The death of a celebrity always provokes headlines in the media. It was the case yesterday when news came of the death of the actress Farrah Fawcett, after a long battle with cancer. But that was nothing compared to the world reaction late last night of the sudden and unexpected demise of one of the music world’s greatest icons, Michael Jackson.
She also passed away yesterday
You’ve probably heard about five songs of his in your car already this morning, that’s for sure!
The way in which his death has stunned both devoted fans and ordinary people the world over is almost akin to the reaction when the Princess of Wales was killed in a car accident over ten years ago. His followers are in shock, almost unable to accept the news. To many, it’s as if part of their life has just been ripped away. Music plays a huge part for all of us, particularly in our formative years. We grow up listening to favourite tracks by favourite artists and these stay with us throughout adulthood. Listening to them evokes memories, both happy and sad. Music is like a treasure box of our younger years. When an artist who played an important part in our lives because of their music passes away, it leaves a void. The bigger the artist, the greater the void. And they don’t come much bigger than Michael Jackson.
Fans saw him as some sort of religious figure!
It was the same when Elvis Presley died in 1977, or when John Lennon was shot in 1980. The importance of the person and the role that their music played in the lives of millions of people, means that this attracts global attention. Expect Michael Jackson tribute programmes over the next few days and weeks. His music will be heard from televisions and radios as the world celebrates his life and his back catalogue will soon be topping the charts again as the music moguls cash in.
Expect to see a lot of this over the coming weeks!
One company which won’t be cashing in is AEG Live, which was behind the 50 ‘comeback’ shows scheduled to take place at the O2 in London between July this year and February next. The company is apparently facing a liability of up to £300 million since they were unable to find anyone willing to insure such a massive venture.
There had already been talk of whether Jackson would be able to complete the arduous schedule of performances due to health reasons, and the start date had been put back, albeit apparently due the technical complexity of the show.
Tickets for the events had sold out in hours and immediately started to trade on the secondary ticket market for up to £10,000. Which means that a lot of people are going to have to do a lot of refunding in the next few weeks. Ticketmaster, which distributed the tickets in the UK, has a policy of refunding the face value of the ticket plus the booking fee, so about one million fans will get their initial investment back. But what happens if you have already sold on your ticket, or the promise of it since they haven’t been printed, and spent the money? You’ve now got to refund the person who you thought you were making a killing out of, with money you might no longer possess.
How much wheeling and dealing will be going on?
This opens up a whole can of worms for the secondary ticket market and I will interested to see how any problems are resolved.
And apart from the cost of refunding the face value of tickets, AEG Live must have invested millions in the production of the planned shows, all of which now goes to waste. Oh, and the O2 Arena is going to be a bit empty over the next nine months.
Empty....
I was never a huge fan of Michael Jackson but I’m sad for his family, friends and fans. He had become a sometimes strange and controversial figure, a fact that often diverted attention from his musical and entertainment skills. His death will continue to have far reaching effects for some time to come.
