In 2012, a hipster's head finally explodes when he accidentally listens to Justin Bieber and enjoys it.

Every December all the media talking heads start putting out their lists of the bests and worsts of the last year.  I decided to try something different and look into the future.  Today is December 9th, 2011.  Let’s get to the soothsayin’ and see how right I am a year from now… Probably not very, but here we go…

1. Cannibal Corpse and Lou Reed featuring the Community Orchestra of Overland Park, Kansas – “Music To Do Surgery By”
After his amazing experience of singing karaoke poetry over generic Metallica tracks, Lou Reed decides he needs to go even heavier, but keep it classy with some strings.  The Community Orchestra of Overland Park, Kansas has no idea what they’re getting into.

2. Bruno Mars – “Fuck Y’all, My Name Is Bruno”
After his success writing the songs “Fuck You” for Cee-Lo and “Billionaire” for Travie McCoy, Bruno decides he’s tired of his clean guy image in his own work and releases the hit single from this album “Angry Breakup Sex”.

3. Cat Litter Deodorizer – Self Titled
Hot new indie rock band out of Missoula, Montana releases their debut album that features strummy-strummy guitars mixed with electronic beats and actual samples of kitty litter being walked on by the band members.

4. Bjorn-Dogg – “Swede Up In This Bitch”
Up and coming Swedish rapper releases an album of cover songs and mashups from famous American music stars including Snoop Dogg, TI, Jay-Z, and the Swedish Chef from the Muppets.

5. Iron and Wine – “Wha? Huh?”
The follow up to the 2011 album “Kiss Each Other Clean” features 13 minutes of snoring followed by the producer waking up Samuel Beam to record.

6. Bret Michaels – Get Your Rock On
Bret sets a world record by having 9 of the 10 songs on the album feature the word “rock” in the title.  Song number 10 is a heartfelt ballad about recovering from a brain hemorrhage called “How To Save A Career”.

7. Marilyn Manson – “Republican”
Marilyn, realizing that the public is no longer really scared of his shock rock theatrics, ups the ante of horror by appearing on the cover in a 3-piece suit.  Songs include “Health Care Coverage Is For Pussies” and “I Anally Raped The 99%”

8. Paris Hilton – “Did It By Myself”
Paris tries again with an album of songs written by other people, produced by other people, and all the vocals are done by her personal assistant, Kenny.  The tour features dancers carrying Paris from one side of the stage to the other while she sucks on a bottle of Grey Goose.

9. Amy Winhouse – “Some Crap We Dug Up”
Her label will continue to plunder the vaults for new material to release.  This album features a cover of the obscure Roberta Flack b-side titled “Can’t Nobody Love A Man Like My Man” and a 10 minute track of Amy alternately nodding out and vomiting.

10. will.i.am – “The Word”
Will continues to focus his writing style by making sure that the title of this album includes more words than any of the songs.  In interviews he repeatedly brags about writing all the lyrics for the album on a single post-it note.  The hit single “Duh” rockets to the top of the singles chart.

How about you?  What albums are you looking forward to next year?  Leave a comment below…

Phil Johnson
www.RoadsideAttraction.com

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The problem is I can’t accomplish much else while I’m driving.  I can at least keep my brain engaged with podcasts and audiobooks.  But there’s so much else to do.

Besides writing and performing comedy and music, I also do film music and voiceover when the opportunities come up.  I also write guitar education articles for a variety of websites.  And I teach private music lessons whenever I’m in my hometown.  Just the ancillary activities (booking, promoting, scheduling, advertising, fan generation and engagement, etc) that go along with all those things are a full time job.

But there’s so much left to accomplish…
- writing a book (or 3)
- acting in a feature film
- voicing a character in an animated film
- writing a song for a Disney movie
- finding new ways to help people learn music
- presenting the kind of live show I really want to do (I’m not there yet)
- doing a podcast
- creating new videos on a regular basis
- being able to draw 2000 people per night for live performances

… and a hundred other things that pop randomly into my head.

So next time you see me and it looks like I haven’t had enough sleep or I’m trying to plow through a mile long to-do list, now you know where I’m headed.

I am seriously considering a patronage system of some sort.  A program that would allow people access to everything I’ve ever created, or will create in the future, for one low price.  I’m letting the idea rattle around my brain until I hit on the way that feels right to do it.  More updates to come.

Wanna be helpful?  There is nothing… and I mean nothing… like word of mouth.  If you enjoy the stuff I create in whatever form, please send your friends over to my website at http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com so they can get turned onto it too. Thanks!

~Phil

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2. Roadside Attraction on Rock Band?

Pretty sure I’ll be back to being an audiobook guy again soon.  90% of the podcasts I’ve been listening to are headache inducing.  Now, keep in mind, I’m listening to those classified as “comedy”.  I put that in quotes, because I’m hard pressed to find the comedy in a lot of them.  And I’m not fishing around in the ether.  I went to iTunes and download a bunch of the top rated shows.

Picture this… A morning radio show with no budget.  Or maybe a bullshit session with your friends over a beer at your house, where everything is funny, but if you try to tell the story later it inevitably ends with “well I guess you had to be there.”  That’s most comedy podcasts.  And I was there listening, and it still wasn’t funny.

Good lord, one of them had 3 guys that constantly talked over each other.  Couldn’t understand what was going on half the time.

As any comedian will tell you, there’s a difference between telling a funny story and riffing with your friends in the living room, and actually creating professional comedy.  That’s why you constantly some poor schmuck whose friends told him he was hilarious at parties bombing on stage at any given open mic night.

But many of those same comedians are doing the same thing with their podcasts.  And some of these people, no kidding, I absolutely adore on stage.  Some of the funniest comedians I know.  And the podcast turns into, “Well, we’ve got an hour of talking to do.  Let’s just keep talking.”

One reason I’ve never done a podcast of my own is because I’m just not opinionated enough to fill an hour of jabber every week.  It takes me two years to write and hour of comedy and a year to write 4 or 5 songs.  That’s because I throw away A LOT of material before it gets near a stage.  I wouldn’t be any less picky with a podcast.  But I don’t think one podcast a year would be a big hit.

And now there’s the phenomenon of live podcasts done at venues.  Essentially people paying to see a few people sit around and shoot the shit for an hour.  On other words, these comedians have taken what used to happen backstage before and after the show and actually make money with it.

I’ll admit, they are good at developing their communities.  Catch phrases galore and plenty of inside jokes and self-referential stories.  People get hooked on that and don’t realize that there really isn’t much of substance happening.

Strangely enough, the two comedy podcasts I’ve found that I actually like so far, have very little comedy in them.  but they don’t attempt to.  Marc Maron’s WTF podcast has amazing interviews with a variety of comics.  For me, as a comedian, it’s invaluable to hear interviews like this.  He gets deep into their careers and psyche to see how they came to be where they are.  Fascinating, and rarely a laugh.

I’m also enjoying Adam Corolla’s podcast.  Also not funny, though they often try.  Corolla has created his niche as they guy that can expound upon just about any subject for a few minutes and sound like he knows what he’s talking about.  Even if he doesn’t.  He’s the Cliff Claven on broadcasters.  It’s what everyone else is trying to do and not achieving.

So they’re not all bad.  But a lot of them are.  And these are people that are making at least part of their living doing this.  So my lesson learned is that just like the music charts, sifting off the top is a shallow experience with not much quality.

Next I’ll be getting out of the comedy listings to see what else if out there and hope for something useful.  Not giving up yet, but boy those audio books are looking good again…

Phil Johnson
http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com

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Like he says, “free” isn’t new and isn’t going away.  But the distance between those who get things for free and those that pay for them is getting further apart.  Of course, anyone who deals in intellectual property has concerns about that.  But even those who develop physical products will be concerned soon as 3D printers start to make their way further into reality.

I guess it’s fortunate that we haven’t really been able to digitize human contact yet.  It’s still more enjoyable to actually go to a live show than watch it on YouTube.  But we are having to make sure that the whole process is streamlined (parking, food, ticketing) and still within an appropriate price range (which many shows aren’t).  In other words, it has to be easier, not necessarily cheaper, to leave the house and enjoy something physical.

Phil Johnson
http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com

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Anyway, LWL’s new album is called “Holy Shit” and the cover looks leather bound like a bible.  I think it’s funny.  And as the band says on their tumblr blog, “The content of our artwork for our new recording was created out of our passion for satire and absurdist humor. The lyrical and musical content of this record does not contain any commentary on religion, nor does it use a pejorative or malicious voice against any particular group of people (excluding possibly some of our ex-girlfriends).”

And so James Moore, the Minister of Canadian Heritage got all uppity about the title saying it was an attack on Christians.  Now, I don’t know if Mr. Moore is a Christian himself.  But since he’s a conservative white politician, I’m going to go out on a ledge and say he’s probably not Muslim.  The band was classy enough to give back the $13,000 they’d received to make the album.

The more I travel around the country singing songs and telling jokes, the more I find that skewering Christianity is the one thing that can most get a performer in trouble.  And notice I say Christianity and not religion in general.  There’s a long history of Jewish jokes (enjoyed by Jews) and certainly doing jokes about Muslims goes over just fine with a conservative audience.  But anything more than “Gee, how did Noah get all those animals in the ark?” will get stony stares from a lot of audiences.  Even a more mainstream, liberal audience will get uncomfortable with it.

Because why?  We’re allowed to take the piss out of politicians.  Hell, we’re LEGALLY allowed to do that. Ethnic material in a variety of forms goes down fine, both by performers of that ethnicity and not.  Misogynistic humor is still alive and well with lots of comics calling women “bitches” on a regular basis.

Each audience in each town is a little different.  And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with any of the humor I talked about above.  Comedy is about exploring the boundaries to find out what we really think about things.  What I disagree with is the Christian right and their followers believing they should be above ridicule in even the slightest sense.  Sure, we’re legally allowed to do it.  That’s freedom of speech.  But the fact they get offended by such things is evidence of the closed-minded, top-down, cult-like status it’s reached in North America.

One of the things I most value in my life and others is self-awareness.  Being able to look at both sides.  Being able to see the flaws in your own beliefs.  Not changing those beliefs necessarily, but just being open minded enough to see other points of view.  And James Moore, obviously is not that type of person.

I wish I had $13,000 to blow.  I’d give LWL their money back.

Phil Johnson
www.RoadsideAttraction.com

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And there’s plenty for people both inside and outside the music industry to dislike about NARAS.  But in light of last night’s Grammys and the collective response of “Who?” to some of the winners… I thought I’d bring up the idea of what the goal of the Grammys is.

Should the Grammys cater to the tastes of the mainstream public (of which there isn’t one anymore) or should they vote for who they think are the most talented artists.  Yes, I know there’s plenty of politics played just like any other closed organization.  But let’s say, for the sake of argument, that the voting is all done fairly.

Personally, I think other awards shows like the American Music Awards (which is based on sales numbers) are for the public’s taste.  The Grammy’s however are the industry folks voting for their own.  Would you complain to the National Plumber’s Association because you didn’t know the guy that got plumber of the year?

This is going to be an ongoing problem.  Thanks to the internet and the availability of zillions of songs by billions of artists, the audience is fractured to the point where we won’t have big stars that everyone likes anymore.  Mumford and Sons has already sold over a million records from what I hear.  And most people have never heard of them.  Esperanza Spalding topped the Billboard Jazz charts for 70 weeks.  I first heard about Arcade Fire probably six years ago.

The public still thinks there’s a mainstream and that they’re it.  Now they’re learning that there’s plenty of successful artists out there that you don’t hear on the radio or the Muzak system in the dentist’s office.  We’ll have to deal with this for a couple more years yet.  Hopefully, eventually, they’ll adapt to the idea that maybe the music industry insiders are aware of more artists than they are.

I’m glad as can be that Esperanza Spalding got best new artist and not Justin Bieber.  Despite what hordes of 12 year old girls say.  I didn’t know who she was either.  But a little reading and you’ll find out she was a prodigy on the upright bass at age 15 and in 2008 had one of the fastest selling jazz albums ever.  And a little listening told be she’s really good too.  Maybe all those 12 year old girls should look at her as a role model instead of the enemy of their “boyfriend” Bieber.

And honestly, I wanted Justin Bieber to wow me with his performance.  I wanted to believe the kid has a future as big as his balls.  But I don’t see it.  You can’t build a career by mimicking dance moves you’ve seen in videos and singing to your own voice as a guide track.  It looked like he one a contest to become a rock star for a day.  The fact that lyrics as insipid as “Baby baby baby ooh” gave him a hit song really makes me wretch.

So good for NARAS for looking past celebrity and picking a new artist that might have some staying power.

And the Arcade Fire?  I’m not a fan, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t win.  And looking at the nominees, I think I’d agree anyway.  Maybe Eminem should have won.  Recovery is a good album.  Not sure about Lady Antebellum.  Anyone heard a song besides “Need You Now?”

They’re really two different entities.  I’ve heard “Need You Now” a zillion times and never once did I listen to it purposefully.  It was just there somewhere in the daily musical noise of a thousand stores.  Whereas Arcade Fire dug up from the underground to be a success on their own terms instead of the Nashville hit machine.

I’ll admit, I almost always root for the underdog.

What I really saw last night was music as an art coming back from music as a business.  The big production numbers with people singing to tracks seemed lackluster compared to having real instruments on stage.  Of in the case of Cee-Lo, puppet instruments.

By the way, it thrills me to no end that a song called “Fuck You” was nominated for song of the year.  Even if they did change the title.  In recent years that would have been passed over in a second.

I saw Bruno Mars perform well and then wail like the dickens on those drums behind Janelle Monet.  Seems to know what he’s doing, so I’m going to check him out further.

Where I didn’t see the music going was “forward”.  I saw a lot of backward.  There’s till no answer to what the next really huge wave will be in music.  Maybe there won’t be one.  Maybe we’ve taken popular music as far as it can go.  But somehow I don’t believe that.  Somebody is going to do something groundbreaking.  It just hasn’t happened since rap was born in the 80′s.

Oh, and I hope Madonna sues the crap out of Lady Gaga for ripping of “Express Yourself” in such a blatant manner.  And the saying she was picturing Whitney Houston singing it?  She is on drugs.

Anyway, what’s your thoughts?  Should the Grammy’s reflect the tastes of the public or vote for who they think is best?  Comment below…

Phil Johnson
Winner of numerous Imaginary Awards
http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com

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Anyway, I’m reading about how Motley Crue came together and got their start.  Got me thinking about how my own band started.  As with anything like this it was pretty low key.  But people ask about it periodically, so here’s the story…

I was going to a community college after high school in 1991 or 92.  I had talked about having a band all through high school and never got around to it.  I was on the outs with my girlfriend at the time and she was dating this guy named Brandon May.  He was a bass player looking to form a band.  She mentioned me and introduced us.

I didn’t really care what kind of band it was, so long as it was a band.  So Brandon came over to my house and sat down in our little music room.  I sat on the piano bench and said, “So… What kind of band are we?”  He said, “What do you mean?”

I said, “This kind?”, and played a sort of Motley Crue style riff.  “Or this kind?”, and played a more thrash metal, Metallica style thing.  He thought for a second and said, “Uh, the first one.”  And that’s how we decided on our sound.  Had we decided the other direction, things may have been considerably different along the way.

It’s funny to me now that those were the only two choices in my head.  It’s kind of like saying “Are we country or western?”

And that was the beginning.  We brought in Brad Springer to play 2nd guitar, Bill McCord to sing, and a guy named Avery to play drums, and a band was born.

Oh, and the name?  Our original name was “Confused?”  Yep, with the question mark.  When we found out about another band using the same name we went through some others… Confused Beyond Belief, Brimstone, and some other dopey ones, before landing on Roadside Attraction.  And of course I’ve stuck with that through five bass players, four or five singers, eight drummers, and a couple other guitarists.

My favorite memory of the early days?  We used to rehearse on Sundays in my mom’s daycare room.  The local Weinerschnitzel had 25 cent mustard dogs and Sundays and we’d order 30 of them for lunch.  The look on their face was always priceless.  Another time on another Sunday rehearsal, I hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night before.  We were playing a ballad and I fell asleep during the song, and kept playing!  I woke up just in time for my solo and didn’t miss a note. 

Oh, and here’s what the current version of the group sounds like…

Phil Johnson
http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com

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But as I also mentioned, entertainment is a lagging indicator of the economy.  And, of course, the exorbitant ticket prices don’t do any good either.  I would love to go see BB King this summer, but don’t have the extra$80 plus service charges to dole out for it.  $20 and I’d be there in a heartbeat.

I think the lag in ticket prices is overdue.  But at the same time, some of these tours with pyro and dancers and all that are really expensive to produce.  Maybe it’s a matter of looking back and seeing what happened in the big band era.  When it got too expensive to bring 18-20 musicians on the road, small combos became the thing.  That kept things manageable.

And the comedy industry is no different.  $20/ticket plus a two drink minimum adds up for a night at a club.

So where can the artists make their money?  Ideas like sponsorships (more ads, ack) and licensing are always talked about.  A new one that’s popping up a lot lately is the idea of a membership site.

A good example is Metallica’s club. Basically, for a yearly fee you live recordings, fan club merch, contests, advance tickets, maybe some private show stuff.

I like Metallica a lot.  I mean really a lot.  But how many live versions of Seek and Destroy do I need?  Though the opportunity for hanging out with the band and such is cool, I’m not a member.  But I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that I’m probably too preoccupied with my own artistic career to be a megafan.  I don’t think I’m the norm.

I can’t think of any music artists that I might pay to be in their club.  I am a member of D23, Disney’s club though.  The difference?  It’s not my industry and it’s stuff I can’t do myself.  And for some reason I’m more excited about meeting Dave Smith (head of the Disney Archives) than James Hetfield at this point in my life.

So here’s my question for you.  Because I am considering doing a membership club of my own here at some point.
- Are there any artists you like enough to join their membership site?
- What would they have to offer you that would make it worthwhile to spend $20-$40 a year?

Leave your comments below…

Phil Johnson
http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com

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In case you haven’t heard yet, Prince is taking even more steps than usual to keep his music off the internet.
Here’s the short version: http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/prince-the-internet-is-over_1151352
And the original interview: http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2010/07/05/prince-world-exclusive-interview-peter-willis-goes-inside-the-star-s-secret-world-115875-22382552/

Prince has one of the most devoted fan bases in the music industry and yet he pushes them away regularly these days.  Not only is he not on iTunes or any other download sites.  Geez, even the Beatles caved finally.  Prince doesn’t even have an official website of his own.  And he’s doing everything he can to shut down fan sites that use pictures of him.

According to one of the quotes, he seems to think that the net is like MTv and will be a fad that passes.  Wrong on two accounts.  MTv was a fad because it didn’t keep up either.  Had it kept being on the forefront of music and made an effective transfer to doing it in the virtual realm, they would still be a valid communication channel.  Second, the net is much more like a record store.  And Prince is essentially trying to keep his music out of the record store.

Hmm, that sounds like bad business to me.

As much as artists get jacked on the net with trading and all, I’d rather have somebody talking about my art than nobody.  And not in the way Prince is getting press now.  He may not look his age (52), but he is acting like an out of touch old man.

His new CD 20Ten is coming out as a freebie in the The Mirror in the UK.  Coupling a dying format with a dying medium.  That’s not thinking ahead.  And his reason for giving it away in the paper?  From this article in the Mirror: He says: “It’s great to give away my music through your ­newspaper. God is a generous and loving being. It is written that we should act like God. There are enough opportunities.”

That’s nice…. really.  But I’m sure he also got a big payday from the paper like last time.  AND, if giving it away is what God wants, why not do it on the net where it can reach an even larger audience? Because internet companies don’t give advances, that’s why.

With all that said, I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of his new album.  I have hope upon hope that it will be better than his last few.  His last 10 years just haven’t been up to snuff.  And that hurts the cred too, no matter how famous you are.  An album is a snapshot of where the artist is right now.  And Prince has sounded like he’s been in his sheltered world a little too long.  And don’t get me started on the religion thing.

Prince is an old school rock star.  Set in his ways, just like anyone else at that age.  The public image of a rock star is considerably different now.  Still part mystery and part public, but the proportions have to be all different now.  Too much mystery and people stop caring.  Can he turn it around?  Who knows?  Maybe someone should slip a new chapter into his bible.

BUT… Then I see this article from Business Week: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_28/b4186037467816.htm Could Prince be right?  Not only are CD sales not growing, but now downloads are taking a hit too.  As are ringtones.  But did anyone really think that would be a lasting market?

Why are downloads down?  Two reasons.  New streaming services are making it easier to not collect music, but just save the links in a library.  Even I’m a member of MOG and it’s a great service.  I find lots of new stuff and love to experiment with new music on there.  Especially since sites like this are starting to have phone apps, you’ll be able to listen anywhere you want soon.

But also, entertainment is a lagging indicator of a down economy.  It’s one of the last things people reduce their spending on.  And I’ve seen it at live shows as well.  Smaller crowds, fewer merchandise sales.  So people are not buying downloads as much. I’m willing to bet that actual consumption isn’t down.

What to make of it all?  Who knows… The internet sure isn’t going anywhere.  Though it’s a constantly changing beast as always.  Live entertainment isn’t going anywhere.  I don’t care how good the webcast is, it’s not the same as being there.  But there’s no shortage of recordings.  And in the world of supply and demand, that makes music a commodity.  So there’s got to be something else there…

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It’s tough to get people off the couch and out of the house for a variety of reasons.  They have to get dressed.  They have to drive.  They have to find parking.  They have to walk.  They have to wait in lines.  They have to pay for food or drink.  And if you think some of those are ridiculous reasons (like dressing and walking), I assure you, they all go into the thought process.  It’s easier to sit on the couch and watch something on a tiny screen.  Of course, nobody stays home all the time, but many people do come close.

As performers, producers, and other industry types, we’re always trying to get regular people to leave the house.  Why?  Two reasons.  For an artist, there is nothing better than live performance.  There’s electricity when a large group of people get together that’s better than any drug.  The other reason?  Money.  With the rapid commoditization of media, we simply don’t make as much as we used to on selling music and movies.  So live performance is our bread and butter that pays the bills and keeps the significant others from throwing us out.

Let’s look at the prices for different entertainment mediums based on a once a month use.

Club Concert $5-10
Netflix $9
Movie Theater $11
Comedy Club $10-25
Internet Access $20-30
Cable TV $30-50
Major Concert $30-100
Live Theater $36-180

Keep in mind, these don’t take into account food, drink, or parking costs.  I’m a super cheapo when I go out, so it can be done for these prices.

Anyway, you can see that with the exception of major concerts and theater, live entertainment where you go out and be with other people is a good deal.  You can see a hot band for $5?  Yep, and regularly.

Ah, but who gets Netflix and only uses it once?  Or cable?  Or internet?  And that’s where they’ve got us.  Let’s see what these break down to if you used each one daily for a month.  Cost per day.

Netflix – $.30
Internet Access – $.66-1.00
Cable TV – $1.00-1.66
Club Concert $5-10
Comedy Club – $10-25
Major Concert – $30-100
Live Theater – $36-180

And therein lies the rub.  The subscription services spread their cost out over a month, while the live entertainment venues are a one shot deal.  Want to go again?  Pay again.  Your local comedy and music shows are still a good deal (and oftentimes better than a bigger show), but to see the names you’re going to have to shell out the bucks.  A single ticket I just bought for a live theater event costs more than 7 months of Netflix.

Now first off, why do people go out?  Because live entertainment is more exciting.  Do you laugh more at a half hour special on Comedy Central by yourself, or at a live comedy show with 200 other people.  The latter by far.  Experiencing the art live, with other people, and with the artist just feet from you is worth a boost in price.  Plus live shows are simply more expensive to produce and can’t be reproduced without more labor costs.

But is it worth that huge a boost?  Keep in mind, my own shows fall strictly into the middle realm here.  Between $5 and $20 a show.  If I were the Rolling Stones, I might have a different viewpoint.   And getting those high end shows to come down in price is happening slowly, but will never be the old “$2 to see BB King” like in the old posters.

But why aren’t smaller venues doing a subscription service?  For a certain price you can get into as many shows as they want?  More repeat traffic means more food and drink sales.  Regular price tix can still be sold to non-subscribers.  Sports teams and amusement parks do season tickets.  And countless sales programs work on a continuity basis.  Why don’t entertainment venues?

Clubs are in the business of selling food and drinks.  A well known fact.  So, if that’s the case, they should get the heck out of the ticket business!  Theater companies have it a little tougher.  They’re not going to make budget by selling Snickers at intermission.  You’re there for the show or you’re not there.  I don’t have a good solution for them yet.  If I did, I’d be a paid consultant.   But even they have season ticket plans.

Would you go out more if you could walk into the venue for any show and just flash them your VIP pass?  For maybe $20-30 a month?  Maybe $50 for a high end comedy club?  That’s less than your cell phone bill and you could have high quality entertainment any night you want.

Artists can’t do this.  We’re not in one town often enough to make a subscription plan worthwhile.  It’s got to be the venues that do it.

What do you think?  Would you go out more if you had a subscription plan for a certain venue?

Phil Johnson
http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com

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