Had the music business not gone tits up and albums were making artists money I'm sure we wouldn't have tours priced the way they are but this is how it is across the board. Some are more accommodating to fans but the trend of doing v.i.p packages to recoup the income lost from the album side is growing. That has to tell you something. More acts are doing it. I don't think it's worth it.

It is all a business. Very few mainstream artists think/act otherwise.

I personally also think Jon is a hypocrite at times. But it doesn't affect if I like a song or album.

Work For The Working Man never bothered me (like it did a few people on here) because I didn't "believe" Jon was sincere or not. It's the whining maaaaaannnnnnn part and lack of punch in the guitars. It's about the music.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I think Def Leppard and Bad Co were charging around £200 for their M&G packages. The galling part with Bon Jovi is the M&G very clearly became about JBJ and RT/fan club mega packages where if you can't splash the extra grand per person you get left increasingly priced out and backwards with every tour. And due to the packages it was clear that the majority of the cash funnels in one direction. It's a bit like the Hart N Dagger promotions using the band to encourage sales of overpriced clothes. It's not using quality to create sales but taking more slices from the established cash cow and it's getting harder to see such pushes as anything else. The merging of band and JBJ projects is all a bit too obvious and makes it less about the music and any labor of love for me. And I'm not discounting the good the JBJSF does but is it now a front to avoid paying taxes on fees for "charitable appearances".

Is this fact or theory?

As someone who has prepared foundation tax returns, I'm not following how Jon could be sheltering income via his foundation. Donations to the foundation would be just that and Jon would be soliciting/working/appearing on that behalf.

Just theory. But as a rule most celebrity charitable contributions across the board are by promotional appearances that promotes a good cause rather than giving vastly themselves. Are the staff for the competition events appearing for free and catering etc all freely donated? I doubt it. Expenses at every level will always be covered and that's got to be from someone's pocket or as a tax rebate. I just don't see it that these expenses aren't claimed back somehow. Which makes there no actually donation in my eyes but it's promoted like it's philanthropy. Does JBJ appear entirely for free for these or is his time claimed back too? It's not the biggest leap.

So using JBJSF and then band promotion info to boost Hart N Dagger sales all feels pretty muddy. It's prizes where he could still be getting paid.

I'm most likely wrong. But it was an unformed thought that made me question a few things.

No matter what he is the image of domestically, the prices to the fans and machine around him (that he controls) are to make him as much money as possible. The RT packages needn't be so vast and could offer solely meet & greets for example. But do the extra profits from the buffets and other aspects trickle down to make sure all are well paid? Or are they a way to gain JBJ a bigger piece of the pie without it being obvious how much? That's not the music industry failing it's him wanting more and shielding it with garnish. Cynical maybe but every aspect of promotion around JBJ now always feels like he's looking out for his own bottom line. The love of music just doesn't feel like it's a main motivation any more.

That is my big problem too. Clearly it isn't the love of music driving Jon. It has always seemed to me the love of football.

RT has been sold to the NFL earlier this year and he's now just a shareholder of a bigger organisation. I don't think pricing is entirely in his hands these days.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Jon was directly asked about the pricey tickets once and see how he reacted to it... pretty weird indeed :mrgreen: