We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lawrence Peryer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lawrence below.

Lawrence, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry.

There are two trends that have converged in the music business, most easily visible on the live side but existing to an extent on the recorded side as well, a certain zero-sum mindset paired with vertical integration.

The first has been going on for a long time but is reaching its nadir. We are living with the inevitable detrimental effects of what is essentially a failure for the stakeholders in the business to behave as though they live in an interconnected ecosystem.

In the concert business, it is accepted as an often well-justified fact that artists will receive the overwhelming lion’s share of the revenue from ticket sales, 80, 90 percent or more. This is fine on the face of it, given the primal role the artists play in all of this, but it leaves the other stakeholders and financial risk takers on an event or tour to make their money in ways that are bad for fans and that often reflect poorly on the artists and, quite frankly, undervalues their roles. So we have service fees on tickets implemented as a percent of the ticket price (so higher ticket prices yield higher service fees); exorbitantly-priced parking, food, drinks and merchandise at the event; and other tactics that attempt to maximize the gross, or as the industry like to look at it, “per head spend” for every event. If every event is maximized for per head spend, and the revenue is shared so disproportionately, the ecosystem may not collapse, but it may be at a real risk of pricing out the next generation of fans, depressing the number of events fans can attend, or making itself vulnerable to economic downturns in ways it was not in the past. If I want to make all of the money for me today, there is less money for all of us to make today – and tomorrow.

Add in vertical integration and we have the stakeholders competing over each other’s slice of the revenue pie in new ways, perhaps ways where some of the smaller players get squeezed out or worse, where the perverse economic system is weaponized. When a promoter, who should want to control talent costs, benefits from expensive talent because they own a ticketing company as well as venues and concession interests, and have access to institutional and international capital markets, can afford to pay more than their competitors for talent, we have not only a business model flywheel, but a flywheel that powers a giant opportunity vacuum that sucks vitality out of the ecosystem.

Lawrence, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have been working at the crossroads of technology, creative media, commerce and community for decades, with a focus on bringing fans closer to the artists and experiences they love, in both the physical and digital realms. What this usually means is I get an understanding of what an artist wants to put out into the world and help them get it out there in a way that makes it likely to be received correctly by their fans.

This has taken many forms, including producing and executive producing scores of websites, online events and campaigns, film and video projects that have been nominated and won dozens of awards – Grammies, Clios and others. Even a pair of experiential pop-up retail locations marking a global music icon’s 75th birthday.

Since February 2020, I have hosted the podcast Spotlight On, which features the musicians, writers, innovators and ideas shaping media, entertainment, and culture.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

I released the first episode of my podcast, Spotlight On, in February 2020 (though the first episodes were recorded in 2019).

It began as a series of in-person discussions I hosted for my teammates at the small company where I worked at the time. We brought in friends and colleagues of mine to give the staff firsthand access to artists and business leaders from music and entertainment. Our first guest was Ben Lovett from Mumford and Sons.

When the pandemic hit, we moved to Zoom recordings and were able to access guests from more walks of life and more physical locations – all who happened to have time on their hands. We even still sometimes hosted live episodes, with Zoom audiences.

The podcast wound up more interesting – and long-lived – than the company and its been my main activity, outside of my consulting and advisory work, since Spring 2023.

We have built a platform for the new and (currently) non-mainstream artists and ideas that might not otherwise have access to a professionally-produced and marketed media outlet. By doing so, we have created a community of supporters that include our guests, our audience but also behind-the-scenes people like publicists, managers, and others who appreciate the enabling role we play and who support us morally and in some cases, financially with underwriting and donations. We do not accept advertising.

A big milestone and turning point has been in the last few months when my producer and I have become business partners and have expanded our work to include an online magazine and live events. We are building the kind of media outlet that we have always wanted to have exist: independent, multi-channel, supportive of diverse culture and technologically astute but with a. strong code of ethics around how we treat our audience (we don’t monetize their attention or data) and contributors (we pay them!).

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think the biggest thing is deciding you are a creative and then being creative. You can be a hobbyist out in the garage, uploading your film or music to YouTube, posting your podcast, etc. You get to decide that you have the impulse or urge to create, are willing to put the time and effort in, and will be fearless enough to put it out there. It does not have to be the best thing ever, it just has to be the best that you are capable of at this stage of your development.

As far as my work as a collaborator or someone who works with famous artists, I have learned that these are people who need and want a variety of responsible people around them. Do you know when to contribute, when to keep quiet and how to read the room? Are you comfortable speaking your mind when it’s time? Do you deliver on what you say you are going to do? Those are all the attributes of a good business AND creative partner. You probably have it in you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lawrenceperyer.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawrenceperyer/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peryer/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LawrencePeryer
• Other: https://www.spotlightonpodcast.com

Image Credits

Lawrence Peryer