For example, if four or five large firms in an oligopolistic industry compete on the basis of product quality, research, technology, or merchandising, the performance of the entire industry may well be more satisfactory than if it were reorganized into a price-competitive industry.
As before, there will be limited-edition merchandise, musical performances, free drinks, special deals, celebrity sightings and, oh, a few fashion designers.
They plow nearly all their earnings from CD sales, merchandise and performances into an account that covers their expenses, Mr. Kienle said, and so allow themselves just $15 for their fast-food cuisine a day, plus a weekly salary of less than $100.
With the ability to connect straight to fans via social media, and to make money via sales, merchandising and performances without the approval of the suits arrayed in the Brits audience, perhaps industry recognition is less important than it ever has been.
For stores with wide arrays of merchandise, a good performance in apparel did not totally offset lackluster categories elsewhere, particularly in electronics.
The corporate version of the live music business is becoming a land of giants, which at Live Nation is built on so-called 360 deals with the likes of Madonna, U2 and Jay-Z, in which contracts give the promoter a percentage of revenue generated by live performance, merchandise and, sometimes, recorded music.
As major labels have continued to suffer from the decline in CD sales, Live Nation used these deals to expand its role in the industry — signing name artists to contracts that gave the promoter a percentage of revenue generated by live performance, merchandise and even recorded music.
But even up-and-coming acts now try to build livelihoods around merchandising and live performance.
Why has live music become so important At the turn of the millennium musicians made roughly two-thirds of their income from recorded music and the remaining one-third from live performances, merchandise and endorsements.
