Clear Channel Communications, the radio broadcasting and concert promotion giant, plans to introduce a venture today that will sell live recordings on compact disc within five minutes of a show’s conclusion. The venture, Instant Live, will enable a band’s still-sweating fans to leave with a musical souvenir instead of say, a pricey T-shirt or a glossy program.
Although initially modest, involving only small-audience clubs and theaters in the Boston area, the venture could eventually extend beyond radio and concerts into music distribution. And that could prove troubling to critics, who already complain that the company’s rigidly formatted radio stations prevent diverse artists from reaching the airwaves and that its dominance of the concert business too often forces touring acts to accept unfavorable deals.
Josh Bernoff, a music industry analyst at Forrester Research in Boston, said Clear Channel’s entry into the CD business could alter the music industry’s tenuous balance of power. At the moment, no single record label dominates the market the way that Clear Channel dominates the radio and concert business.
“For the labels,” Mr. Bernoff said, “that means that their most important goal is to get Clear Channel to broadcast their acts and promote their concerts.” The task could become more challenging, he said, if the labels find themselves competing against Clear Channel’s own CD’s for air time.
Matthew Mirapaul
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