Dean Budnick
Dean Budnick is an American writer, filmmaker, college professor, podcast creator and radio host who focuses on music, film and popular culture. Budnick, who is editor-in-chief of Relix, grew up in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.
''Ticket Masters''
In April 2012, Plume/Penguin published the revised, expanded edition of Budnick's latest book, Ticket Masters: The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped, in North America and the U.K. ECW Press issued the original hardcover edition of the book, co-authored with Josh Baron, in 2011. Ticket Masters explores the emergence of computerized ticketing and the rise of the modern concert industry. It is the first book to chronicle the origins, development and ongoing strategies of companies such as Ticketron, Ticketmaster, Live Nation and StubHub, the efforts of numerous independent competitors and bands such as the Grateful Dead, the String Cheese Incident and Phish. The Wall Street Journal reviewer Ken Kurson wrote, "A clear, comprehensive look at a murky business, the book is also an encyclopedia of information about the rise, decline and rebirth of the live music industry." Similar assessments appeared in Rolling Stone, Maclean's, Pollstar, and other outlets. A revised expanded paperback edition was published by Plume in 2012. Budnick has gone on to appear as a panelist and deliver keynotes about the subject at numerous industry events, including: CMJ, the Ticket Summit, the International Ticketing Association Conference, the IAVM Arena Management Conference, by:Larm and the International Music Festival Conference. He has commented about ticketing issues for a variety of media outlets. and also has lectured on this topic at college campuses. Budnick continues to write about ticketing and the concert industry for Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and Bloomberg View.Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle
Budnick has explained that the idea for Ticket Masters first came to him in the mid-1990s, while a graduate student at Harvard University's History of American Civilization program, when he explored reports of ticket scalping on Charles Dickens' final American speaking tour. Budnick happened upon such accounts while writing his doctoral dissertation on Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. In Directed Verdict: The Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle Trial Discourse, Budnick, who also earned a J.D. at Columbia Law School, worked from the original trial transcripts, dozens of newspaper reports and other primary sources to explore the silent film comic's life before and after his manslaughter trials that followed the death of actress Virginia Rappe on September 9, 1921. Directed Verdict examines not only on prevailing attitudes towards Hollywood and a new culture of celebrity but also tabloid journalism, the onset of Prohibition and the emerging, oft-contradictory roles of women in the 1920s. Budnick received his PhD in 2000 and his dissertation committee consisted of Henry Louis Gates, Werner Sollors and Ellen Fitzpatrick.After serving as a teaching fellow and tutor at Harvard, Budnick has gone on to teach at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Roger Williams University and the University of Rhode Island.
''Long May They Run'' podcast
In September 2019, Variety announced that Budnick would be the writer and host of a new podcast titled Long May They Run. The piece noted that "Cadence13 launched the music-themed, documentary-style podcast, with a focus on bands that thrive in the live setting". Phish is the subject of season one. Variety added that the season "will offer a deep dive into the history of Phish as well as its impact on music culture, the industry and beyond," through over 75 interviews, including those with the band members and management. Season one launched on September 16 with "A Pattern Language" and "A Timeless Way of Building" the first two episodes of the 10 slated for the season. The series immediately topped the Apple podcast U.S. music charts and The New York Times named it one of six notable podcasts to launch that month. Billboard noted, "Long May They Run, Season One: Phish tracks the band's evolution into becoming one of the most influential touring bands of all time...The 10-episode series shows how Phish laid the foundation for the modern day festival business." Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien told the Toronto Sun, "I've been really inspired by Phish and there's a great podcast called Long May They Run, and it's all about Phish and their story and their philosophy and their credo." Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig selected it as one of his current "cultural highlights" in a piece for The Guardian, noting "I've been loving this podcast about the band Phish. They did a lot of interviews with the guys in the band, and there's so many cool little stories, so you get a window into the amazing live culture they've built."John Popper memoir
In December 2015, Billboard published an exclusive cover reveal for Suck and Blow: And Other Stories I'm Not Supposed To Tell, the autobiography of longtime Blues Traveler frontman John Popper, which Budnick co-authored. The New York Post hailed Popper's "off-beat, hilarious new memoir" in a two-page review. Budnick and Popper later discussed the book during an event at New York City's Strand Bookstore. Popper supported Suck and Blow with numerous media appearances, including a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on which Popper played alongside vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine. The Post later named Suck and Blow to its list of "The 40 best books of 2016 you must read immediately."Peter Shapiro: ''The Music Never Stops''
On August 2, 2022, Hachette released The Music Never Stops: What Putting on 10,000 Shows Has Taught Me About Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Magic, by Peter Shapiro co-authored by Budnick. Variety reported that "based on 50 pivotal shows which helped define Shapiro's life and guide his businesses, the book chronicles a career lived at maximum volume." Spin added, "Shapiro talks eloquently and honestly about what he's learned along the way, peppering the text with one amazing anecdote after another." The Music Never Stops "covers a good amount of ground; through industry consolidation and disruptive changes that occurred in advances, venue operations, ticketing and touring. It also provides invaluable insight for those looking to enter into the live music and event business...what sets this apart is Shapiro's willingness to admit where he didn't hit the note or when he wasn't as sure of his ability as people might have thought. It's honest, enlightening, funny, and filled with fun facts that seem to appear on every single page." Kirkus described The Music Never Stops as "an entertaining insider's tour of the concert business from a likable guide."Grateful Dead: liner notes, journalism and novel
Budnick has contributed liner notes to the Grateful Dead's RFK box set, GarciaLive Volume Eight and GarciaLive Volume Sixteen. A chapter on the Grateful Dead's pioneering mail-order ticketing service appears in Ticket Masters. Budnick's 2017 Billboard piece on the band explored the group's licensing deals with Warner/Rhino Entertainment and additional plans for its intellectual property. In 2017 he also wrote a Relix cover story on Dead & Company, which followed up his earlier cover stories on the band. His other related articles include interviews with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter and pieces that have focused on Brent Mydland and the missing soundboard tapes recorded by Betty-Cantor Jackson, His conversation with Deadhead Bill Walton appeared in Relix Conversation video series, while previous installments with Warren Haynes & John Scofield and Luther Dickinson & Anders Osborne all touched on their time performing in Phil Lesh and Friends. In 2015 Budnick served as editor of the official Fare Thee Well daily programs, securing a welcome message from President Obama. He served in a similar capacity for the Dead reunion shows at Alpine Valley in 2002.The 2015 Billboard piece that first shared the cover for John Popper's memoir also revealed that Budnick's next project was a Grateful-Dead themed novel. Rare Bird Books published Might As Well in the spring of 2016. One reviewer described it as "a highly entertaining fictionalized multi-character account of a Grateful Dead show, which details the experience of both the lot scene and an actual show at Brendan Byrne Arena in the fall of 1989." Budnick later revealed in an interview that the general excitement from the Fare Thee Well shows had inspired him to revisit the band's touring days. The era that provides the backdrop to Might As Well is the same time period Budnick subsequently wrote about in the box set Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, Washington, D.C., July 12 & 13, 1989.