Peter Kafka

Recent Posts by Peter Kafka

How to Become Rich and Famous in Three Months, the Live Nation Way

Sure, it’s easy to become Internet-famous these days. But how about real fame–the kind that lets you fill an arena with ticket-buying fans?

Also easy, it turns out. You need just three months! Check out this handy guide from Live Nation, which included it in a presentation to investors last week (click to enlarge):

This slide has generated much music industry guffawing in the past few days (thanks to Bob Lefsetz for highlighting). And the overall presentation didn’t win over Wall Street, either: Shares tumbled 14 percent last Thursday, the day that Live Nation (LYV) made its pitch, which is supposed to explain why the concert business is in much better shape then you’d think. Live Nation stock is still falling today.

I’m assuming Live Nation had someone in mind when it talked about the three-month instafame plan. I just can’t think of who it is.

Justin Bieber, apparently, became dangerously famous via Google’s (GOOG) YouTube. But even he took a year to start playing arenas (says Wikipedia; I’m admittedly out of my depth here).

So I’ve asked Live Nation for an example of the three-month song-to-sold-out-arena trajectory, and I’ll report back if I hear from them. Meantime, anyone else have any suggestions? The comment section is all yours.

Latest Video

View all videos »

Search »

There was a worry before I started this that I was going to burn every bridge I had. But I realize now that there are some bridges that are worth burning.

— Valleywag editor Sam Biddle