The Roxy has been very quickly rising to claim the title of coolest LA venue in my book. In a world where mergers and greed are threatening to suck the last bit of life out of the music we love, The Roxy stands out not only by being extremely artist and concertgoer friendly- not to mention media friendly- but also by supporting other venues.
A couple weeks ago, we headed up there to interview our pal Troy’s new band Sweethead on camera. Sweethead cancelled at the last minute, but we managed to make us some lemonade. We filmed a great talk with Roxy owner Nic Adler; We wanted to know what drives a business to give free publicity to its direct competitors. And we wanted to know what Nic had to say about this whole Ticketmaster / Live Nation merger, being a venue that does as many independently promoted shows as Ticketmaster shows.
We also did a really fun interview with Chelsea Girls, and shot their live set, complete with cameos by Carmen Electra, Lemmy Kilmister, and Steven Pearcy of Ratt. Stay tuned for all that.
Nic gives a very level-headed counterpoint to the Trent Reznors and Pearl Jams, and unlike Bllly Corgan or the LiveStub guy, Nic doesn’t have a significant financial interest in the outcome of the merger- his venue is thriving on cheap shows with great bands that don’t have to use Ticketmaster if they don’t want to.
I haven’t done the research into the dirty details that Johnny has, though my gut is telling me that there’s no way in hell that a Ticketmaster / Live Nation merger wouldn’t make tickets even more expensive- or, as Reznor theorizes, unleash an auction model where ticket prices are determined by the highest possible common denominator. I can trust artists to look out for their fans, but I’ll never expect a corporation to be cool and leave some money on the table.
In all honesty, we expected Nic to go off about the merger, seeing that he takes such good care of ticket buyers, bands, and small venues. But he was the calm eye of this storm. Nic says let the big get bigger. And if the little guys can’t get into the club anymore, you’ll start to see the more dedicated ones starting their own.
We’ve been thinking about this. He could be right. And this could be a great thing for LA and New York. But what if you live in a smaller city, where Ticketmaster / Live Nation owns all three venues?
[...] merger. Convenient that the lovely Allie w/ Antiquiet asked Nic about these very topics! Click on over to watch the interview! We filmed a great talk with Roxy owner Nic Adler; We wanted to know [...]
A good read, good conversation, and cheers to Mr. Adler. Can’t knock an interview in a restroom where if only the walls could talk.
Everytime I go to The Roxy (and I do so fairly regularly at great time and expense) I love the place a little more. Unpretentious, comfortable, quality and diverse acts,…never had a bad time there yet and if I ever do, I don’t expect it to be the fault of the establishment. I like his community of venues mindset; even respect his understated take on TM/LV even though I can’t see the bright side of it.
It was a great show that eve, but truth be told, those Von Bondies should be opening for Nico Vega. They’re the stuff that brings down a house, not warms it up. I saw them the next day at the Belly Up and a GF who’d never seen NV live before was absolutely stunned (frightened, excited, aroused, electrified, rocked, enlightened) by everything about them. I think she fell in love a little, too.
nico vega is great. i’d been told by a bunch of friends to check them out, but didn’t get around to it until saturday. was blown away. we did interviews with them and the von bondies, and we shot some live footage. just got it all last night, and we’re hoping to get the nico vega up stuff next week. stay tuned.
[...] Adler On Ticketmaster / Live Nation @ Antiquiet Collected by hollygodarkly 00 mins ago from http://www.antiquiet.com // Event.onDOMReady(function() { // sizeText($(‘video_title’), 475); // }) collect this [...]
[...] before returning to The Roxy for their monthly performance, a tradition demanded by Roxy owner Nic Adler. We hear they’re working on an very special lineup of special guests. We’ll be [...]
[...] win” for fans. Back in March of 2009, as rumors of the merger first began to spread, we talked about it with Nic Adler, the proprietor of our favorite independent local venue, The Roxy. Adler shrugged off the gloom and [...]