How Much Is A Good Show?

John McLaughlin is one of the musicians that I try to see anytime he is close to my area. I have tickets to see him on December 1st.
$75 - one seat.
The Stones cost more, so does the Who. But why?

Forget overhead, etcetera. Name acts are raking in huge amounts of money touring. Why do you think they continue to endure the road in the first place?
Todays business model means most CD are not sold, but rather stolen via downloading. The band has to release the CD to keep the fan base happy...and to ensure that they attend the concert dates - because that is where the money is being made nowadays.
It used to be the record contracts were based on album sales. Now they are based on attendance figures.
This is the "paradigm shift" the industry has adopted to retain profitability in the face of rampant downloading.

There is another world entirely composed of middle acts - bands costing $5 to $30 per seat. Tremendous entertainment value for the money.
Ari Hest
Amy Kuney
James Maddock
Rosi Golan
Rich Pagano
Beppe Gambetta
Dick Dale
Janiva Magness
Ingrid Michaelson
Holly Cole
Bruce Cockburn
Oli Rockberger
And on and on.

$8 shows?! $15 seats? Unheard of? No...just not advertised. None of these offerings (with one or two exceptions) are ClearChannel material, yet.
The new form of word of mouth, social networking, has become their ally.
In my youth word of mouth was how we learned of new bands. A friend would say, "Have you heard these guys called..." and off it went.

The last three shows I've seen were increasingly packed with wide ranging audience demographics.
Innovations such as FaceBook or Twitter aid this incredibly. To be able to instantaneously invite your friends and acquaintances easily adds sales to these events.
An artist has but to click the "Invite" button and he can reach out and touch up to 5,000 people - or as a "Figure" an unlimited number of people that have chosen to "Like" the person or band.

NPR affiliates are the only radio stations I am aware of that will play these types of acts.  The rest of the radio landscape is pretty barren. That limits publicity greatly. Geography too, plays a huge part in the exposure doled out - NY artists get regional airplay on WFUV. It's rare to hear them on stations west of the Mississippi such as KCRW. But through social networking and Internet Radio these limitations are being overcome as well.

My point? Look for the cheap seats.
Find the inexpensive show and experience something possibly new and fresh four times a week, instead of once a month for a big name that you've known for forty years.
Of course that's not to say, don't see Dave Mason when he comes to town, just find time for new things.