Michael Kaiser Couldn’t Be More Right

I have to fess up and admit that I haven’t been keeping up with Michael Kaiser’s blog at Huffington Post even though I know it would be for the best. But that’s been turning around as I’ve been wading through Michael’s archives and one item that caught my attention was a post from 1/4/2010 titled Why Ticket Prices Must Change. Regular readers are already aware that this has been an ongoing topic at Adaptistration for years now and Michael’s outlook mirrors nearly everything covered here in all that time…

Although I’m far from alone in my outlook on the long term damage artificially inflated average ticket prices are inflicting on the field, most validation comes from sources that aren’t focused squarely in the orchestra business. Consequently, Michael’s attention to this matter by purporting the only viable solution at this point in time, i.e. dedicated fundraising activity, adds a refreshing voice to the discussion.

“And we need to work actively and aggressively to increase fund raising revenue (by producing exciting work and marketing that work well) and use a portion of this revenue to lower ticket prices.”

This is precisely the action I’ve been espousing here for years and although the current economic downturn makes this option even less palpable, the simple truth is the longer we wait, the harder it gets. To add insult to injury, Michael points out that the rate of ticket price increases has reached a threshold where short term gains are being offset by structural losses in overall attendance. Again, this is parallels what we’ve been discussing for years, most recently here and here.

It’s worth pointing out that Michael’s article mentions some of the fundamental consistencies of ticket pricing that are immune to this syndrome, such as premium price tickets. In fact, most experienced managers are already well aware that it isn’t unusual for premium ticket buyers to look at the ticket purchase as their donation and raising those prices has had little, if any, impact on demand.

There is little doubt in my mind that this topic will fail to get the attention it deserves over the next few years until the economy stabilizes. But even then, if the past is any indication of what will come, getting the field to acknowledge this slow, yet undeniably, catastrophic problem will be an uphill battle.

Michael concludes his post with an eloquent observation of self fulfilling prophecy:

“If we don’t [reverse ticket pricing trends], we will find ourselves with fewer and fewer people in our audiences, and an ever-smaller donor base. The arts will, at best, become the exclusive province of the elite, and to the vast majority of people, live arts will become irrelevant.”

Let’s just hope things don’t have to get that bad before they get better.