DC legends Dismemberment Plan are reuniting for one night only next month for a benefit concert. All proceeds go to the cause. It sold out in seconds. Great, right? Sure, but only in a "I gave ten cents to a homeless guy, don't blame me" kind of way.
Yes, I am about to attack the band and the venue for putting on a benefit show. Because that's how completely and thoroughly they have fucked this process up.
The bottom line is that their well-intended benefit has left tens of thousands of dollars on the table, for no conceivable good reason. $15 is just way, way too low a price for that show. Astronomically low. If the band holds any consumer-friendly sentiments about pricing tickets, I should damn well hope they are secondary to the cause at hand. I mean, they didn't think nobody would want to see them, did they? Earth to D-Plan: it's only Travistan that sucked! The rest was pretty goddamn popular.
First, you have to think that a single-night reunion of a band of their stature, in a venue of that size, has to be priced as a luxury as compared to a normal show. In their heyday, they'd probably be a $15-20 ticket, so let's bump that up to $30. Big ticket, but still not out of whack under the above conditions.
Now consider that it's a charity show, and you can hit up buyers for another $10-15. Hell, I don't even like them all that much, and I would gladly have paid $40 to see this show. What would someone who actually enjoys their music pay?!?
Finally, a smart person would have noted that hipsters from every city or college campus within 500 miles was a potential customer; as such, the price could be elevated yet again. I'd think $50 would be the bare minimum for a ticket to that thing. Not $15.
And yet $15 it was. No econ majors at the Black Cat, apparently.
Why is that such a Travisty? Because fans from here on out will be paying $50 prices anyway, thanks to the scalper fucks who bought 50 tickets a pop on Ticketmaster. That's right... they weren't keeping people from buying tickets to a tiny venue in 50-ticket quantities. Who are the ad wizards who thought that was a good idea?!? However much money the band and venue raised for SMA, they easily left twice that amount on the table. Fans are still paying ridiculous prices, and that cash will go straight to scalpers. Bra-fucking-vo.
It just kills me when stupidity causes harm to something genuinely good. I mean, great idea and all, and it's not like you're doing nothing, but this is a capital-m Mess.
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