Work for the Fans in a Down Economy

November 24, 2008 by Joe-Cohen
Filed under: Industry, Music 

At the Billboard Touring Conference in New York last week participants discussed what’s in store for the live music industry as the economy enters a steep recession.  Pricing was one of the key points discussed and many in the audience want to lower ticket prices as the economy falters and consumers reduce their discretionary spending.

There was a contrarian voice in the room in the form of KISS member Gene Simmons.  A full-throated capitalist, Simmons told the audience not to cut prices,

“You’re training an entire generation of people to pay less for something and then more for something else. They won’t know what the value is and they’d rather pay less every time,” the media superstar stated, warning that lower prices would dilute the value of concerts in the long term. “If they’re used to paying $100 for a big thing, then give them $100 worth of entertainment, put 10 bands together.”

 

While I agree with his sentiment, the overall industry has to look at pricing given the number of businesses now competing for fans’ wallets.  It’s in everyone’s interests to keep the fans coming out in tough times and pricing is one of the ways we can do this.  I was speaking last week with Dean James of MAMA Group,  who is seeing strength in his small club business.  He thinks that a £12 cover and another £12-15 on drinks makes for a great Saturday night and keeps the fans coming back.  Charging £25 for bands like Primal Scream only leads to empty halls and a downward trend on prices…

 

 

as you can see the last trade on Seatwave for this show was at £14 per ticket.

Conventional wisdom will tell you that  live events are not as badly affected by a recession as other sectors of the consumer discretionary economy and I would agree we have the characteristics of an anti-cyclical business (fans go 1-2 times per year, perceived as a treat, no real replacement offering) but we test this notion at our peril if we allow the upward spiral of prices to continue unabated.

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