Update, 9:30am, 1/30/06: Clear Channel Enteratainment has been spun off into a new company. See below for details 
An article published in the January 29th Miami Herald indicates that the Dave and Friends Cruise is the result of a team-up between Royal Caribbean and Clear Channel Communications. What follows is an overview of the recent relationship between Dave Matthews, DMB and Clear Channel Communications.
In the January 22nd, 2004 Rolling Stone (RS 940), Dave said: "We're not going to exclusively tour with Clear Channel. We may work with them because in some markets it's hard not to. They often approach us to tour exclusively with them, and that's absurd. We certainly keep a healthy distance. Like, 'We'll give a show or two at the new amphitheater in Seattle, and we'll do a show or two at the Gorge - because you don't own that one.' Just to say, 'Well, fuck you.'"
Dave's comments were off-message considering that Music Today serves as the sole distributor of all DMB merchandise and Clear Channel is an investor in Music Today.
Fast forward to his May 2005 interview in the Richmond Times-Dispatch where Dave was asked if there was fallout from his comments against Clear Channel. Dave clarified that his concerns rested with the broader "natural greed of corporations" and minimized any perceived threat his speaking out against the company might have. "There's no point for them getting in a fight with us, and they don't really care if the little schmo [meaning himself] over here starts jumping up and down. I'm not a speck of pepper on the [rear end] of a potato with Clear Channel."
But obviously Clear Channel clearly sees Dave Matthews as more than a speck of pepper, because two months later Ron Delsener Presents, a division of Clear Channel Music, produced the Dave Matthews Band Randall's Island Getaway in association with Verizon Music.
Which leads us to the Dave and Friends Cruise. It is clear that the marketing behind the D+F Cruise has been more aggressive than any other event ever associated with the band. Many have chalked this up as a simply a continual push to sell abundance of empty cabins. [See Below] But the revelation that Clear Channel is a organizer of the event suggests that the continuing endless deluge of emails selling the event is actually Music Today marketing on behalf of Clear Channel.
The twist is that DMB also leveraged Viacom-owned VH1 to promotional contest for a free cabin on the cruise. Viacom is a competitor to Clear Channel. This suggests that despite Clear Channel's involvement in producing the D+F cruise, Music Today is willing to work with a Viacom company to ensure the success of the event. Clear Channel and Viacom collectively control 42 percent of the radio audience in the United States.
Dave's attitude toward Clear Channel versus his involvement in Clear Channel events suggest that in one way or another he and DMB are somehow ingratiated to Clear Channel.
All of this shows that when you consider any event created by Dave Matthews Band or its members, there are much bigger things going on than Dave Matthews or Coran Capshaw sitting around and thinking, "Let's do a cruise!" The band is steered through a labyrinth of companies that in one way or another have influence on album distribution, venue reservations, media or publicity.*
To beat a dead horse, the big news is that the Miami Herald also connected the D+F cruise to a carbon copy cruise for country singer Kenny Chesney and friends. The ships, itinerary, and 'secret island' feature and even the websites are almost entirely identical. But surprise! the Kenny Chsney cabins are cheaper.
The salt in the wound is that the Interior and Ocean view cabins on the Kenny Chesney cruise are $100 less those on the D+F cruise. Interestingly, the D+F pricing page does not list three and four occupant options on the interior, though it is known that quadruple occupancy interior cabins were being sold for as little as $850 in the past month.**
Update: 1/30/06 9:35am PST:
WDS was contacted by Brainerd Communications, the PR company representing Clear Channel Communications asking that we correct our story to reflect the recent spinoff of all of Clear Channel Entertainment into "Live Nation."
The Live Nation spinoff occured a few weeks ago. The wikipedia page for Live Nation specifically states that Live Nation is an independent company no longer owned by Clear Channel. It is however run by the same directors, Lowry Mays founded Clear Channel Communications and is now the Director of Live Nation. The current CEO of Clear Channel, Mark Mays serves as the Vice Chairman of Live Nation.
Articles about the spin-off focus on the financial aspects of the transaction. But the move to shroud all of Clear Channels' interest in live entertainment by creating a new company also serves as a handy buffer between the artists and Clear Channel.
Dave Matthews will no longer be able to say dirty things about Clear Channel's industry practices when talking about venues, because his business is now dictated by Live Nation. But if he were, consumers would likely not connect Live Nation directly to Clear Channel despite the fact that at the time of the spinoff (now) Live Nation has effectivly the same stock holders and management as Clear Channel. This change even throws musician boycotts of Clear Channel into disarray, because it seperates those who control the radio stations from those who control the venues they tour--even if by name only.
So, should the title of this article be changed to reflect the new company, Live Nation? Probably not, given that Clear Channel didn't even trouble itself to inform the executive directors of major venues that the change had taken place, the context of Dave's previous comments about Clear Channel, the recency of the spin-off, and the direct link between the two companies.
Finally, the Dave and Friends Cruise was announced publicly in October of 2005, so it was planned and announced before its organizers changed the name from Clear Channel Communications to Live Nation.
|
