Shortly after Dan Daley compiled and submitted the information for this column, the Nashville area was hit by what locals are calling a 100-year flood. Many of those who Dan interviewed for this column were directly or indirectly affected when water levels on the Cumberland River exceeded 50 feet – more than 12 feet above flood stage. For more details on the flooding and its aftermath, please CLICK HERE . Country music is famous for its intimate lyrics, but be prepared to be dazzled by the lights behind them. The mid-1990s saw a huge influx of Los Angeles and New York-based music types into Nashville, a talent migration that has left its mark on the genre's look and sound ever since. The musicians, producers and studio engineers changed the sound of the records, mainstreaming them like never before and helping produce a big bump in country sales throughout the decade. (Granted, Garth Brooks didn't hurt things, either.) It didn't take long for the live shows to follow suit, with automated systems and sets as sophisticated as anything on pop tours. "The live shows grew up fast here, and they've been at the cutting edge of technology for years now," observes Arthur Smith, general manager for PRG Nashville.
A Growing Pool of LDs
Like the other touring technology arts, lighting has grown into a huge installed base in Nashville. As with other talent pools like musicians and engineers, the city has a large and growing pool of LDs with whom touring artists can work, both home-grown and those who have moved here, drawn by Nashville's status as an enormous base hub for touring shows. Companies like PRG and Theatrical Lighting Systems (TLS) have to have major depots and offices in Music City, both because of country music artists' relentless penchant for touring (the summer tour season only intensifies what is an eight- to 10-month annual proposition for even the largest-selling artists like Alan Jackson and Martina McBride), but also because the city's infrastructure has become so efficient at touring logistics that out-of-town artists increasingly start tours from Nashville as well.
The Low-Dough Scenario
The music business' increased reliance on live performance revenues as CD sales continue to tank has further helped Nashville's status as a touring hub, but ironically, that's been a double-edge sword. "Our business has picked up as a direct result of the music business relying more on concert revenues than on CD sales," says Mike Golden, vice president of Bandit Lites. "But because of the lack of revenue from CDs, there's been a steadily-increasing emphasis on making concert touring profitable." In other words, the touring that used to be filed under marketing expenses to support album sales now finds itself compelled to become leaner and more profitable (while the CD has become the new loss leader). That's led to what Golden calls a "low-dough-type scenario" starting in 2009, one in which the LDs' wish lists ran up against the realities of costs. "They might want a (Vari-Lite) VL-2500, but the budget calls for a VL-2000," says PRG's Smith. "What we have to do more than ever is to accommodate the customer, but do it as cost-effectively as possible."
New Touring Resources
Lighting companies are developing strategies to do just that. For instance, TLS partnered with XL Video's 5,000-square-foot Music City Lab, a preproduction and demo space, where it's been featuring Elation Professional products, including Elation's EWDMX wireless DMX control system, Impression's RGB LED moving head, the Platinum Spot 5R with Philips Platinum 5R lamp technology, Design Beam 300 Spots, Wash fixtures, and Beam Projectors, and Opti Tri Par RGB LED fixtures, as well as products from Elation's sister companies Global Truss and American DJ.
"It's a place where people going on tours can get an idea of what's available, what's happening, and actually pick out some items they want to use on their set," explains TLS president David Milly. He adds that his company has also been standardizing components like motors and cable lengths across their three locations to ensure compatibility, and creating lighting packages sized to fit into the cargo holds of the ubiquitous tour buses that assemble like small military units on Wednesday nights in the parking lot of the Kroger supermarket in Franklin, Tenn., a Nashville suburb, preparing for weekend tour runs.
Bandit Lites' Golden says he's assiduous about turning over inventory regularly. "Products go in trend cycles. Last year, it was the VL-2500; this year it's VL3K Spots," he says. "We try to move items we've had for a while into our [systems installation] side to make way for new products for the touring customers. We also tend not to be very early adopters of new technology. These days, we wait until we know something works and that we'll get our return on investment."
Geography and Hospitality
Lighting designer Chris Lisle is a 20-year veteran of Nashville's tour lighting business, with designs for artists including Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert. He also teaches lighting arts at Nashville's Belmont University. He'll be out this summer with part-time Nashville resident and former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant, who is duetting with country-folker Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller across the southern-tier states. Lisle also counts R&B standout Babyface among his clientele, and says that really underscores Nashville's appeal as a tour center.
"Nashville has two things going for it – economics and customer service," Lisle says. "You can reach most of the country within a day's drive of the city, and I really do believe that you get a higher level of personalized service here. There are a lot of country music tours that originate here, naturally, but there are plenty of other ones, too. I think the southern hospitality is part of the attraction."
Phil Scobee, manager of Morris Leasing, which leases and rents lighting and sound equipment to artists including Kenny Chesney, Gretchen Wilson, Alabama and Sugarland, won't dispute that. "Doing business in Nashville is all about relationships," he says. "There's a lot of loyalty in this market. If a tour comes in for bid, it's likely a newer act. The [established] ones tend to create relationships and stay with them."
That said, though, Scobee acknowledges that despite the word "leasing" in the company name, the rapid cycling of lighting products in the LED era means more clients will rent, looking to work new products into their designs more often. "There is no ‘typical' rental period anymore," he says. "The equipment is turning over so fast that it's harder to get a return on the investment in the same amount of time." However, sub-renting helps amortize the increase in inventory.
Perhaps it's what's not different about Nashville that's most remarkable. With crossover artists like Taylor Swift and mainstream rock artists like the Kings of Leon and Jack White calling the city home base for touring, the music and the shows are less easily distinguishable from pop shows these days. That's reflected in the increased competition that's putting steady, if not onerous, downward pressure on pricing. But that's all right with Nashville's lighting community. "Everyone knows us now," says PRG's Arthur Smith.
