{"id":357,"date":"2009-07-13T21:33:18","date_gmt":"2009-07-13T21:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp\/2009\/07\/attention\/"},"modified":"2009-07-13T21:33:18","modified_gmt":"2009-07-13T21:33:18","slug":"attention-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/07\/attention-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Pay Attention! If Selling Tickets Is Your Business Model, You've Got A Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another lifetime ago we were in the Manufacturing Economy. We made things. Then we were in the Transportation Economy. We outsourced making things and brought whatever we needed to us. Then it was the Experience Economy. We created entertainment around the things we buy (how we justify paying $4.50 for a 50-cent coffee). Now we’re in the Attention Economy. In the infinite choice marketplace, ideas and products only get traction if they get noticed.<\/p>\n

The American arts economy is run as though we’re still living in the Manufacturing Economy or the Transportation Economy. That is, most arts organizations and artists believe they’re in the business of making things. <\/p>\n

Of course they make things. But these days everybody makes things. There’s an abundance of everything out there, so making things, even if they’re very very good, means less than it did 30 years ago because there are many other very very good things to choose from. <\/p>\n

In the Transportation Economy, scarcity dictated opportunity, and getting the word out about a product could build an audience. In the Attention Economy where we can get what we want when we want and how we want it (metaphorically, if not in actuality) we grab for what inserts itself in our path. The issue isn’t access, it’s overload. How do we sort out things we want from the overwhelming mass of “stuff” that engulfs us? <\/p>\n

\"supermarket<\/span>If you believe your business model is the classic consumer transaction (I make the performance, you buy the ticket) then you’re done. Sorry. That’s a Manufacturing Economy mindset, and while it worked when choices were limited, now that you’re competing in the infinite marketplace offering 8000 or 8 million choices, it’s increasingly unlikely that your “audience” is going to choose you as often as they did in the past.<\/p>\n

In the Attention Economy it isn’t enough to be the best orchestra or theatre or dance company. People aren’t comparing you with other orchestras or theatre or dance companies; they’re measuring whether classical music or theatre or dance is something they want to choose at the moment. They’re deciding whether they want an active or passive experience; they’re trying to determine what level of social encounter they feel like today. They’re weighing whether they want a predictable, known, comfortable quantity or whether they want to be adventurous and try something new. They’re figuring out whether they want to learn something and are willing to work for that or whether they’re looking for pure entertainment that costs them little. Price matters – if it’s going to cost, it’s got to be better than the free alternative. It doesn’t matter that there are 47 varieties of spaghetti sauce on the shelf in front of me if what I really want is pesto.<\/p>\n

The choice is bewildering. Paralyzing, even. You can’t compete with such overwheming choice with a consumer transaction model, no matter if you’re the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera or the Guthrie Theatre. <\/p>\n

One of the big lessons of social media is that community matters. A lot. People make their choices about culture based on their community. Peer word-of-mouth is a much more powerful driver of cultural choice than newspaper reviews or advertising. How do you fight infinite choice? Build community rather than audience. Give people reasons to engage with you, care about you, so when they’re making choices it’s more than just a consumer transaction. Nothing new about this. Amway, the mega-churches, the Barack Obama campaign all understand this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another lifetime ago we were in the Manufacturing Economy. We made things. Then we were in the Transportation Economy. We outsourced making things and brought whatever we needed to us. Then it was the Experience Economy. We created entertainment around the things we buy (how we justify paying $4.50 for a 50-cent coffee). Now we’re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ePZm-5L","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":358,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/07\/of_ticket_sales_business_model-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":357,"position":0},"title":"Ticket Sales, Business Models & Community – Five Ideas To Build Community","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"July 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I was a bit surprised by some of the reaction to my last post on the unsustainability of the ticket sales model in the Attention Economy. Boil down my argument and it's essentially this: products used to compete primarily with other products in their sector. Jazz competed with other jazz,\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/07\/of_ticket_sales_business_model-2.html#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"reward2.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/reward2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3311,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2026\/03\/what-irelands-basic-artist-income-experiment-tells-us-about-a-new-arts-economy.html","url_meta":{"origin":357,"position":1},"title":"What Ireland’s Basic Artist Income Experiment tells us about a new Arts Economy","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"March 19, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Ireland demonstrated something: economic insecurity doesn't just force workers out, it diminishes the overall creative economy. That matters enormously right now, because we are entering a period when a lot of people across a lot of industries are about to lose their job security.","rel":"","context":"In "culture business models"","block_context":{"text":"culture business models","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/culture-business-models"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/rivera.jpg?fit=1000%2C598&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/rivera.jpg?fit=1000%2C598&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/rivera.jpg?fit=1000%2C598&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/rivera.jpg?fit=1000%2C598&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":57,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/03\/help_for_the_arts_but_10000_ar.html","url_meta":{"origin":357,"position":2},"title":"Help For The Arts (But 10,000 Arts Groups Could Go Out Of Business)","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"March 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Americans for the Arts has warned arts organizations to plan scenarios for 40% cuts in their budgets as the economy gets worse. And the group says that 10,000 arts organizations could go out of business in this recession. Some have been saying for some time that the arts were overbuilt\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"header_logo.gif","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/header_logo.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":938,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/07\/editors-picks-five-highlights-from-last-weeks-aj-how-to-define-art-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":357,"position":3},"title":"Editor’s Picks: Five Highlights From Last Week’s AJ – How To Define Art Edition","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"July 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This Week: In an age of artists what is the definition of being an artist?... Canadian study says arts workers are most at risk... What is R&D in the arts?... Edinburgh Festival's success shows the broadening impact of festivals... In the information age our opinions seem to be more arrogant.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weekly AJ Top Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Weekly AJ Top Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/weekly-aj-top-stories"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/idea_sized-Vilhelm_Hammershoi_1898_-_Interior_med_laesende_ung_mand.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/idea_sized-Vilhelm_Hammershoi_1898_-_Interior_med_laesende_ung_mand.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/idea_sized-Vilhelm_Hammershoi_1898_-_Interior_med_laesende_ung_mand.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/idea_sized-Vilhelm_Hammershoi_1898_-_Interior_med_laesende_ung_mand.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/idea_sized-Vilhelm_Hammershoi_1898_-_Interior_med_laesende_ung_mand.jpg?fit=1200%2C720&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":345,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/03\/will_obamas_tax_changes_hurt_t-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":357,"position":4},"title":"Will Obama's Tax Changes Hurt the Arts?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"March 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Vastine Stabler makes a case that changing the tax code to reduce the the top rate of deduction for charitable giving from 35% to 28% will have an enormous impact on giving to the arts:It may be shocking to learn that the level of federal support for the arts in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":790,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/02\/five-artsjournal-stories-from-this-week-you-shouldnt-miss-2-21-16.html","url_meta":{"origin":357,"position":5},"title":"Five ArtsJournal Stories From This Week You Shouldn’t Miss (2.21.16)","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"February 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"1. 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