OZZFEST 2007: Brilliant or Ludicrous Marketing Scheme?

Tuesday February 6^th, Sharon Osbourne, wife and manager of the self-proclaimed Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne has announced that this year’s Ozzfest will feature FREE admission. Instead, fans and concert goers will obtain tickets through a series of online directions provided by the festival’s website. Instead of generating profit through ticket sales, Osbourne has gathered tour sponsors to cover tour costs, along with the sale of merchandise. It is still undetermined if they will be deriving profit from percentages of food and parking sales.

“…we just thought we can't keep on raising ticket prices because there is not that much money out there anymore. Hey, kids can go online and download music, why not go to a show for free too?”

Her words ring true to many speculations as to how the music industry will find alternative ways to generate sales, after national record sales have plummeted since 2001. Especially with the emergence of illegal downloads, streaming music (like Myspace), peer to peer and CD ripping, consumers are having a hard time shelling out cash for music when it is available to them for free. Despite threats and lawsuits, there is no foolproof way to cease digital downloads. Many are speculating to adopt the model of allowing free digital downloads, as a means of free goods, advertisement of the band and incentive to spark further interest in an artist to the point where the consumer may be impassioned to purchase an album, buy merchandise, and pay for concert admission.

Given, Sharon Osbourne has announced that tickets to Ozzfest are free; she projects that concert-goers that were willing to spend money on tickets would instead direct that spending money in merchandise during or after a show. This projection may prove to be successful. Sharon understands the target Ozzfest market. The average heavy metal fan is white, male, aged 13-35, middle class and usually has a limited amount of disposable income. However the average heavy metal fan has more loyalty than most fans in other genres. Loyalty in this sense, is willingness to support a band through merchandise, incentive to see a band live when they come to town. Along with the subject of merchandising, metal fans are culturally, the most likely to purchase, wear and use “merch.” These fans have the tendency to habitually wear band t-shirts as daily garb. They are culturally inclined in their genre to pass on/recommend bands to friends, serving as another form of band marketing within its own microcosm. Countless small-time bands will testify to the fact that they hardly make ends meet simply by playing shows, since most venues are pay-to-play. The flesh of show revenues can be found at the Merch booth, where fans will gladly pay $15 for a shirt that cost $5 to make.

Let this be a harbinger for what could lie ahead in the future. We may very well see free shows that raise profit solely through merchandising. We may give away music for free in the future as incentive to pay for concert admission.

In a sense, Sharon Osborne is adapting to the inevitable of the very market she caters to. She gets it. She understands the way metal fans sleep, eat and breathe music. This year’s marketing model for Ozzfest proves to be promising. However, some question its viability to stay true as an enjoyable concert experience.

Many believe that as a result of free admission, Ozzfest will increase its percentage shares from concert vendors (parking, food, merchandise), thus causing higher prices for concert-goers once they enter its festival gates. We could be looking at $10 water bottles, and $40 parking spaces. Skeptics also question the quality of band lineups, since featured bands will not be compensated directly from Ozzfest itself. It seems as is tour sponsors will be taking care of this problem, while lesser known bands must simply be satisfied with a privilege to play a stage without compensation. This was evident in the past MTV reality series “The Road to Ozzfest” where smaller bands seemed happy to take on grueling experiences to make the bill.

As for what lies ahead, Ozzfest is generating hype for this bold endeavor, and seems confident in its new marketing path. I for one will be at the festival gates, July 7^th in Los Angeles with wallet in hand to take part.

More can be viewed @

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1551725/20070206/osbourne_ozzy.jhtml?rsspartner=rssYahooNewscrawler

http://ozzfest.com/news_2006.html