Blondie
As Amazon announce the next step in their expansion with a series of live shows, Getintothis’ Paul Fitzgerald brings us the details.
To celebrate the 40 years since their first UK gig, Blondie to play Hackney’s Round Chapel on May 23.
The venue is a unique and intimate space with a capacity of just 750, and the event marks the first move into live music events of Amazon’s new arm, Prime Live Events.
The US digital giant is moving into promotion with this series of gigs, designed both to expand its music strategy and to attract new custom to the Amazon Prime subscription service. With the live music industry bringing in £1 billion annually, according to industry body UK Music, this move would seem the logical next step for Amazon, and following the UK launch, their hope would be to roll the initiative out globally.
The gigs will feature major artists in smaller, more individual and intimate venues, and are aimed at subscribers who currently pay £79.99 a year or £7.99 per month to access a wide range of digital services. Amazon Tickets was originally introduced in the UK to bring the same market share expansion, and is about to be launched across America. As well as providing live opportunities for fans to see their favourite artists in, the key aspect is that all the gigs will be filmed for their International video and TV service Prime Video.
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Although they are reluctant to discuss viewer and membership numbers in any great detail, it is estimated that Amazon has 75 to 80 million Prime subscribers, with approximately 30 million using the video service, so this new service stream already has huge potential in terms of boosting market share. With the focus in the global music industry shifting towards the live experience and merchandise in recent years, Amazon are merely mirroring the market with the Prime Live Events package.
In 2016, Amazon successfully ran Prime Live Events pilots in the UK, featuring Robbie Williams and John Legend. Other artists set to be involved in the UK end of the project include Alison Moyet, who will also play and take part in a Q&A at The Round Chapel on June 12, Texas at Porchester Hall on June 16, and Katie Melua playing Cadogan Hall on July 25 and 26.
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