The Business of Concerts: Rock or Not, Concerts Offer Audio Engineering Jobs

One Wall Street Journal reporter named Mark Gongloff, of the MarketBeat section, did a story and a blog on the fact that since the economy and stock market are in despair, that must mean it's time for some heavy-metal thunder like back in the 1960's with Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. Historically, any time the economy is in trouble, the one thing that remains strong are the entertainment industries. Seems people like to drown their woes in music. However, some others are concerned that gas prices could put a damper on the concert business. Nonetheless, now that high school is out, there seems to be an increase in the number of people who want to learn how to be a recording engineer.

Baby boomers have been paying more than $60 plus per seat to catch their favorite acts in recent years. At Clapton’s June 2nd date in Uncasville, Connecticut, tickets were for $125 to $195, compared to $85 to $150 at the same venue in 2006. The Eagles’ at Madison Square Garden in May went for $50 to $190, compared to $25 to $180 when they played there in 2005. According to the 2007 Pollstar's list , the 20 top-grossing tours—which were led by the Police's reunion concert tour and grossed $131.9 million—made a total of $996 million, a number that's down 15 percent from the top 20 list last year. By comparison, number 20 was Maná who came in at $33.9 million.

The fact is - concerts are big business. There is a dispute in the industry right now about how because of declines in CD sales artists are making up the income through aggressive touring. But many managers dispute this idea. What is new is that festivals are giving artists a new touring vehicle where top acts can plan summer tours around festivals -- like Pearl Jam, who booked a short summer tour after deciding to play Bonnaroo, and the Flaming Lips are doing nine festivals.

But here's another interesting factoid. Those of us following the Recording Connection have noticed a pick up in the number of people who want to learn how to be a recording engineer and are signing up for the Los Angeles music recording school course. Now that many high school graduates are looking for the next step in their life, it seems some have decided to become audio recording engineers.

It is a good plan, because the Entertainment Career Connection's Recording Connection course is reasonably priced. The jobs can include: recording engineer, music producer or mixer, and the engineering program qualifies students for positions in the audio recording field. Known for its mentor programs, all Entertainment Connection programs include hands-on lab drills in the actual local recording studio where training is conducted by the mentor. The cost is at about $7,450 as compared to $140,000 at one recording school! And programs are available nationwide.

Check out Eric Hunslinger's video about the music recording school. He graduated from a big recording school then realized he wasn't prepared for the music business, so, he applied to the Recording Connection Audio School. He could not be happier with what he learned.