The City of Chicago reaps close to $20 million from Bluesfest and $40 million from Lollapalooza, which is paid admission; Austin realizes some $27 million from Austin City Limits.

SPONSORSHIP

Once a large sponsor is on board, it’s much easier to convince others, but the first challenge is getting in front of the decision makers. Once sponsorship is a mature program, like any sales effort, it becomes an ongoing project to go back to previous sponsors and cultivate new ones.

Some sponsors take two or three years to develop and if lost, it can really hurt. Economies change, companies are bought out, decision makers change, or die. No one knows that better than San Francisco’s Tom Mazzolini; when the Silicon Valley bubble burst, it reverberated throughout his community. Some sponsors contribute cash, some advertising, some pay outright for certain acts. The private sector picks up 65-70% of Chicago Blues Fest’s costs and their highest profile artist, Bonnie Raitt, was paid by a sponsor. Charles Attal has three people in the sponsor division, and the company walks a fine line in order not to dilute the festival’s brand name. Sponsorship accounts for roughly 25% of revenues, and although effort is made to find room for all sponsors, some come on aggressively so CAP actively avoids oversaturation “like NASCAR.”

Sponsorship can be a double-edged sword. After the oil boom in Wyoming, oilmen helped only on condition that Pinedale book an act they had heard of; Pinedale’s major hands-off patron, Gayle Kinnison, died unexpectedly this winter. In some cases “sponsors” are de facto investors: they want to get their money back, and a profit if the festival makes a lot of money.

While many promoters believe the most critical element is sponsorship, two private festivals, Camp Jam and Pocono, notably have no big backers or outside sponsors, and they are both in the black.

BOOKING

Obviously, booking can make or break a festival, but there’s no right way and wrong way. Pinedale books famous headliners, while the North Atlantic Blues Festival tries to bring in ten very solid blues acts, and two or three acts which could be headliners. Pocono books only national recording artists who have released a CD within the last 18 months.

The mix, however, is key. Veteran promoters agree that many festivals don’t offer up an interesting show. The most successful promoters expend tremendous effort fitting the acts together into a menu which will both appeal to their audience and stretch that audience’s musical horizons.

Not by chance did Woodstock clearly have one of the all-time great lineups. “Booking is finding a combination that will work musically,” said Michael Lang. “I look for similarities that may not be readily apparent, and try to balance the bill with 1), people who will draw, 2), the kind of music that audience is looking for, and 3), something to expand their horizons but not go out of their ballpark. It’s OK to do once in a while, but you want to be careful.” At AmsterJam he paired the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snoop Dogg; all told, ten bands on the main stage and 12 on the B stage.

Charles Attal originally booked Stubbs, the venerable Austin nightclub, and though his company now books all levels, from clubs to big-time headliners, the middle tier is the meat. “The most compelling stuff can be in the middle of the day on a side stage,” says Powell, who booked 130 bands on the ACL lineup alone.

Cloeren likes to mix it up—harp, female vocalist, gospel—to give the fans the full spectrum of the music. Powell also talks about his “grid” of stages and performers. Chicago’s Barry Dolins takes the historical perspective literally, starting off with a blues legend who would be 100 years old that year, as an anchor and a focus, and distills five years to make one festival.

“Every year hopefully tells a story, to uplift and enlighten,” he said. “It must be the schoolteacher in me.”

Unearthing up-and-comers means detective work and having a finger on the pulse. Arkansas’ Pillow learned that committee rule results in compromises and the lowest common denominator, when it should be about digging deep. Lang’s scouting talent used to be instinctive, but “now I get input from my kids and friends’ kids, mostly in their late teens to early 20s. If you’re trying to bring in undiscovered talent, that’s where you look for it.” When we expressed skepticism, he conceded “It’s only input.”

Naturally Powell pays attention to Austin’s SXSW, but also keeps his ear to the ground, starting in October for the following summer, as do most festival organizers. “We see about 90% live, and hear everybody,” Powell says. Interestingly, the remaining 10% comes from MySpace. Powell always includes local and regional up and-comers.

Benjamin scouts talent at other festivals because he wants to see bands specifically on a festival stage. Not everybody on a promo record travels with the band, and a band may sound good in a club but won’t have the oomph to hold a big audience. Dolin’s lineup is 55-60% local talent, because there are probably more blues artists in Chicago than anywhere else, but promoters in smaller markets shy away from local bands which can be seen any time. Lori Dean scouts other festivals, gauges the audience reaction…..and passes out flyers.