Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Parabasis: One Quick Thought On Ticket Prices:

This is what I want to say though: The idea that we won't on some subconscious level have different, higher expectations for a $75.00 show vs. a $15.00 show is naive in the extreme.  We expect (culturally I'm sayin' here) value and price to equal out in some way, and when they don't, we tend to feel much worse about the value than we normally would.  Seeing a so-so show for $75.00 pisses me off. Seeing a so-so show for $18.00 does not. I'm more and more realizing that this (emotional) response is not one I am choosing, it's due to a set of (culturally created perhaps) assumptions about what money means and how it interacts with value.  Our audiences are going to have fairly similar assumptions when they come in to see our shows.

This is one of the many reasons why high ticket prices are self-defeating.