Pay-to-play (was; my response)

[Matt Condon]

DennisCraigLee at aol.com wrote:
> Matt, What has often been described as pay-to-play, further back than when 
> Nirvana protested it in their song of the same name. It's not the literal 'pay 
> the clubowner' for the privilege of using the stage' one might imagine - the 
> way some of the larger cities require erotic dancers in strip clubs to pay for 
> their stage time. That's usually referred to as 'How many lap dances do we have 
> to do to make our money back?'

Hrm, where I've seen it used before, it has very literally meant that 
bands pay the promoter/club owner/whoever for a spot on the bill. 
Obviously that would not be desirable.  I could see the argument that 
requiring a certain number of ticket sales amounts to the same thing 
(though I don't fully agree -- it makes perfect sense to me, you don't 
draw people, you don't get booked again, whether you sell advance 
tickets or not), which is why I'm not arguing that.  However, making the 
option to sell tickets available, it seems to me, benefits everyone, 
from the band, who is given something concrete to use to promote their 
show, to the promoter, who has one more sales venue, to the audience, 
who is given the information and incentive to plan ahead.

>>From a DIY standpoint, I don't feel this marketing technique is necessarily 
> unfair, and has the potential of succeeding in bringing more people to shows. 
> For those acts vehemently against it, to my knowledge Manny has never 
> subscribed to it. So cut him a little slack here.

Manny has sold advance tickets to some shows before, but for the most 
part they've been big name acts who would have a significant draw from 
outside of the immediate Pittsburgh area.  I don't think it's something 
that should be forced on people -- so those who are for whatever reason 
so vehemently against it can simply not do it, and the same criteria as 
always will be used to determine whether they get booked again (i.e. 
their draw on sales at the door).  But for those who would like it as an 
option to potentially increase their own attendance (and therefore, by 
Manny's policies, the likelihood that they'll get paid), it seems to 
make perfect sense to me.

Matt