{"id":495,"date":"2013-03-18T18:31:38","date_gmt":"2013-03-19T01:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=495"},"modified":"2013-03-18T18:31:38","modified_gmt":"2013-03-19T01:31:38","slug":"voluntary-price-discrimination-is-not-a-new-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/03\/voluntary-price-discrimination-is-not-a-new-idea\/","title":{"rendered":"Voluntary price discrimination is not a new idea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/vm.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-496\" alt=\"looking for funding\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/vm.jpg\" width=\"275\" height=\"183\" \/><\/a>Alyssa Rosenberg on <a href=\"http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/alyssa\/2013\/03\/14\/1720321\/the-veronica-mars-movie-kickstarter-and-why-fans-need-to-start-thinking-of-themselves-as-investors\/\">crowdsourcing new movies<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>One thing that\u2019s striking about the <em>Veronica Mars<\/em> Kickstarter is that you have to give at least $35, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/news\/movie-ticket-prices-high-all-358247\">more than four times<\/a> the cost of the average American movie ticket in 2012, to get a digital download of the movie. You have to give $750 to get a ticket to the premiere of the film in Los Angeles.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>An Andrew Sullivan <a href=\"http:\/\/dish.andrewsullivan.com\/2013\/03\/18\/the-dish-model-ctd-12\/\">reader says<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>What I find particularly brilliant about the Rob Thomas\/<i>Veronica Mars<\/i>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/dish.andrewsullivan.com\/2013\/03\/15\/crowdsourcing-on-steroids-ctd\/\">Kickstarter project<\/a> is that the producers of a good have found a way to exploit certain consumers\u2019 higher willingness-to-pay for that good as a means of financing the good\u2019s production. \u00a0I\u2019m sure most of your readers have at least a vague recollection from Econ 101 of intersecting supply and demand curves, and the notion that customers towards the left of the demand curve were willing to pay more for that good than the market-clearing price.\u00a0 Until now, there hasn\u2019t really been a way to charge $50 a ticket, or $500 a ticket, to the people who really value the movie that much, while only $10 a ticket to the customer whose interest in the movie is only marginal.\u00a0 But then you dangle the carrot that the movie will only exist if the customers with high willingness-to-pay step up \u2026 and suddenly you\u2019ve found a way to tap into that enthusiasm.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Hmmm. If we could now turn to Professor Henry Hansmann, &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.law.yale.edu\/documents\/pdf\/hansmanntheroleofnonprofitenterprise.pdf\">The Role of Nonprofit Enterprise<\/a>&#8221; <em>Yale Law Journal<\/em>, 1980:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>At first impression, it is not obvious why the performing arts are typically the product of nonprofit institutions &#8230; [and] in fact depend on voluntary contributions for a substantial part of their operating budgets. &#8230; Why is it that the organizations do not simply raise their ticket prices rather than try to coax part of the cost of the performance out of the audience in the form of donations? &#8230; In this situation contributions are, in essence, a form of voluntary price discrimination, or, in other words, a means whereby different customers can be charged different prices for the same service. &#8230; It is worth a great deal to some people to be able to see a production by, for example, the Metropolitan Opera, while for others it is worth less &#8230; If everyone could be made to pay for a ticket roughly what it is worth to him, the total receipts for a production would be much higher than if the price is set at an amount that represents its worth to the member of the audience who values it least &#8211; which is the result with a single ticket price for everybody. &#8230; Individuals can, however, simply be asked to <em>volunteer<\/em> to pay an additional sum if the ticket price is lower than the value they place on the performance, and this is, in effect, what the nonprofit performing arts groups do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alyssa Rosenberg on crowdsourcing new movies: One thing that\u2019s striking about the Veronica Mars Kickstarter is that you have to give at least $35, more than four times the cost of the average American movie ticket in 2012, to get a digital download of the movie. You have to give $750 to get a ticket [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"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":"","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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-issues","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-7Z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2817,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2023\/02\/can-you-scale-the-house-at-the-movie-theatre\/","url_meta":{"origin":495,"position":0},"title":"Can you scale the house at the movie theatre?: Updated (no, you can&#8217;t)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 8, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"US cinema chain AMC has announced it will start to have differential prices for movie seating: Three pricing tiers will soon be offered. For example, the highest-end \u201cPreferred\u201d tier are in the middle of the theaters and will be priced at a \u201cslight premium\u201d compared to its \u201cStandard\u201d tier, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"At the movies","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":883,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/06\/event-planning\/","url_meta":{"origin":495,"position":1},"title":"Event planning","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"June 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"At the Freakonomics blog, thinking about how to generate revenues from creative goods when digital copies are so readily available: Products \u2013 especially digital ones \u2013 are often very easy to copy. But experiences can be highly copy-resistant.\u00a0 Just think of music: it\u2019s easy to pirate a song, but it\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Zombies!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/old-skool-3d-cinema-audience-300x187.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4633,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2026\/01\/concessions-prices-there-oughtta-be-a-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":495,"position":2},"title":"Concessions prices: there oughtta be a law?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"January 6, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"A reader, Kevin, asks if I had seen\u00a0this new report\u00a0by Brian Shearer at Vanderbilt University on legal remedies for high prices charged by different sorts of firms (airports, hospitals, car dealerships, etc) on \u201ccaptive\u201d consumers. I had not. I am no lawyer, and so I cannot speak to the various\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2824,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2023\/02\/what-does-chatgpt-know\/","url_meta":{"origin":495,"position":3},"title":"What does ChatGPT know?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 10, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In my last post I expressed skepticism that movie cinemas in the US could \"scale the house\" with much success (people were quick to tell me \"But in Europe, but in New York\", which is fair, but I'm talking the multiplex in Bloomington here). I mentioned in passing that cinemas\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/NorthridgeFashionCtr-GhostWorld-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/NorthridgeFashionCtr-GhostWorld-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/NorthridgeFashionCtr-GhostWorld-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/NorthridgeFashionCtr-GhostWorld-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/NorthridgeFashionCtr-GhostWorld-2.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/NorthridgeFashionCtr-GhostWorld-2.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3074,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2024\/09\/should-opera-companies-just-slash-their-ticket-prices\/","url_meta":{"origin":495,"position":4},"title":"Should opera companies just slash their ticket prices? Updated with responses to comments","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"September 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0Philadelphia Inquirer\u00a0reports that Opera Philadelphia is radically cutting their prices (the article is paywalled, but you get 6 months of the\u00a0Inquirer\u00a0for a buck, which is not a very high wall): In the first 48 hours after unveiling its new \u201cpick your price\u201d ticket program Tuesday morning, Opera Philadelphia sold 5,876\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":854,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/06\/the-enduring-mystery-of-scalpers\/","url_meta":{"origin":495,"position":5},"title":"The enduring mystery of scalpers","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"June 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I posted re scalpers a few weeks ago. The forthcoming New York Times magazine has a story on ticket resale. It is, well, unsatisfying. The problem at hand is this: if so much money is to be made through ticket resale, why have the artists or concert promoters not done\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"face in the crowd","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/tom-petty-300x298.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}