#are a big deal

[phoenixyfriend]

Ko-Fi prompt from KemiKitty:

id enjoy hearing about concerts and ticket money if you want

Referencing my “how does this make money/how does this lose money” in this post.

Whoo! I actually really enjoy talking about money flow like this. Digging into examples like this helps with understanding the interconnectedness of the economic systems we inhabit, and with why things cost What They Do.

Disclaimer: I have not worked in this industry. I just majored in business, watch a lot of documentaries/video essays, and like to break down business and economic topics. When I got to performances, I try to figure these things out as an observer (dinner theater from watching Lindsey Sterling before she got super famous, more Traditional concerts at Staller Performing Arts center, Broadway shows) and asking questions of tour guides when at places like the Vienna Opera House.

Our Example: A moderately popular performer, in an enclosed performance space with a stage, fixed seating, and food service.

Let us consider a performer of middling popularity. They go on tours, but only in the lower 48 states, not yet internationally. They do single nights at an independent venue, which has either dinner tables or rows of audience seating. Let's say... 350 seats, in a middle-sized city, with $30/ticket on average, with wiggle room depending on seating, VIP passes, and discounts (groupons, senior, military, annual passes, etc).

So, who is getting paid, and who is paying?

Money coming into the venue, tied directly to this one event:

Tickets The people who came to this concert are paying for the tickets. 350 seats, at an average of $30/ticket, that's about $10,500. Most of this money does not go to the venue, but may pass through it, or leave a cut with it. (Depends on the ticketing software; we're saying this is an independent venue, not part of the ticketmaster situation, so it's a maybe.)

Food and drink The venue sells snacks, possibly full meals, if it's a dinner-and-show location. It may sell alcohol. It almost definitely sells drinks, maybe has vending machines if nothing else. If attendees cannot bring their own food and drink, and don't want to leave the building so they don't miss the show, then the venue can mark up the food they sell.

Merchandise Dependent on the type of merch and the venue, this may be a flat fee, where the performer puts down a few hundred dollars up front to set up a table for after the concert, or it might be taking a small cut of whatever is sold that night. They might not charge anything, but we'll include it as a likely avenue of income. I can see some kinder venues waiving the fee for newer, up-and-coming artists, but generally you can assume that the venue will take a cut.

Money flowing out of the venue, tied directly to this one event:

The Performer and their team The ticket costs will go primarily to the performer, their backup dancers/singers/band, their manager, and whatever fund they have for things other than wages, like a tour bus rental fee, the label, the driver, the night's post-concert laundry costs, and so on. The chances of all that money going to a single performer is very low; you can generally assume they have backup, management, additional costs, and someone pulling the strings. There are exceptions, like unaffiliated stand-up comedians or other, genuinely solo acts, but for the type of event I'm outlining, these are all contributing factors. Performers may bring their own lighting/sound techs. The venue also might provide their own. For a larger venue, I'd assume both are involved; one who knows the concert's program, and one who knows the venue's setup.

Venue staff The ushers, lighting/sound technicians, the bar staff, the cook, the janitor, security, and anyone else who is working night-of is getting paid. We can equate their pay to the money coming in from specifically the food and drink sales, along with tips for the waitstaff in particular. By this, I mean that the correlation is such that, should sales fall, the corresponding cut in costs is employee labor (the bar staff and cooks), rather than the performers (whose costs are calculated in relation to the money they bring in relating to the ticket sales).

Food and Drink Raw ingredients for the food, wholesale costs for the liquor, napkins, single-use straws, and so on.

Printed Programs Someone has to print the little booklet that tells you who's performing tonight, who's performing for the next few months, and anything else you need to know. If it's a big-name cultural center, they may even include some interviews! But ink is expensive, and that's a lot of paper.

Money coming into the venue, not connected to the specific event:

Advertising Does the venue have posters around for local businesses? For insurance companies? For upcoming events? Someone is paying them for that. Does the venue intersperse the pre-show music over the speakers with the occasional ad spot? Someone is paying them for that. Does the venue have ads in the program booklet? Someone is paying them for that. For a really, really large venue, the kind with dozens or hundreds of employees and massive lighting/sound setups, they are liable to get most of their income from advertising.

Government Grants and Private Donations Depending on the venue, they may donations or grants. This is more likely to apply to a university/community performing arts center than a for-profit dinner theater, but it's a possibility.

Merchandise The venue may have merch that is unrelated to the performance of the night. A historic or novelty location is most likely to have success with this, selling beer glasses with their logo or a t-shirt with 'home of the [band from several decades ago]' printed across the front.

Money flowing out of the venue, not connected to the specific event:

Administrative/Overhead Employees Management, bookkeeping, legal, marketing, and so on.

Utilities Electricity, water, sewage, gas, telecomm, and so on.

Taxes, Licenses, Fees Sales tax, property tax, liquor license, etc.

Mortgage or lease The venue's business owner is not necessarily the one to own the property outright. They may pay rent to a property owner, or mortgage to the bank.

Maintenance - Building Codes Any large building is going to need plumbers, glass techs, electricians, roofers, and so on coming by with regularity. (This part, I actually do know; I used to do repairs dispatching, and you'd be amazed how frequently a big box store needs someone to come by about the toilets.)

Maintenance - Venue Codes There are certain things that an entertainment venue needs to do that other businesses... don't. Namely, fire safety. It's a huge deal. Staying up to code can be expensive, especially if you need to get your backstage/wing curtains chemically treated again, which can be anywhere from one to five years, or the next time someone spills water on it. (That's the main reason open containers of liquids aren't allowed backstage.)

Marketing Just like people pay the venue to advertise, the venue pays for others to advertise it. This could be in the local newspaper or online, but if a given performer isn't someone semi-famous on tour that has a following, then something else needs to draw in a regular paying crowd.

Miscellaneous Overhead There is a lot of overhead for any business of moderate size that has its costs spread out over the year. This includes hiring an accountant for tax season, purchasing uniforms for employees, replacing cutlery and plates and furniture as it wears out or gets lost, repainting the walls every few years, office supplies when the printer for the programs wears out, and so on.

Is this everything? Almost definitely not.

But, hopefully, I've untangled a few things that you may not have considered before.

Those tickets and drinks you bought cover a lot more than just the performer!

...unless it's through ticketmaster, in which case it's probably just the monopoly.

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If you enjoyed this post, please support me on ko-fi! You can also prompt me for a business/econ topic of your choice here.

#business #budgeting #accounting #phoenix posts #ko fi #ko fi prompts #economics prompts #theater fires #are a big deal #this is what accountants do btw. they track all of this plus less concrete stuff like depreciating value or deferred costs

[redstonedust]

i appreciate the attempts a lot of game devs are making with gender neutral character creation, and i appreciate that it's actually a very difficult task to implement that depending on the game's base code. but it's so funny to me when you hear an uproar because some game has "entirely removed the gender option from character creation!!!!!" so you go to check it out and its just like

#i swear ive seen this happen in like 3 games now #and every time i am a little baffled at how this is a big deal #but like. well. they DID make an attempt. u right.

[queerasflux]

man I wish people understood how much it sucks ass to be neurodivergent and trying to find the middle ground where people like/tolerate you. like, I'm either "boring" (trying to wait my turn in conversations, holding space for other people, taking a back seat to let others get some spotlight) or "too much" (too loud/talking too much, getting excited to share, trying to participate in group conversations/activities). No one really talks about how much of being neurodivergent is just sort of trying to make yourself palatable.

I feel like so much of my life has been spent trying to find this effortless sort of middle ground everyone else seems to automatically already know, and I'm always swinging too far one way or the other. I'm lucky to have neurodivergent friends who grok me, but goddamn I wish that I could just like, exist without the constant background script in my brain that's like "you're being too loud. You're not talking enough. you're being self-centered. you're being boring. you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong." I feel like I'm back in high school trying to make friends but stuck as the eternal "weird kid"

it's just... lonely and sucks bad.

#I'm fine #just had a sort of blegh night with some people I'm playing dnd with #not a big deal but man the way I interact with neurodivergent people vs neurotypical people is like speaking two languages #except I'm only fluent in one of them and keep accidentally insulting people in the other #I'm just trying to make friends irl #flux's bullshuit #neurodivergent #autism #adhd #audhd #audhd things #audhd problems

[greykolla-art]

Guys! Can you believe I was gonna just CASUALLY watch Hazbin Hotel???

But it’s way too good. The writing is so tight, all the characters are interesting and layered, ALL THE SONGS:🔥🔥🔥

Alastor is such a Cheshire Cat! Not a characteristic I see often, but it’s always good! Gimme more immediately.👏👏👏

#grey art #fan art #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel fanart #charlie morningstar #vaggie #alastor #radio demon #hazbin alastor #hazbin vaggie #vaggie is dealing with her girlfriend employing the big bad Wolf #and we just have to hope his obvious ulterior motives won’t fuck us over too much #beautiful #can you tell Alastor is my favourite? #asexual king yes baby

[coolxatu]

hey got some important news. the affordable connectivity program that helps poor and disabled people afford internet is going to run out of funding by april 2024 if we can't convince congress to renew it

i know emailing and calling politicians often seems like a waste of time, but this is gonna hurt alot of people (myself included) if this program is allowed to disappear. we really need to raise some awareness and get this program the funding that it needs. ACP is a game changer for literally millions of people. this is the only way many homes can even get internet, and in this day and age internet access is pretty much a necessity for almost everything. its gonna be a huge blow to have this vital program taken away from those who depend on it.

#id appreciate a signal boost on this post cause we really need to get this program secured #i literally dont know what im going to do without it #i really cant stress how big of a deal this is

[junotter]

Part 2 of my modern avatar au, The Gaang (part 1)

#avatar aang #atla katara #atla toph #atla sokka #atla suki #atla #avatar the last airbender #modern avatar #atla modern au #my art #atla fanart #kataang #CAUSE THEY ARE IMPORTANT IN THIS AU #lots of inner debates on how to deal with aang's tattoos and if to make him say an actual buddhist #decided that he and monk gyatso (plus a handful of others) are/were part of a largely dying religion of a nomadic group #from the himalayan/tibetan plateau region that's a mix of buddhism hinduism and other religions (plus air nomad culture) #due to the politics of region aang and gyatso traveled around the world which is how he met katara and sokka #who were on a fieldtrip in the south (of canada) #they live in the Qikiqtaaluk Region originally in a smaller northern town but to continue their schooling they moved to iqaluit #Toph is from China and she met the gaang during the first big trip sokka katara and aang took together (at aangs begging) #meet her the summer before katara's first semester of college (so she was 18 aang 16 sokka 19 toph 16) #also by 16 aang is his own guardian cause of gyatso's death so he just does whatever p much #suki from okinawa and they meet briefly another summer of college when traveling to a bunch of islands in the pacific #suki specializes in and teaches ryukyuan martial arts (she's ryukyuan) #all reunite after sokka and katara's graduation (katara graduates a year early) during aang sokka and kataras celebration world tour #where they come into full actual contact with the fire nation crew #they are all in their twenties in these expect for monk aang who is a teen #hehe i cant wait to make more for this auuuu

[pcktknife]

og dungeon meshi readers are so serious about this shit. thistles name was announced as sissel and 100 people fell to their knees in anguish. the anime marcille eyebag diminishment event sent people to the hospital. when they cut the scene of her taking her hair down? oh it was bad for us.

#and ive seen a few anime onlys be annoyed about people complaining but its like you dont understand its Serioussss #kae.txt #edit: I like the english name i just use dunmeshi out of familiarity. ive NEVER disliked the delish in dungeon name im nothing like yall #'its not a big deal' it is TO ME.

[steddiecameraroll]

ao3 (includes pt2)

Eddie knows he’s gonna lose it one day. Every single time he watches Steve put his hands on his hips and reprimands the feral teens, he wants to jump the man’s bones.

He ends up pinching whatever exposed skin he has when the urge hits him, leaving itty bitty bruises behind.

It works for months until one evening when Eddie lets his guard down and is 3 beers deep. Steve is leaning against the wall with his shoulder holding himself up. Eddie is telling him about how he had to haul Mike off Dustin the day before and Steve out of habit slides his hand up onto his hip.

Eddie stops midsentence and lets his eyes follow the long lean line of Steve’s body to his fingers.

“What?” Steve asks in confusion.

“Huh?” Eddie’s mouth is open when he looks back up.

“You stopped talking.”

“Well fuck, man.” Eddie sighs and flops against the wall near Steve, his back hitting flat and puffing out a huff of air. “You-you do that bitchy fucking stance and it drives me crazy. I wanna…UGH!” He covers his face, the beer can he’s holding presses against his cheek.

“You wanna what?” Steve sounds nervous.

Eddie whines and stomps his feet a little, trying to hold back his answer. It’s so close to falling out, resting on the tip of his tongue.

“You wanna what, man?” Steve’s voice coming out stronger like he’s daring Eddie to be honest.

Eddie drops his hands and pouts over at Steve. “Don’t make me say it.” He shifts from one foot to the other.

“Say what? You’re acting weird.” Steve stands up straight and crosses his arms over his chest.

“Oh goooood, then you do that.” Eddie whines. “You don’t even know, look at you.” He sighs and flops his arms in defeat.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Steve stares like he’s watching a car crash.

“I WANT TO FUCK YOU! You stand like that and-and I can’t think. It makes me crazy. Like-like feral animal crazy. I want to rip your clothes off and scratch my nails down your chest and watch you tell those little shits off. I can’t fucking take it!” Eddie groans, spins on his heels, and stomps away.

Steve stands in shock, letting Eddie’s words sink in. After a brief moment he shrugs to himself and murmurs, “ok.”

Robin’s head pops around the corner. “What’d you say?”

Pt 2-ish

coffee? ☕️🍩💕

#steve doesn’t understand what the big deal is #he would’ve been having sex with Eddie for months #all he had to do was ask #steddie #steddie ficlet #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddiecameraroll posts #steve x eddie #steddie fanfic #stranger things #my writing

[egophiliac]

LET THE BOY HAVE AN EDUCATION

officially at the point where we're starting to see where it's all headed and I am just going NYEEHEEHEE in delight at it all. ahhh...next week can't come soon enough...

#art #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland spoilers #stage in playful land #stage in playfulland #leona: (devises an actually somewhat clever plan to take out the staff-puppets without breaking any rules) #leona: (taken out two seconds later because he sat down in the wrong place) #at this point i'm half expecting the ssr boys to actually bust in with a big sandwich platter or something #a cake with 'please don't kidnap people :)' written on it in shaky icing #kalim isn't good at plans but he DOES throw a good shindig and by god he's going to play to his strengths #also IT WASN'T SHINY TICKETS IT WAS GIDEL?! #MY BOY #MY BEAUTIFUL MAGICAL FELINE BOY #i mean i'm assuming at this point but that seems to be the implication #genuinely kind of shocked that they actually WERE being magicked into being extra gullible #it was ✨foreshadowing✨ all along... #the blot though! what about the blot! #is that going to be an issue or are we going to have enough to deal with already! #i have rocketed from 'i find these villains entertaining' to 'i am suddenly incredibly invested in them as characters' #LOOK there is one thing better than characters with sort of unhealthy codependent relationships #and that is characters with sort of unhealthy codependent relationships but TWIST IT'S NOT THE WAY YOU THINK #nyeeheeheeeeeee

[queermasculine]

I identify as butch but have lots of soft plushies in my bed... do you think I ought to remove them before I invite someone over for hookups? never see any butches with plushies tbh so a bit selfconscious

don't be self-conscious dude. hoarding plushies is a masculine trait. your ancient shepherd instinct. if i came over and saw a butch had a bunch of plushies i wouldn't be like Ew i'd be like Bro, your deep intrinsic drive to protect and shelter other creatures is being channelled into collecting all these little yarn animals and tiny cloth people? kiss me

#no but for real don't worry about the plushies it's fine #i have One and i think i'd take him off the bed for the duration (because he's a little creeper) but i dont think its a big deal either way #mail

[uncanny-tranny]

It's honestly frustrating that I've seen non-Russian queer people almost bragging about how they would be illegal in Russia, labeled an extremist or terrorist. Russian queers are in danger, their government has made it clear where it stands, and it's made this effort for the better part of a decade (even longer, perhaps). This will kill people, don't mistake this for a quirky little proclamation from a government, akin to somebody saying the sky is pink. Russian queer people were already expressing their fear, and the least we can do now is express our love for them, and advocate with them.

Russian queer people, I love you. I love you all so much. I am so sorry, I cannot begin to express the grief that I feel, and I hope that you are safe. Words cannot encapsulate how I feel as a non-Russian, and I cannot hope to comprehend how it feels to actually be in this situation.

#queer #lgbt #lgbtq #ofc this has been brewing for a long time and it has been really troubling to say the very LEAST #honestly i have seen russian queers joke about the situation which feels different. honestly it's almost admirable #i just can't find it funny to see non-Russians do it simply because the threat of prosecution or death for people is too high in my mind #it feels almost voyeuristic when non-russians joke like that to me #like i've joked about the state of (us)american queer rights when it feels too bleak but i live here #i guess when people only joke about it it tells me they don't think it's a big deal or that it won't affect queer people... #...because it won't affect them as an outsider likely #it's just shitty. all around. and it's the type of thing that i'm not sure what to do #queerphobia #queerphobia tw

[bruciemilf]

"Dick is the golden child" I love that you love that, but I raise you this; This motherfucker barely behaves better than Ace. Barely. He's not even the silver egg.

Jason? On the other hand? Sure, he pretends dissapointing Bruce isn't a core fear. But he's afraid of letting Bruce down the same way you're afraid of making your mother mad.

A re-enactment of a normal day:

Dick: Okay, so, we severely fucked up this time.

Jason: [Screams]

Dick: But don't worry, I'm calling Bruce!

Jason: [SCREAMS]

#dick: whats the big deal!! b is used to it #jason who dissapointed bruce exactly once: are you high?? are you actually coked???? are you chronically insane??????? #batdad #bruce wayne #jason todd #dick grayson #dick has a schedule for making bruce question his life this isnt new to him #dc comics #text post #incorrect quotes

[mourning-at-night]

jace i don’t feel good was so funny but also made me so sad. like that’s a teenager with a strawberry squishmallow keychain and a tamagotchi and she doesn’t feel good and she's tugging on a teacher’s sleeve about it. a teacher who should have been responsible for protecting her in the first place and didn’t. who is manipulating and using her and her friends to help fulfill the desires of a wrathful power-hungry egomaniac. porter and jace it’s on sight >:(

#help the rat grinders make me sad i have a disease. #idk man. it’s not a big deal it’s a comedy show i can be normal. sure #edit: #also this isn’t meant to be infantilizing she is absolutely gonna fuck them up next episode lol. and good for her #also bc apparently there’s discourse about this this isn’t to say that the ih shouldn’t be fighting she and the rat grinders to their full #lethal capacity. like stepping back kid v. kid violence makes me sad but they’re trying to end the world lol. and also the ih can play at #their table literally however they want to #it’s a show #just to be clear that that’s not what this post is about lol #mary ann skuttle #dimension 20 #fantasy high #fhjy #fhjy spoilers

[noodles-and-tea]

☀️

#filling the void it’s no big deal #my art #tangled #rapunzel #flynn rider #eugene fitzherbert

[shuckstruck]

look at my cringe-fail werewolf. her name is Hemlock

#she has the personality of an anxious pitbull #and a backstory to match #edit: for anyone looking at this i don’t mind if u tag it as ur oc #i didn’t rly color anything so she’s pretty generic looking #no big deal if u put her in ur oc tag honestly #my art #hemlock

[bluegiragi]

in action (part 3)

early access + nsfw on patreon

#soap wants ghost to call him a good boy so bad it makes him look stupid #gaz can absolutely tell that johnny's showing off and he's pretty amused #also please read into soap/gaz interaction. please #(they've fucked before and it's totally not a big deal) #poly monster141 au lets go #monster 141 au #simon ghost riley #john soap mactavish #kyle gaz garrick #giragi art #cod mw2