- Joined
- Nov 8, 2000
- Messages
- 901
Quoth Pete:
"there's a thing now - would anyone be interested if i tried to get an interview with an MCD rep, to get their side of the ticket price story?
i'm sure they'd be happy to clear it all up for once and for all....."
I doubt it. They'll most likely say that they charge the lowest prices they can, and that it's all the artists fault for asking for big advances, and that english venues hold loads more people than Irish ones and so on and on.
And if you disagree with them, then you're proabably just the sort of luddite who wanyts to keep music lo-fi and in the bedsit.
That's more or less what they've said before when questioned.
The "Ireland is over the water - therefore more expensive to play" argument doesn't really wash. Not only are gigs outside Dublin much cheaper, but also gigs across Europe are cheaper. And Europe is across even more water. And not every band comes from the UK to begin with anyway. Maybe it's a *little* more expensive to bring aband here, but not 40% more, surely?
IMHO, the reason gigs are very expensive in Dublin is because there's no real competition. And there won't be so long as MCD continues to buy up all available gig space in the city and refuse to allow any other promoters to use those venues. (I guess this is the similarity between free-market enterprise and state sponsored monoploies that Anne O'Malley was on about).
I doubt if they care whether anyone goes to see Spooks (who?) or Reel Big Fish (double who?) - they'll have made enough from Slane and Witnness to cover those costs ten times over. But they will now have both those bands on the books, and when they come back in 12 months time, with the number one album and so on, they'll say, "We want to deal with MCD, they gave us crisps backstage even when no punters turned up at our gig" (otherwise known as The Mogwai Syndrome).
I'm not sure what to do about all this. Maybe some Thumped people should form a Lotto syndicate and use the inevitable megabuck profits to buy their own venue?
"there's a thing now - would anyone be interested if i tried to get an interview with an MCD rep, to get their side of the ticket price story?
i'm sure they'd be happy to clear it all up for once and for all....."
I doubt it. They'll most likely say that they charge the lowest prices they can, and that it's all the artists fault for asking for big advances, and that english venues hold loads more people than Irish ones and so on and on.
And if you disagree with them, then you're proabably just the sort of luddite who wanyts to keep music lo-fi and in the bedsit.
That's more or less what they've said before when questioned.
The "Ireland is over the water - therefore more expensive to play" argument doesn't really wash. Not only are gigs outside Dublin much cheaper, but also gigs across Europe are cheaper. And Europe is across even more water. And not every band comes from the UK to begin with anyway. Maybe it's a *little* more expensive to bring aband here, but not 40% more, surely?
IMHO, the reason gigs are very expensive in Dublin is because there's no real competition. And there won't be so long as MCD continues to buy up all available gig space in the city and refuse to allow any other promoters to use those venues. (I guess this is the similarity between free-market enterprise and state sponsored monoploies that Anne O'Malley was on about).
I doubt if they care whether anyone goes to see Spooks (who?) or Reel Big Fish (double who?) - they'll have made enough from Slane and Witnness to cover those costs ten times over. But they will now have both those bands on the books, and when they come back in 12 months time, with the number one album and so on, they'll say, "We want to deal with MCD, they gave us crisps backstage even when no punters turned up at our gig" (otherwise known as The Mogwai Syndrome).
I'm not sure what to do about all this. Maybe some Thumped people should form a Lotto syndicate and use the inevitable megabuck profits to buy their own venue?
