is doing this for a living worth your $25?

some of you people spend more time worrying about the price per value ratio on a ticket than the music you might be enjoying.

you remind me of my father-in-law who writes his mileage down every time he fills his tank so he can figure out exactly what he's paying per gallon. and guess what? the next time he pulls into the gas station that info won't do him one tiny little bit of good.

what if the people that paid you for whatever it is that you do for a living agonized over every cent and questioned your every move as to if you were worth it?

OK, never mind all that, did anyone see any of the Cremaster films?

Originally posted by Seth Hurwitz:
some of you people spend more time worrying about the price per value ratio on a ticket than the music you might be enjoying.

you remind me of my father-in-law who writes his mileage down every time he fills his tank so he can figure out exactly what he's paying per gallon. and guess what? the next time he pulls into the gas station that info won't do him one tiny little bit of good.

what if the people that paid you for whatever it is that you do for a living agonized over every cent and questioned your every move as to if you were worth it?

OK, never mind all that, did anyone see any of the Cremaster films?

Damn, do you know the owner of the company I work for?

I think a lot of it has to do with the core audience. If it's an older established act and their fanbase is older and has more money to blow on entertainment, it's not a problem. Look at what U2, McCartney, Springsteen, etc. can get for a ticket. But a band like Blur, Radiohead, etc. still has a young core audience and they don't have the capitol to pay out exorbitant prices.

And no, I haven't seen the Creamaster films. Are they good?

Originally posted by Seth Hurwitz:
some of you people spend more time worrying about the price per value ratio on a ticket than the music you might be enjoying.

What's the difference between "the price per value ratio" and worrying if we might be enjoying the music?

All I understand the conversations to mean is is Dave Gahans music worth $40 (which is the exact same thing - right)? I think people may be worried that they might not enjoy Dave Gahan's music by himself and don't want to shell out the $40. But the Spree on the other hand we're less of a gamble at $10. With all of the great shows, you have to be selective this summer. That's a credit to you and the other clubs in DC, but if I can see 6 other shows at the same price of Blur and Gahan, it might make sense. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

$25 is my psychological limit…Oh wait..$32.125 (yeah… a half cent) after the lovely surcharges. I don't know if this came up before.. but what would the feasibility and interest be in a "season ticket"?… you know, a jan. 1-dec. 31 attend any and every show you want ticket. They would of course be limited (500 or so) and this would entitle the season holder first serve (for tickets…no charge of course with a season ticket) at any show and of course "walk in" admission at a non-sold out show. I'm thinking $250 dollars would be fair. Just think… up front money….people attending shows they wouldn't normally attend and drinking lots of expensive beer!

Originally posted by myuman:
$25 is my psychological limit…Oh wait..$32.125 (yeah… a half cent) after the lovely surcharges. I don't know if this came up before.. but what would the feasibility and interest be in a "season ticket"?… you know, a jan. 1-dec. 31 attend any and every show you want ticket. They would of course be limited (500 or so) and this would entitle the season holder first serve (for tickets…no charge of course with a season ticket) at any show and of course "walk in" admission at a non-sold out show. I'm thinking $250 dollars would be fair. Just think… up front money….people attending shows they wouldn't normally attend and drinking lots of expensive beer!

That sounds okay in theory (except 500 is a bit high considering there are only 365 days in a year) but I think it would cause a lot more problems than it's worth. The venue has limited space. They need to know almost exactly how many people will actually be in attendance for any given show. Too many people who want to attend shows would not be able to go because of assumed season ticket holders attendance while many of them won't attend denying the band, the club and everyone else who stands to profit the live body in attendance. Then you get pissed off fans who could and would have attended if everyone knew ahead of time that given seasoners would not be in attendance.

What Vansmack said….yeah. He has it down. Don't forget, the economy really sucks now and people aren't getting raises or jobs while they are still paying out for rising expenses. A whole lot of us don't have all that much disposable income, no matter what our ages are, and have to budget. That's just a fact of life.

As far as Dave Gahan is concerned, I don't know if I would even buy his album let alone pay top dollar for a concert. Not even sure if I'd bother if it were your average $15 show. Now $25 for the show that Sigur Rós put on was worth every single penny for the quality that those guys offered.

As someone else stated, it's not just the ticket cost that we have to budget for; it's any possible service charges, gas/cab/metro, drinks, tips, and our time. As much as some of us would love to be there almost every night, we just can't do it. There were times when I've forgone food in order to see a show, but my body will only allow that every so often.

Sorry, we love you, but we do have to balance our lives and budgets.

One good way to keep 9:30 clubgoing costs down… tie one on before you leave home, then stay away from the bar except for the water jugs and plastic cups!

Originally posted by Jaguär:
That sounds okay in theory (except 500 is a bit high considering there are only 365 days in a year) but I think it would cause a lot more problems than it's worth. The venue has limited space. They need to know almost exactly how many people will actually be in attendance for any given show. Too many people who want to attend shows would not be able to go because of assumed season ticket holders attendance while many of them won't attend denying the band, the club and everyone else who stands to profit the live body in attendance. Then you get pissed off fans who could and would have attended if everyone knew ahead of time that given seasoners would not be in attendance.

So that is why the site would have a registration page that would allow season holders to register lets say a day before the tickets go on public sale, then pick up hard tickets at the will call. This is key to prohibit scalping at certain shows (show ID of season ticket holder). The 500 number is the actual number of season tickets that would be sold for that season. So only 500 people at any one show can possibly be season ticket holders (and that is only if they register prior to tickets being sold out). This number is all supply and demand. If there is great interest, I don't see why the price and number of season tickets offered can't go up. But based on the "up front money theory" the price per show would be much lower for the people who actually attend often…. that is my point. It would put the "club" back in the club.

Originally posted by Doctor Doom:
One good way to keep 9:30 clubgoing costs down… tie one on before you leave home, then stay away from the bar except for the water jugs and plastic cups!

Yeah, but if enough do that, the price will eventually trickle (I sound like Regan) into ticket prices. The club has to make money.

If clubs/venues/promoters would simply add the service charge to each ticket and not advertise the increased fees as a "service charge", no one would complain.

Originally posted by helicon1:
If clubs/venues/promoters would simply add the service charge to each ticket and not advertise the increased fees as a "service charge", no one would complain.

Yes they would.

It just hit me that this is probably a reaction to some people bitching about $25 for the Blur show. In that case, I can fully understand where Seth is coming from. First, everyone cried because Blur were not playing DC. Finally, he gets them booked in the club and people are whining about the cost. He only did what we inadvertantly asked him to do.

You have to remember, no matter what you think of Blur now or Damon's supposed prickiness, they have more than proven themselves to the record companies and have worked their way up the pay scale. It cost a bit more but it far surpasses affordability than the Dave Gahan show.

Another factor is that there is so much backlash on Blur now. Blur are another band that it's cool to not like anymore. :roll:

Bottom line, don't worry too much Seth. Most of these whiners will be there front and center. Just let them blow off a little wind for awhile.

there's nothing wrong with having a budget and sticking to it, and therefore only being able to afford to go to a certain number of shows, and therefore being upset when high ticket prices reduce that amount of shows. and that's pretty much everybody - we all have limits. so, as a businessperson, it behooves me to keep the ticket prices down so that more people will go to more shows. so, nobody needs to motivate me to keep ticket prices down. the ticket price, by the way, is mostly set by the artists' representatives, with our input considered. it all comes down to how much money they want to make.

what bothers me is when people whine about as some sort of moral rights violation, or to dissect it like a broker's stock analysis. which, again, I ask those people, how would you like it if your employer constantly questioned your wage?

anyway, the reason I ended that with a question about Cremaster was because I always seem to be drawn into financial discussions and would love to make conversation about something else here. my own fault, yes, but…lovely weather we're having here lately, isn't it?

perhaps i shouldn't haven't attached the dollar amount to my blur query… my interest was more in what material are they playing this tours. was it a greatest hits type tour? will it feature primarily material from think tank. an album which i feel no real compelling reason to buy and most people have seem to have the same reaction to. if it dosen't sellout and the reviews are positive and i'm in town that weekend i might end up going.

and in response to your query… yes it is worth doing it for my $25 or whatever i pay to get into the best club in the area. without the 9:30 club a whole lot of us could be trekking to philly for instance on a fairly regular basis. something that would wear thin for me quickly. then i'd really be moaning about the price of ticket….

thanks to the "lovely" weather of late the back 40 is so swampy that when branches fall of the tree that actually end up sticking straight up in the ground. quite the sight… but it's froggy courting season so there's lots of leaping and croaking going on in the pond.

Seth, you remind me of the 50something guy in my office who still likes to go to rock and roll shows. When he asks me if I'm going to this show or that show, sometimes I tell him the price is too steep for me. He'll arrogantly reply "Oh price doesn't matter to me. Doesn't matter if it's $5 or $50, if I want to go, I'll go." Of course, he makes 2.5 times as much as I do, so I can see where he's coming from.

Yes, we live in a city where a lot of people of professionals, and a lot of those professionals make such good salaries that they don't even have to question their spending. But some do.

I totally agree with what Yank, Vansmack, and Jag had to say. To exemplify what Vansmack said, I'm going to 7 shows in the next two weeks, many of them by some of my favorite artists. This is more than I usually go to, but with so many good acts at affordable costs, I just had to do it. I've got" DRive By Truckers ($12), Pernice Brothers ($10), Bob Mould (free) Slobberbone ($10), Jayhawks ($25 ouch!…but of course it's at the 9:30, what do you expect?), Rhett Miller and Nickel Creek (free), and Steve Earle (free). All in all, seven shows for $57.

If I can get 7 great shows for $57 (which is still above my budget) why on earth would I pay $40 to see a show? You might argue that if I really liked the band, I'd be willing to pay…but not true. Wilco is my favorite band, and I refused to pony up $30+ to see a show.

And Myuman…interesting idea about the season tickets. But I don't think it's economically feasible. Seth will basger us about counting our dollars, but I'm sure he would do the same thing himself and see that season passes would not make sense. 500 passes at $250 would only generate $125,000 in guaranteed ticket revenue. The club could generate that much with 6 sold out $25 shows. It would be way too much of a hassle for the club, with no financial benefits. And that's the bottom line.

You all need to quit bitching..

930 is one of the best small venues in the country and frankly the tickets are reasonably priced in my opinion. Sure there are occasionally 35.00-40.00 dollar shows. However, those are usually acts that you would almost never get to see this close and intimate as the 930 is and thus thats why the ticket price is more. I have seen so many great acts at 930 through the years and its always been a relatively safe enviroment with the best sound Ive heard in the area. The same acts you see come through 930 play similar venues in other cities, and I can tell, most of these venues are dumps with crappy sound, bad security, and they treat the bands like crap a lot of times.

That being said, ticket fees and handling charges are outrageous. Seth has no control over that however, he has to do business with one of the corporate evils to get tickets conveniently distributed. That is just the way it is. 930 makes little to no money off the artist Im guessing and everything off beer, food, and parking, its a business remember. I think the prices are very fair for the caliber of artists we get to see in such a great setting.

Just my two cents…

I've never complained about ticket prices and i've always appreciated what 9:30 does/is. My only problem is that I like going to shows on a whim, but I can't do that too often when it always seems to be a $50 night.

Ticket prices are very reasonable for the most part. $40 to see a great band is a bargain. You can't get a decent meal in a nice restaurant for that anymore. The unfortunate thing for the club is the more expensive the ticket, the less I spend on beer and food while at the show.

I think the opposite end of the spectrum is the problem, and were Seth and the bands lose out. If a ticket is $10 but the ticketbastard charges are another $7.32 or whatever it comes to. On principal I'm not going to go to that show. There's no question that I would go "check out" a lot more bands if a $10 ticket was actualy closer to $10 than $20.

Yeah, it's beautiful today. Mid-70's, low humidity. Makes me want to play hookie.

Hey Seth,

I think tickets for most shows are great value. $25 for blur is a steal.

I wanted to see Cremaster, but the reviews of it put me off some what. Non-narritive films that as a series last for what, 9 hours. It really does all sound a bit wanky doesnt it? I saw images from the films at the hirshorn about 3 years back and they were beautiful.

So did you go and see it? And if so would you recommend it?

I thought about asking the forum about it, but I knew someone would just put it into dictionary.com

what a great name.

a number of good and interesting points have been made in this thread, and some crappy ones from crybabies too, but thats what a message board is good for sometimes, i've got one main point to make, i would usually pay whatever to see a band at 930, if i liked the band, and if i thought the price was way to high, I'd say to myself , boy that band sucks why are they ripping me when i already buy all the cd's and support them that way…because i know its not the club who is doing it, not when sometimes i see great bands for cheap….but really it comes down to the fact that 930 is a great venue! Anything to keep me from having to go see a band at NIssan pavilion, not only is it completely generic ambience, pain in the ass parking, the staff is HORRIBLE, and you can't even get in without paying $30+ and that means being in the lawn which in 930 terms puts you in the back parking lot

I thought the 9:30 Club was a LARGE venue, not a small one.