Sybesma played a large role in thousands of shows that happened in Indiana, thanks to his time as co-owner of concert company Sunshine Promotions from 1974 to 2000.
As the ultimate live music insider, Sybesma is sharing event details that can’t be found anywhere else. Beyond the basics of a concert’s date, headlining performer and supporting acts, the Indiana Rock History project frequently discloses attendance figures, what artists were paid and how much money was collected in ticket sales.
From 1980 to 1999, for instance, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ payday in Indianapolis increased from $7,500 for a show at Market Square Arena to more than $400,000 for a performance at Ruoff Music Center (known then as Deer Creek Music Center).
Concert schedules evaporated during the coronavirus pandemic, giving people ample time to reminisce about sold-out nights at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum and music under the stars at the Indianapolis Tennis Center.
But Sybesma didn’t keep detailed notes with nostalgia in mind. The practical reason for recordkeeping: Sunshine wanted to know its track record when talking to booking agents about hiring bands for a second or third time in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne or Dayton, Ohio.
“That was our history,” Sybesma said. “We could look back and say, ‘Do we think we made money or lost money on the show?’ ‘What kind of deal can we make?’”
Loose leaf folders at Sunshine’s office documented the rise of the Indianapolis company as it presented concerts in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. The business eventually expanded to shows in West Virginia, Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, Nevada and Puerto Rico.
“It was all on paper,” Sybesma said. “There were periods when we were so busy that it was hard to take the time to record the stuff.”
“Busy” isn’t the word to describe the concert industry in 2020. Sybesma, who now lives in Florida and is the co-founder of events company Frameless Creative, launched Indiana Rock History as a pandemic project.
The IUPUI alum built the
“I realized how much information I didn’t have,” Sybesma said. “Part of the idea was, ‘Let’s make it fun for everybody.’ “
Indianapolis resident Mark Grannan began attending concerts in 1972, when he caught the Rolling Stones at the Indiana Convention Center. (Stevie Wonder appeared as the supporting act.)
The Indiana Rock History project carries legitimacy, Grannan said, because of Sybesma’s involvement. More than 1,100 people have joined the Facebook group.
“It proves there’s a lot of people like me who say, ‘I was there,’” Grannan said. “They kept their ticket stubs; they kept their memorabilia.”
After Facebook group members post images of tickets, backstage passes and newspaper ads, Sybesma preserves selected examples at
Grannan contributed an image of a 1990 Farm Aid pass to the website, and tickets he’s posted to the Facebook group include a 1977 Emerson, Lake & Palmer show at Market Square Arena and a 1979 Supertramp concert at the same venue.
In terms of sharing an event’s financials — details that were considered proprietary or simply no one else’s business when the concert happened — Sybesma said he hasn’t heard any complaints.
“It’s more than 20 years ago now,” he said. “It’s more history than it is confidential.”
SFX Entertainment purchased Sunshine in 1997, part of a rollup in which radio executive Robert F.X. Sillerman acquired nearly every major independent concert promoter in the United States. SFX was sold to Clear Channel in 2000, which became Live Nation in 2005.
SFX reportedly paid more than $50 million for Sunshine, showing it’s possible to become wealthy as a concert promoter. At the same time, numbers posted at Indiana Rock History reveal that profit margins aren’t necessarily high.
In simplest terms, a promoter’s largest expense is payment to the performer.
When Bob Seger headlined Market Square Arena — the venue that preceded Bankers Life Fieldhouse — on April 28, 1978, about $104,000 in tickets were sold and Sunshine paid Seger $46,000. That’s a difference of $58,000.
When Seger headlined three nights at Market Square Arena in 1996, an average of $239,000 in tickets were sold per show and Sunshine paid Seger an average of $153,000 per show. That’s a difference of $86,000 per show.
In addition to paying the performer, a promoter is responsible for expenses that may include renting the venue, hiring security, advertising the event, arranging for insurance and costs associated with selling tickets.
“When you sell out a show at Market Square Arena, everybody looks at it and says, ‘Wow, you probably made a couple hundred thousand dollars tonight.’ It’s not like that,” Sybesma said. “Somebody might have made the money. We made our small share of it.
“But I can’t complain. It was good.”
Sybesma wasn’t part of Sunshine Promotions when the company presented its first show. Founded by Dave Lucas and Joe Halderman, Sunshine debuted with an Isaac Hayes concert at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum on Nov. 4, 1971.
Concert enthusiast Grannan said he became fully hooked on live music when he attended a David Bowie show promoted by Sunshine at the Indiana Convention Center.
Bowie’s 1974 “Diamond Dogs” tour made headlines for its groundbreaking stage sets and lighting effects.
“After that, because of the production, I said, ‘I have to see these things,’ ” Grannan said.
Grannan said he enjoys visiting the Indiana Rock History website and learning about shows that happened before his time as an audience member.
Jimi Hendrix, for instance, appeared as a guitarist in the Isley Brothers’ band in 1965 on the campus of DePauw University. Hendrix brought his own show to Muncie in 1968, to Indianapolis in 1969 and to Evansville in 1970.
The Who headlined the Indiana Beach Ballroom in 1968, and Cream played Clowes Hall on Butler University’s campus earlier that year.
“Things like that just blow my mind,” Grannan said. “(Indiana Rock History) is chronicling the things we ‘kind of’ remember, collating all these great memories into one database.”
Sybesma said he devoted 60-hour weeks to entering the first batch of concert dates online. Keeping up with new entries also takes time, but Sybesma is eager to fill in gaps in the state’s live music story.
“I’d like for people to come and find out about it,” he said. “A lot of people don’t know. It’s only 1,100 people on Facebook. There’s a lot more people who love concerts that haven’t discovered it yet.”
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