State of the Industry 1/2011

M

Mike Babcock

Freshman
Jan 11, 2011
7
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Seattle, or the world
www.themonitorguy.com
I am really only basing this off of personal experience and observations. But it seems as though the industry is outpacing the US economy in terms of suckage. I know this is the second January in a row that I have said that living the dream may be over, and it may be the year I finally get a real job. Ticket sales are down, budgets are down, and people are asked to do 2 or 3 jobs for less money (in the touring world). I'd personally give my left nut for a van tour right now as sitting at home for the past 4 months looking for work has depleted my funds to about 0. I'd give my right nut for a $100/night club gig, but the 40 or so venues in the area are staffed by the 50 or so touring engineers in the same boat as I am. Here I sit with both nuts intact. In 2010 I made 20% less than in 2009. In 2009 I made 35% less than in 2008. In 2 years my gross income has been cut in half. The previous 10 years were a steady rise in income on a yearly basis. I have resigned myself to stagehanding at a rate I was getting in 1992 because it's the only gig available. I know quite a few people that are in similar situations, and I also know some people who just seem to stay busy regardless, and some lucked into a consistent gig. I know things will pick up in a month or two, but are they going to get back to normal or pick up to about 15-20% less than 2010?



My questions are, how are things in your neck of the woods? For providers, are you seeing losses or gains? Have you needed to lay off employees or rely on fewer employees to pay the bills? Is there anything we can do to turn this around? Touring guys, have you dropped your rate or added a slash to stay busy? Is this an epidemic at this point or just my failure (poor luck) to get a gig, local or otherwise? What can be done about the kids going out for $4-500/week, or the ''pros'' doing TM/FOH for under a grand?
 
Re: State of the Industry 1/2011

I can't comment on the touring side of things. I'm a house tech for a publicly supported multi-room venue. I can tell you that 1) about 7 months after I started here, we took a pretty step pay cut. 2) six months after that we layed off three people and I only just made it through the lay offs by the skin of my teeth.



And 3) I'm still making more in overtime than my former original salary. We are so busy that it's not even funny. Most of that is because we book our building 5 years in advance and our users are mostly local groups. They have made cuts also, they continue to produce shows and keep their seasons running.



Frankly I'm jealous of the guys that get to tour and run consoles and mix shows every day. My job pretty much entails orchestral reinforcement for opera and ballet, talking head, and house head for touring shows that bring their own engineers. It means I get to spend a lot of time surfing web forums on my tethered laptop while I watch the shows from the booth (kind of like I am as I write this
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) But I don't get to mix shows that often. I wish I could find a full time job where I can.



I've put out resumes with most of the touring theatre companies. But as a wise old man said, ''it's not who you know, it's who knows you''.



 
Re: State of the Industry 1/2011

Mike,



Have you tried any of the AV companies in your area? I know that the ones here are swamped with work, and they are even tapping out the local freelance pools. Might not be what your looking for, but worth a try.
 
Re: State of the Industry 1/2011

It's been hard for me to tell. December was abominable. 2010 was up from 2009 by a noticeable amount, but so many things have changed in our company that it's hard to isolate the variables. We opened a new audio and video production studio, and 2010 was our first year with our full Nexo rig, which means it was also the first time I ever got serious about real concert work.



We were of the ''go big or go home'' attitude through the recession; I really hope it pays off.



2011 is going to be another buckle down year, but I suppose they all are. For us, the most important focus is marketing, and living up to our glowing self-written marketing descriptions.



Generally, our region has held it together very well during this downturn; I don't know if there are local numbers for unemployment, but with a countrywide rate near 10%, I know very few people who were downsized or laid off.



I can't think of a production company in our area that has gone under; one event company (pipe and drape type of house) was gobbled up. The guys running around undercutting the market to feed their hobbies - the ones not relying on it for a living - seem to be as prevalent as ever. Some of them are friends, but from a business standpoint, I would have liked to see a little more thinning of the forest.



I would really like to see a value resurgence in our industry. We have been caught (and called out for) half-assing it to fit meager budgets. At the moment, I'm working on long-term contracts for long-time customers who want to cut their expenses; this at the same time as me knowing I need to raise our profit margin. That's a tough position to be in.

 
Re: State of the Industry 1/2011

I notices a sharp increase in business and inquiries starting mid November. I am convenced that 2011 will be better than 2010. For me, 2007 was the best year. 2009 was 40% down from 2007. 2010 was better than 2009, not a spectacular year but not nearly as bad as I though it was going to be either.



It looks to me like I will come close to 2007 but I am not expecting to quite match those numbers in 2011.



Profit margins are finally looking a bit better too. I stopped making huge purchases a couple years ago and kept a good eye on my expenses. I am now looking at starting up those purchases again. I have a list of several items that I need to buy that I had put on the backburner.



Other good things that have come along to help have been having my workers comp go down for this year. I also made some insurance moves that saved me several thousand dollars.



 
Re: State of the Industry 1/2011

RYAN LOUDMUSIC JENKINS wrote on Wed said:
I have a list of several items that I need to buy that I had put on the backburner.
Click to expand...



The 700mhz thing could not have happened at a worse time. We have no respectable wireless rack at the moment; just weren't able to afford it. Still have our UCs, collecting dust. I really need to dump those off to someone out of country.



We've also got to get a new snake solution. I just can't decide if I want to spend the money on all that copper anymore, or if it's time to get serious about digital.



At some point, I'm going to have to say ''This is big enough for us. This is our market. We don't need to expand.''



Otherwise, I'll be buying subs the rest of my life.
 
Re: State of the Industry 1/2011

We're up. Last year was better than the year before, and this year 1Q is projected to be up almost 20% over 1st Q last year with what's on the books right now. A few of the other local providers went under, and I'm picking up some from that, but most is repeats and new clients. I've been sending overflow to others in the area that I have a decent relationship with, and could probably expand too quickly right now if we wanted to be stupid.



I do all I can do, and have raised prices for new clients and am still filling the calendar. I think it's the niche I'm in, I don't have any ''A-rig'' gear, and don't compete at that level. I have tools that get a job done for the clients I have, I have no ''gear lust''. I'm bigger than the other small guys, but smaller than any of the big guys. And resisting the temptation to jump into the big boy's area. I've watched guys that wanna go big not make it, and I don't want to have to get a real job. I keep waiting for it to fall apart, but so far, so good, I wish I was smart enough to figure out the hows and whys but for now will consider myself very fortunate.



I could actually use some more help occasionally, one guy moved to LA and another is in Spain, so if there are any clean, dedicated, hard working, conscientious freelancers or intern types in my neck of the woods, send me a PM with your background and contact info.
 
Re: State of the Industry 1/2011

Things are shitty locally. The local music scene has pretty much crumbled over the past few years. People are trying to rebuild it, but my local company is averaging just a few shows a month. We're seeing less band shows now and more cooperate/DJ stuff. Most of my local income comes from dry rentals now.



On the touring side of things, it couldn't be better. The band is taking off, I'm making more than ever, and I'm getting bigger audio budgets each tour.







Evan
 
Re: State of the Industry 1/2011

I seem to be in a similar position as you, Mike.



I've been watching things get cheaper and more consolidated on Crewspace and ProAudioSpace. TM+FOH+Drive for $800/wk, are you fucking kidding me?!? I've even applied for a few of them, and gotten no response. The touring industry is in a downward spiral, as the labels and Live Nation scramble for every last cent they can squeeze out of what's left of the business.



I haven't gotten a call for a tour since the last tour I was on, which ended in July, and that was for a UK band, so you know they were getting a deal because of the exchange. Since then, I've had two festival type gigs for the folks in Cleveland, a couple local gigs thanks to Dave Nickerson, and exactly one call from the local. All the SR companies here are in their winter slump, and I can't even get a reply from the clubs in town.



I'm open to suggestions, if anyone knows of things to do in Eastern MA, other than shovel a metric assload of snow, that is.



-C
 
Re: State of the Industry 1/2011

2010 was good, but not crazy great. I took a salary position with very nices sales compensation. Unfortunately I have to learn how to sell. Haha. Not great yet.



Decided to Bring an OEM product line to market, did it in one year, and the website launches soon. That is always exiting, and always nerve racking. There are many tiny things to learn when manufacturing. But a wonderful lesson learned and always exiting.



With some of our major lines and with consultation from brilliant designers, ideas I had 1 or 2 years ago are coming to fruition.

Which is amazing.



And yet I still go out when I am not booked, pop in my earplugs, and DJ on Saturday nights for some decent money, just to keep the cash flow. Try and make 120people dance and drink some free whisky for myself.



It was a great year. But the state of the country is very frightening. But I can only try hard and push forward.



 
Re: State of the Industry 1/2011

Clarke LaPlante wrote on Wed said:
I seem to be in a similar position as you, Mike.



I've been watching things get cheaper and more consolidated on Crewspace and ProAudioSpace. TM+FOH+Drive for $800/wk, are you fucking kidding me?!? I've even applied for a few of them, and gotten no response. The touring industry is in a downward spiral, as the labels and Live Nation scramble for every last cent they can squeeze out of what's left of the business.



I haven't gotten a call for a tour since the last tour I was on, which ended in July, and that was for a UK band, so you know they were getting a deal because of the exchange. Since then, I've had two festival type gigs for the folks in Cleveland, a couple local gigs thanks to Dave Nickerson, and exactly one call from the local. All the SR companies here are in their winter slump, and I can't even get a reply from the clubs in town.



I'm open to suggestions, if anyone knows of things to do in Eastern MA, other than shovel a metric assload of snow, that is.



-C
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Clarke,

Try the larger to mid sized clubs in the Boston and surrounding areas. Also try some of the clubs up around Salisbury, the Lowell Memorial Auditorium, etc.. You might also try a few of the local sound and service providers.

 
Re: State of the Industry 1/2011

Hi Mike-



We've had a good year as a regional provider and actually have grown in this recession, but like Lee, we took the ''go big or go home'' approach. Actually, we'd begun just before it became obvious that the economy was about to tank. We borrowed 6 figures and bought about half of Dirk Schubert's VerTec rig out of the Greek Theater (Miller Pro Audio in OKC got the other half, so Dirk's rig wound up in the same part of the country.). We have paid off about 60% of that note, now.



From operations revenue we added more 4889s, 4880s, and got 16 4887 and more I-Techs to power it all. We haven't expanded our staffing, though, and because of the way the schedules worked out (less double/triple booking), some of our part-time guys didn't work as much in 2010.



I can confirm what you experience, though. Both as a provider and an IATSE hand, I'm seeing the same guys/gals come through with more different acts, and some acts are carrying smaller crews with folks doing multiple jobs. An IATSE brother in Nashvegas has a side biz of renting walkie-talkies to tours, and he reports his biz was down nearly 70% in mid-2010. He said crews were smaller, only critical crew got radios and other crew were paid $20/week to use their cell phones and send text messages. The tour accounting pencil is getting sharper.



Hopefully I'll see you and JJJ and some of the other rock and roll ''regulars'' on tour as the thaw begins.



Good luck and best wishes.



Tim Mc
 
Re: State of the Industry 1/2011

I cannot speak for the local or tour side of the industry, but the two companies I work for (install and manufacturing) are headed for record high years.



It does appear that things in general are down (talking to others-trade shows attendance etc). But some segments are increasing. Maybe that is a good sign that other areas will follow shortly.



The industry does go through ups and downs-as do other industries.
 
Re: State of the Industry 1/2011

On the install side, especially new construction, 2009 was awful. 2010 was better, and 2011 looks to be a great year. Lots of pent-up demand for aging and delayed projects.



Our largest struggle? Finding excellent sales people (who know audio, video, lighting, sales, and churches) to keep up with the work. Our sales force is at 1/3 right now (we can take in about 1/3 of upcoming projects).
 
Re: State of the Industry 1/2011

Evan Kirkendall wrote on Wed said:
Things are shitty locally. The local music scene has pretty much crumbled over the past few years. People are trying to rebuild it, but my local company is averaging just a few shows a month.



Evan
Click to expand...



Evan, its the same up here. There used to be a great music scene that would put on shows at the local VFW's and such and I could get great small system rentals out of them. Now, no one is doing any shows. and if they are they're house shows where they're just using a guitar amp for a vocal kinda punk shows.
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Re: State of the Industry 1/2011

we are holding our own (but just barely)..So i feel every ones pain..one thing i have noticed is im losing allot of work to smaller guys with VRX type rigs and M7's..they get the job done but can work a heck of a lot cheaper than we can..Also i have seen some guys that are working but not being paid fair to cover their real labor cost and they say its all the venue will pay...sad part is they have decent gear and there is not much i can do to combat that as i understand everyone has bills to pay..The part that i always wonder is do they have the insurances that i have to have to operate as a legal responsible company. For me to do 2 consoles of any size or cost my engineer pay is a minumum of 700 out the door, then i have trucking and then gear cost, allot of gigs are wanting to only pay $1000...so can't make money doing that...our service and repair business is doing ok and our amp company is releasing 2 new models next week so i guess we will see....
 
Re: State of the Industry 1/2011

The problem is there are more of those sized gigs than say a Deluna Fest...I have a club in town that wants to pay $700 for 40 ch foh and 40 ch monitor and main pa and all that goes with that..i believe the supplier (one man and son operation) now has got the money up to $1000 but i cant touch that..I have never had a sales guy but think that i need one now, hopefully he will pay for himself...I thought that buy buying gear that was cheaper than Meyer that that would help but its the labor prices that keep my priced out of allot of gigs..even lighting which usually is a money maker is sucking....i have extensive back line but it sits as well....



also im seeing clubs tell bands take what we can get affordable or dont play, so i have Profiles, 5D's and SD8's and my competition has M7's, we all know the M7 will get it done and in club world Pa is Pa...very sad
 
Re: State of the Industry 1/2011

2009 was the worst year I've had. I spent all of at home. Fortunately, I'm an IATSE stagehand & rigger and was able to keep my head above water. About 80% of my work in 2009 was rigging, the other 20% audio.



2010 was a little better. I got out on the road for 2 tours, would have been more, but I stayed home and got married this past summer. I refuse to cut my rates and managed to get a raise from one of my regular clients.



I fully expect this year to pick up and make some real money. I am very thankful that I am able to pay the bills as a stagehand/rigger at home.





Hope it picks up for you soon Mike. I'll keep an ear out for ya.
 
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