It is revealing that overall revenues for concerts tickets and movie theaters are down, and a full 20 percent of movie-goers say they “dislike very much” pre-movie advertising (according to a 2004 survey by InsightExpress, a market research firm). Perhaps we are approaching a tipping point, a point beyond which the appeal of certain cultural experiences will not recover - or new alternatives will find a footing. Ah, but can the next Bob Dylan make such choices? And would they want to after Dylan himself has shilled for Victoria’s Secret?)ĭrip by drip, the barrage of ads and promos is making the concert-going and movie-going experience increasingly distasteful - even as ticket prices rise. (Kudos to Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Tom Petty, and Eminem, who are among the few big-name acts to refuse any corporate sponsorships. The Lexus sponsorship for Paul McCartney’s tour didn’t seem to have much effect on the $250 ticket price. But since when have promoters ever given fans a break? They’re in the business of charging what the market will bear. Theater owners and promoters typically defend the relentless commercial add-ons by saying that ticket prices would only be higher without such sponsorships. What a concept: getting consumers to pay to experience advertising! The Broadway play Spamalot has even gone so far as to mention a major Internet website and a brand-name tequila as part of the stage dialogue. We are handed flyers promoting upcoming concerts as we leave. Venues are usually named after a fast food chain or other mega-corporation. We get corporate logos on concert tickets and big-screen promos at amphitheaters. Performers wear logo-strewn clothes and accessories. Rock tours are named for corporate sponsors. Result: We get a dozen ads before movies in theaters. Hence the irresistible pressure to squeeze every last nickel out of the “cultural product.” Any available creative or social space must be “monetized” (and tell the artists and aesthetes to get lost). As the market reach and ambitions of Big Media grow, so do the overhead costs, production expenses and celebrity fees. But it’s fast becoming a structural economic imperative and an inexorable fact. No one really likes the hyper-commercialism of Big Media. This thought is prompted by an excellent article in the Denver Mountain News that surveys the growing commercial barrage at concerts, movies and plays (July 9, 2005, reported by Erika Gonzalez and Mark Brown). ![]() What is less apparent is how media concentration is fueling a self-reinforcing spiral of commercialism. ![]() ![]() It’s easy to see how media concentration limits the diversity of programming.
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