Bringing world-class acts to Turkey requires sponsors

    The hullabaloo calmed after a few days when the organizers of the anticipated concert explained that the concert could only take place if they found the $4 million they were seeking in sponsorship.

    In the end, whether the Material Girl will perform once again in Turkey depends on a corporate sponsor -- or sponsors. If a sponsor is found, she will be welcomed here, and if not, she will return to her spot on the ever-present list of world stars whom Turkish fans are unable to see live because of the lack of financing, a list that includes acts such as U2, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Coldplay, Britney Spears and Celine Dion.

    Leonard Cohen, an exception to this argument, was in İstanbul for two performances earlier this month despite the fact that there were no corporate sponsors behind his appearances. The İstanbul Foundation for Culture and Art (İKSV) held this major event without the help of any sponsors despite the event's hefty cost of over TL 1.5 million.

    However big and strong the institution behind the concert may be, trying to cover the expenses of two Leonard Cohen concerts solely via ticket sales was still a huge undertaking for a single company to assume.

    So is it really possible to make sure that ticket sales cover all expenses without the help of sponsors? The answer is yes, but barely. As stated by Pelin Opçin Çorumluoğlu, the director of the İstanbul International Jazz Festival, “There was a delicate balance of expenses and revenue in the concert, for which the ticket prices were optimal and no invitations were sent.”

    Ticket prices for Cohen's Harbiye Open-air Theater concerts on Aug. 5 and 6 ranged between TL 102 and TL 275. Around 80-90 percent of the tickets were sold. “Even though it is not preferable to organize such a [major] concert without sponsors, what's done is done,” Çorumluoğlu said. She argues that there are two reasons for this: firstly, world stars want to be in full control of the entire event in cases where they “have to collaborate with sponsors,” and secondly, the ongoing economic crisis.

Alp Çağrı Günal, the founding president of GNL Entertainment and vice president of the Turkey Entertainment Sector Association (TESDER), agrees with the second reason, noting: “The last six months have been pretty bad for sponsorship activities. Sponsorship deals are usually finalized between October and February. Promotions follow. This year, this period was pretty critical. Companies were hesitant to sign sponsorship deals. In times of crisis, corporations first back away from sponsorship, then they ditch commercials and lastly they reduce their personnel.”

All roads lead to sponsors

Bringing world stars to Turkey for live performances is a difficult task. İstanbul constitutes 90 percent of the entire entertainment market in the country. According to information from the ticket sale company Biletix, all tickets that are sold through their Web site are being purchased by a standard group of concertgoers that consists of around 600,000 people who have attended a concert at least once in their lifetime. Although ticket prices in Turkey are more reasonable than those in Europe, the costs of the events are the same. And this brings with it a challenge: if event organizers keep the ticket prices low, they are unable to pay the singer; if the ticket prices are high, nobody buys the tickets.

    Even though many artists usually ask more or less a standard rate for their performances, extra payments may be required for gigs in Turkey due to the fact that the country still has not managed to place itself on the standard world concert route.

    Günal, who previously brought such big names as Paul Anka, Emma Shapplin, Suzanne Vega, The Cardigans, Roger Waters, Gloria Gaynor, Mario Frangoulis and Sarah Brightman to Turkey, points out that the first-ever stadium concerts held in Turkey were in the first half of the '90s, when such major acts as Metallica, Madonna and Bon Jovi included İstanbul on their tour itineraries. “This means that this can be done. Nine stadium concerts were held [in İstanbul] in 1993 alone. The İKSV brought Bryan Adams, Sting and the Scorpions; [concert organizer] Ahmet San brought Guns N' Roses, Elton John, Metallica, Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi and Madonna,” Günal said.

Sponsors are everything in as hefty a task -- with very high costs and prestige but very little profit -- as organizing a concert. However, even though sponsorship helps resolve financial problems in the short run, the practice itself in fact inflicts damage on the audiences' habits of buying concert tickets due to free tickets or invitations given away as part of the sponsorship agreement. Günal says that three out of 10 concertgoers in a major concert hold a free ticket. “At TESDER, we conducted a number of studies on what can be done to deal with this problem because being able to attend a concert without a ticket has started to develop into a habitual action, and this should be brought to an end.” In this sense, the two recent Leonard Cohen concerts were a beginning. The İKSV did not hand out any invitations for the concerts, even including journalists and İKSV personnel. The concert's revenue depended in its entirety on ticket sales.