The National Center for Arts Research has released its report on The State of the Arts - a compendium of data and what I call 'kitchen sink' regressions (i.e. looking for statistical relationships by including all data that might conceivably matter and seeing what comes out the other end, rather than generating the regressions through a more formal model of firm behavior. Not that there is anything wrong with that - I've done it myself in research papers). In their section on fundraising, they find: The average organization brought in … [Read more...]
Are bands on tour winner-take-all?
Well, Pomplamoose might not have made any money on tour, but band member Jack Conte's accounting of revenues and costs has sure generated a lot of discussion, and hopefully more people who know about the band. My last post was about the fact that it has always been a tough way to make a living, but here I want to address an issue that has surfaced: is the fate of Pomplamoose, doing everything right (maybe) and still not generating net earnings a microcosm of the middle-class in America, increased inequality, and a winner-take-all economy? At … [Read more...]
No promises
A few folks now have linked to the fascinating piece by Jack Conte of the band Pomplamoose (the high-school French student in me smiles) on an accounting of the costs and revenues, to the dollar, of mounting a month-long tour. Spoiler alert: even with good crowds, they lost money (just under $12k). Their three revenue sources of ticket income (just shy of $100k), net revenues from merchandise (small) and a small sponsorship couldn't meet the costs of mounting the tour, with all the production and labor and contracting costs. The piece is not a … [Read more...]
Gender and price discrimination
Women pay more than men for some products. Why is this, and is this a situation where there oughtta be a law? Last week, Time reported that women consumers' advocates in France were pressing for a law that would prohibit price discrimination where men and women use virtually the same product (razors, deodorant) but men typically pay less. Think Progress reports on complaints about gender-based price discrimination at Old Navy. And here is a longer report on the subject, from 2012, from Marie Claire. A few thoughts (with the caveat that … [Read more...]
Streaming – a view from the other side (updated)
The New York Times has an 'Opinionator' series asking 'Is Streaming Good for Musicians?' It's a narrow question, since in any dispassionate analysis 'Is Streaming Good for People Who Listen to Music?' would also factor into the evaluation of this technology. That said, let me try to broaden the debate a little bit. As a thought experiment, imagine a very, very large musicians' co-op, one that was able to deliver songs digitally to listeners, without separate companies called 'record labels', without 'distributors', without 'Spotify' or … [Read more...]
Price discrimination and timing
Publishers delay the release of paperback versions of books as a means of price discrimination. 'Strong' customer markets pay the premium price for the immediately available hardcover, while 'weak' customer markets pay the lower price for the paperback, which is inferior in two ways: less sturdy binding, and you have to wait a year or so to obtain it. This earns more for the publisher than releasing all versions at one time. This strategy is only used where there is a premium attached to immediate access, such as the most popular fiction and … [Read more...]
Orchestras and cost disease (Updated)
At The Clyde Fitch Report Duncan Webb has an interesting piece that looks into the future, and he sees chronic cost disease: I first read Baumol and Bowen’s The Economic Dilemma of the Performing Arts some 20 years ago, almost 30 years after it was first published in 1965. The theory was fairly straightforward: the problem in our sector is that because there are no productivity gains associated with the creation of the work (it takes the same time and energy to rehearse and perform a Brahm’s Requiem today as it did when first performed in … [Read more...]
Arts, policy, and the election (updated)
Barry's Blog has a post on the consequences of the election, anticipating Republican gains in the House and likely control of the Senate, calling the post 'What Tomorrow's Election Means for the Nonprofit Arts.' Good question! He writes: On the federal level, if the Democrats maintain control of the Senate, this election probably won't mean much for us at all. If, though, the Republicans capture the Senate, as is widely being predicted, then we are likely to once again face challenges to funding to the NEA and the NEH (and maybe PBS too), and … [Read more...]
What is dynamic pricing? A clarification (updated)
'Dynamic pricing on websites: illegal or unfair?', asks Éloïse Gratton on her blog. But the post confuses various pricing strategies, not all of which are 'dynamic pricing'. Dynamic pricing, also known as “adaptive pricing”, “dynamic pricing” or “discriminatory pricing” or first-degree price discrimination, is defined as a practice where organizations attempt to perfectly exploit the differences in price sensitivity between consumers. Dynamic pricing is an old practice that has been around forever: for example, if you go to a flea market, the … [Read more...]
Today in deaccessioning: casino edition
Today's case is from Germany, as reported by Artnet: Triple Elvis (1963) and Four Marlons (1966) hold a combined estimated value of €100 million ($128 million) and are being sold by the Westspiel casino conglomerate ... [T]he casino chain Westspiel is in fact a subsidiary of the State Bank of North Rhine-Westphalia. This prompted German culture minister Monika Grütters of the center-right CDU party to accuse North Rhine-Westphalia's center-left-led regional government of selling the artworks in order consolidate state debts. She … [Read more...]