Quote:
Originally Posted by Becky
“Jon Bon Jovi and Mick Jagger are the two smartest musicians I know. Jon will walk into my office on a random Tuesday and go, “OK, last time in Omaha we did $12 a head in merch. What are we going to do tonight?”
He knows. He knows everything. Whereas, different artists and managers get involved to different degrees. Whatever works for that organization, works.” — Larry Richter
I saw some complaints about Jon being a businessman. I have no problem with this quote. I see it as a compliment. Maybe because my father was a successful self-made businessman, I know that if youÂ’re the one paying the bills, you better know exactly where the money is coming in and where itÂ’s going. Some people just have a gift for numbers. I have an aunt who can remember the birthday of every person she knows and she doesnÂ’t need any Facebook reminders. My dad had a number game that was his thing and I caught on to it, so we would play. No one else understood it and since he died, no one else ever will. WE benefit because Jon has the intelligence to know these things. If he didnÂ’t, they might be like Michael Jackson who died in heavy debt because he didnÂ’t have a clue how to control his own financial issues.
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Becky, it is a big difference if you know your general sales strategy or if you want to know every single detail because it is concerning you and your business. MJ was an artist and not much else and Jon is not a big artist anymore. Big, yes, but he is way too focused on the business side. Information is power and it helps you to stay on track with what is going on around you which is important, but I'd rather have an artist be an artist and play guitar in his hotel room than knowing about last night's merch deal. I know BJ is a business, Jon and everybody around him have made it pretty clear and benefitting from it one way or another but they as individuals are far from being an artistic band, which they should be first. This whole 'look we are a big organisation' just doesn't fly with me. It is deeply rooted in the American culture but it also something very boring for me as a European. As one colleauge once put it: if you are a great company, you don't need to use the word great
I think it is ok that Jon knows things but then I wonder what his tour manager does. When Jon is on the road as an artist he shouldn't focus on these numbers but on his music, IMO. If he occupies his mind with these small bits, what else is he managing or retrieving information from? Knowing everything isn't smart. Neither is trying to understant everything. I also tend to be someone who wants to know what is going on at work and later I regret it because I realize it is not that important to my work You just don't have the time to process everything and keep it stored in your memory. Jon probably has got his excel sheets on his laptop to look it up. So maybe since he doesnt have too much to do he srays informed. But If I go to a concert, do I really want to know that the singer just talked about the merch deal with his accountant? Or do I want to know that the band jammed together to do some song surprise for the night.
I just saw a video on instagram where Richie and Jon were playing a Bob Dylan song backstage. Now this is what is great for someone who likes music and concerts. These glimps of music and jams. But I doubt Jon will be able to do it with Shanks