Can You Have Ticket Deals That Are Too Good?

Following up on last Monday’s Placebo Pricing article, the ever sharp Lisa Hirsch from Iron Tongue of Midnight started doing some digging around in her neck of the woods on ticket price issues and turned up some very intriguing results. In a post titled Pricing and Audience Resentment she provides a few apt observations on timing and steep price cuts.

In a follow-up article, A Bit More on Pricing and Audience Segmentation, she takes aim demand pricing strategies and I know, it’s a topic that for some is well worn but for others it is still relatively new. Add Hirsch’s candid assessment to the mix and it’s a very worthwhile read.

For those of you who haven’t been following this topic thread, here’s a chronological list of where it’s getting cross blogged along with related comment threads (which in many cases are as equally fascinating):

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

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