Parking Problems Put Out Concertgoers
It Ain't Just In LA Anymore. Plus Google's Move Against Dolby, TikTok's A&R Ambitions and Spotify's Playlist Play
On a recent night out for dinner and a concert, I faced the most cliche of LA cliches. Where to park. My plan had been to valet at the Korean BBQ restaurant a few blocks from the Wiltern, then walk to the venue and return to collect my car. But that plan was dashed when I strict sign informed me that the restaurant parking closed “promptly at 10.”
I now faced the hellish decision of whether to pay for parking twice, at the restaurant and venue. Or park at the venue and walk back to the restaurant, ensuring a late arrival for dinner. By the grace of the Ktown parking gods, as I pulled around the block, I spotted an open street space. The night was saved.
This tale might sound trite, but fans have long known that parking can make or break an evening, especially in dense urban areas like Los Angeles where lots are limited and parking prices sky high. Anyone who’s ever used stacked parking at the Hollywood Bowl knows the pain I’m referring to. And beloved “bicoastal elite” podcast How Long Gone has made it a running gag of trying to pay the highest possible amount for the privilege to park.
A recent article in the Austin Chronicle was dedicated to patrons of Emo’s getting their vehicles booted in the nearby Autozone lot, even mentioning a fight that broke out between a parker and a booter. Must be all the Angelinos moving to Austin and bringing their parking pathologies with them.
With the average cost of an Uber nearly doubling in recent years, parking is poised to become an even bigger problem. Yet another reason why potential concertgoers might just no-show, or worse, not buy a ticket to begin with.
This makes operators more motivated that ever to solve the issue. This might be why Oak View Group just announced a partnership with ParkHub to provide “preferred parking management technology to optimize parking operations, facilitate payments and deliver real-time business insights.”
The new system will be utilized across OVG’s Arena Alliance, which includes 44 arenas and stadiums in 22 states. The Parkhub website also states that the company works with 45 Live Nation amphitheaters.
We’ve come a long way from the original Woodstock, where travelers famously abandoned their cars on the side of the blocked road and walked to the show. But unless we get to the driverless electric rideshare future that seems farther and farther away, parking will remain one of the biggest headaches in the live music experience.
Carpool anyone? Nah, didn’t think so.
TAKEAWAYS
Salient statements from this week’s music news.
1. Google Takes on Dolby Atmos Audio, Vision Video With Free Open Formats
The tech giant has revealed plans for an open-source surround sound rival that could seriously damage Dolby’s license-based business model.
Takeaway: In the Fiscal year 2021, Dolby generated 25% of revenue from Atmos, Vision, and its imaging patents, according to a company report to investors.
2. Still Convinced That TikTok Isn’t Turning Into a Record Company?
Ads are out to hire A&R folks who will “ensure that artists see ByteDance as the #1 partner for artist development, promotion and monetization.”
Takeaway: ByteDance’s active recruitment for experienced A&R execs in four key North American cities, three of which are in the world’s largest recorded music market, is a significant development in its evolution in the music industry, and one the majors will likely be a keeping a close eye on.
3. Streamers Use Playlists to Control the Music Industry
As playlists become the dominant mode of discovery, Spotify’s financial future could still be in music instead of ads and audiobooks.
Takeaway: Although it has lost money every year since launch, its stock price still doubled within two years of its 2018 initial public offering. As with Amazon, investors believe it will capture sufficient market power to be able to dictate terms and divert more of streaming’s rivers of gold from artists and labels.
