In these times of declining music sales it has become a truism that the live arena is where bands and artists can make their money. Certainly that seems to have factored into the decision by U2 and Apple to give the Irish band's new album to iTunes users for free — whether they wanted it or not.
However, the soaring revenues that big-ticket stadium acts enjoy have not been repeated at the indie level. This is understandable — the draw of seeing U2 presumably lies in you already being a fan of the band, whereas the appeal of seeing an act you've never heard of is much riskier.
Tokyo live-music venues in particular are notorious for their impenetrability, so what could they do to make themselves more appealing? I took a quick poll of fans and musicians via social media and they agreed the first problem is cost.
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