Clear Channel (aka "The Evil Empire" in some circles) is making another really wild business move that may put you on a great footing with your talent buyer. Even for their A-list and B-list events, CC's live business is abandoning advances against draw in exchange for granting 100% of the door.

Now pick your jaw up off the floor, because it gets crazier.

Clear Channel is also letting artists in this little experiment set their own price for tickets. CC expects to make money from concessions (can we say, "eight dollar martini?"), parking and their split of ticketing fees. And on the flip side, they're hoping that artists will price tickets more cheaply, assuring more sell-out shows more often.

Of course, this is exactly the kind of deal that I've advocated in my books and seminars. Although artists get nervous about playing gigs with no advances, you can maintain so much more control over the gig and actually make more money when you forego an advance and pitch a "backend split." It's just totally wild to see somebody using it on a major artist scale. Let's see how this one plays out.