Actually the title of this thread could just as easily be

Don't go to venues even if you can afford them if the prices are outrageously far above retail and not bargains.

So often these days value is seen in monetary terms. If it is good you should see a big price tag otherwise it is not worthy. This is simply a capitolistic ploy.

Ace hardware ran an add for years which showed a customer looking at one of their low prices and telling the clerk to let them pay more.

When we go to places that are ripping us off we keep the prices where they are and keep them going up.

Although we ourselves could afford them we must think of others who can not and that is an increasing number. Poor, unemployed, minimally employed and they have a right to music too and folk music is poorer without them.

As I have said before I respect the right of all in the food chain from the artist on down to the venue operator to a decent wage however, there are strategies that can be employed to limit price gauging and still make a decent wage.

One of the easiest strategies is to simply sit down with the venue management and see how costs can be re-structured. I am finding that people here seem to reject that however, if one looks at entrenched practices one can often find better ways which save money and make for a better experience for the customer.

Simply spreading the cost of a performer over many weeks is one. Adding additional performances by the same performer accommodating greater volume is another.

Just looking around a bit for more competitive suppliers of the same food and drink is another.

Going further into the food chain might find a beer provider who might cut some slack in order to obtain greater volume of sales.

If nothing can be found at least one has tried to make music more accessible to the masses.

Exclusivity is a tends to make participants feel good. They dont want the peasants to be able to attend, to eat and drink. They want to feel like they are special, a small community. I propose that this economic discrimination enabled in part by musicians who don't care and venue operators who are greedy is no different than racial discrimination and is a bad force. Perhaps now unable to practice racial discrimination we have turned to other outlets for our human tendencies to discriminate where possible.

So perhaps instead of going out and paying outrageous prices several hundred times retail cost for simple goods food and drink we should go get equally good food and drink from the liquor store and food market and stay at home with a few friends and a few cds or perhaps the wondrous music of the BBC play it again.

Certainly it is clear that musicians could do a bit more perhaps through their unions to put a bit of pressure on the food chain to limit profit taking to a minimum and to re-structure arrangements to maintain income while protecting the consumer from excessive pricing.

The same is true of festivals. Internet flash events demonstrate the ability of people to gather in great numbers without excessive infrastructure. Time place and date. Play music, bring your own food or get it from existing shops. Yes we Can!

Conrad