[Dixielandjazz] Squirell Nut Zippers and Other High Priced?Headliners

[Robert S. Ringwald]

Steve,

You have some very good ideas here.  We, some of us have been thinking along
the same lines.

We have a very large festival going on here.  By some of us taking control
of the Board of Directors, we have turned things around.  Unlike last year,
this year we have paid all the bills, have enough money in the bank to
finish out the year & have a little seed money to start up next year.  Given
the condition that we were in last year, this has been a monumental
accomplishment.

More changes are in the works.  But we can't do it all at once.  It takes
time.

Let me be sure to say that these comments by me are strictly from me.  Even
though I am on the Board of Directors of the Sacramento Traditional Jazz
Society, sponsor of the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, I am not speaking for the
STJS, or for any of its members.

Your message below, along with Tom's comments have been forwarded to the
Board of Directors for thought.

--Bob Ringwald
  Placerville, CA USA



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve barbone" <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: "DJML" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 1:24 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Squirell Nut Zippers and Other High
Priced?Headliners


> Sacramento presents a huge festival.
>
> Generates lots of money, but gives jazz away by pricing TOO LOW.
>
> So it can't hire REAL HEADLINERS.
>
> What to do?
>
> Relatively simple answer is to change or modify the format. For example.
> Pick one or all, or a combination. Or think of some more on your own.
>
> 1) Raise the attendee price. Sold 50,000 passes in 04? Add a dollar per,
for
> 05 and you get an additional 50 grand, to be used for a Headliner(s).
>
> 2) Price the HEADLINER programs individually at each venue.
>
> 3) Have other special, venues that are extra priced.
>
> 4) OR?  For goodness sake, think & market creatively.
>
> Want Squirrel Nut? Or Preservation Hall, or Wynton Marsalis? Easy as pie.
> Put them in a special venue. Set up a charge for that venue.
>
> Have a 2 hour SNZ performance, priced at $10. Expect 500? That will bring
> you $5000 extra, just for them. Use different marketing ideas, Can they
draw
> 1000 at $10? Or 500 @ $20? Either will bring you $10,000.
>
> Preservation Hall? Same deal.
>
> Marsalis may draw even more. Might fill up your local concert hall @ $50 a
> pop. Etc. He does that here, now, in Philly and Wilmington. Hire Herbie
> Hancock to play with the Sacramento Symphony, etc., etc. etc and charge
$50
> a pop. Why not? Others do it quite successfully.
>
> Run the numbers, promote it as an "Extra". And MARKET it
>
> Another solution is to fire the worst 10 bands there, and hire Squirrel
Nut,
> or a similar Headliner in their place. Yeah it will piss off the garage
> bands, but then, that's what survival of the fittest is all about. Make
the
> Jubilee a festival of GREAT BANDS, not just one with a lot of bands.
>
> Bottom line, stop thinking up reasons why it can't be done. To any of us
who
> survived and/or prospered in the business world, that is just so much BS.
> Most of us spent our lives doing what others said can't be done, and we
> fired the nay sayers relatively early in our careers. They are a drag both
> emotionally and profit-wise.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>
>
>
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