows at the 150-capacity First Unitarian Church plus some smaller venues around town, is known for his anti-corporate philosophies. His disdain for corporate booking in his hometown is widely known; in the past, he has publicly accused Clear Channel of noncompetitive practices in town. He says only time will tell whether House of Blues will be more of the same.

"I guess an easy comparison is: If you were against McDonald's, if you were like, "Screw them. Eff them. Get them out of my town.' And then a Burger King moves in, is that better?" asks Agnew. "But on the whole, it's definitely better than a Clear Channel [venue]."

When Hampton booked the Troc, Agnew felt comfortable collaborating on shows too big for the Church to handle. When he first heard HOB was coming to town, he called to see if they, too, would be willing to co-book shows at the Troc or its smaller, second floor club, the Balcony. He had not, at press time, heard back from HOB, but he might want to rethink his offer.

House of Blues is a major competitor for Clear Channel, but it's also a frequent collaborator.

"We work with Clear Channel in many markets," says Morrow. "We have co-booking agreements with them in Texas. We work together with them in Atlanta. I worked together with them in Detroit, New York, many places."

Frequently the partnership comes about when an artist who's worked with HOB in the past outgrows their venue. The bigger the venues are in this country, the more likely it is that that Clear Channel runs them.

Surely this situation will come up in Philly, and House of Blues is definitely looking to partner up on certain shows with the local arms of the industry octopus. Clear Channel's venues in the area include the TLA (which is essentially Troc-sized), the Wachovia Center, Electric Factory, the Tower Theater and the Tweeter Center in Camden. "I don't know what's gonna happen in Philadelphia. We would love to. We put our hand out to the guys here," says Morrow. "We're open to it, I don't know if they are. You'd have to ask them."

Clear Channel refused to comment.

But just how do the two biggest concert promoters stack up, side by side? It's really no comparison. According to Pollstar, the music industry's ticket counter, Clear Channel sold 4,037,190 tickets between the beginning of the year and the end of March. House of Blues, perched proudly in second place, sold 888,011 tickets in that same time frame. You can expect that gap to widen when the summer music festivals start up. Last year, Clear Channel Entertainment outsold its nearest 29 competitors combined.

In its year-end assessment of 2003, Pollstar declared that the industry was primarily the stomping ground of "one behemoth," i.e. Clear Channel and "two giants," namely House of Blues and AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group), which does not book shows in the area.

Of course, Clear Channel's interests go far beyond concert promotion. Radio stations, billboards and the FYE chain of record stores provide the company revenue from various facets of the music business. Although House of Blues does have restaurants in all of the venues it owns, its business is primarily concert promotion.

"It's basically just a large music company," opines Agnew, "versus a company that has diversified media -- advertising, television, radio interests -- who are trying to push a political agenda. In general it seems like House of Blues is just more or less a bigger company [than R5] with more money to play around with."

Clear Channel has been criticized for its "pro-America" rallies. HOB's politics are more of a mystery. "Our music politics? Or our politics as far as did one of our investors own a baseball club in Texas with the president?" jokes Morrow. "We're really about diversity. In Los Angeles we've had rallies, in our club there, when political guys come to town, Republican and Democrat. We're not picking a side. That translates into our music policy, too." According to Morrow, HOB was booking rap and Rock En Espanol years before its competitors.

Looking through the schedules of HOBs around the country, there is a resemblance to the Troc's. Perhaps a few more MTV buzz bands and a few less Ozzfest-type acts, but generally it's the same mix of midlevel stars, huge indies and cult bands.

Joe Lekkas, who books shows at Doc Watson's and plays in the band Hilliard, sees no difference between CC and HOB. "Two huge companies that rely solely on SoundScan numbers. [SoundScan tracks album sales.] As a member of a local band who works hard to build a following, I feel as though I'm left with very little options in Philadelphia. It's hard enough work to bring out consistent crowds to small venues where it matters. How can small local bands impress these huge corporations?"

House of Blues promises to have reps "on the ground" in Philly, keeping an eye on local talent. And the two main bookers, Michael Yerke and Badger Cudahy, will fly in from Chicago frequently.

"I just think it's a sad day in Philly music history when one of the largest venues in town has to be booked by people who don't live here," says Maria Tessa Sciarrino of Plain Parade, which books shows at Tritone and Millcreek Tavern. Of course some of the bitterness about the current situation comes from Philly's indie community having it so good for so long when Jon Hampton booked the Troc. Says Sciarrino: "It's like watching small clothing boutiques turn into Gaps, you know?"

Heyday (North Star's booker), which Hampton founded, refused comment. They're expected to announce the details of their apparent merge with Curt Flood Booking (The Khyber, NXNW) soon. (Hampton, presumably no longer affiliated with Heyday, has also refused repeated attempts to discuss the matter.)

"I guess it remains to be seen whether or not it's gonna be, like, a horrible thing or a somewhat good thing," says Agnew of the Troc's transition from independent booking to HOB. "My theory is that it's not gonna matter, that no one's really gonna be able to tell the difference."

Of course, nothing in the music industry is permanent. Wasn't there a potential deal between House of Blues and Clear Channel a year or two ago? "They tried to purchase us," says Morrow. "But we didn't sell."

Was it a price thing?

"Totally. Listen, let's not all kid ourselves, the music business is now a Wall Street play by a lot of people. House of Blues is basically a bunch of music people that are passionate about music, but we're owned by a group of investors. And at the end of the day, they want to make money. So how do you do it? You sell and make money that way or you go public. Or you stay independent and you turn enough of a profit that you stay indie. One of those is gonna happen with us the same way it's gonna happen with every other major company. If we were purchased by Clear Channel -- ah, you know, it could be worse."

Hypothetically, if House of Blues were purchased by Clear Channel, then the Troc would be booked by Clear Channel?

"That is so hypothetical because you know what, you don't just transfer all your agreements. Before a sale you're gonna sit down with everybody and say, "OK, here's what's going on, are you in or are you out?' I mean, some places are totally locked in but a place like the Troc. Let me tell you this, we're not gonna be purchased. We just got refinanced for $150 million dollars, we're opening six clubs in the next two years, we're not going anywhere with anybody right now. We got our own ship."