I lie near a very big LN venue. And to buy a 25. lawn seat costs 40. by the time "fees" are added.
There's a 9. convenience fee, at box office OR online. And a 6. parking fee per ticket, regardless of whether you drive, take a bus, walk or carpool.
I passed on a lot of concerts this year, shows I would normally go see (Maroon 5, John Mayer/Train, Crosby Stills & Nash, Rush, Aerosmith, etc.)because my 25. seat was now 40.
And not only did they miss out on my ticket money, they lost out on the 6.00 Pepsi, the 13. beer, the 5.00 hot dog.. and the 40. shirt.
LN was so desperate to sell tickets they offered a no service fee June.. and the shows i did go to, I bought during June so I didn't pay an extra 15. per ticket.
And the concerts I went to, with artists that sell out? Had maybe half capacity. They didn't advertise the no service fee tix. And in this kind of economy, people couldn't afford those hefty fees on top of already outrageous prices. 50. for a lawnseat? I'm looking at YOU, Aerosmith!
If a kid is so messed up that being taunted online is going to push them into another Columbine type event, or pushes them to suicide, there's more wrong than just one thing.
I'm amazed the human race has survived this long, what with all these laws designed to protect people. How ever did we manage before they protected us?
Seriously.. thousands of people "hack" on a daily basis on MySpace, using it for Role Play games. They impersonate celebs, other people, create new people. If you shut down and prosecuted every MySpace troll, they'd have a few hundred users.
The suicide was tragic, the actions of Lori Drew heinous. But she did nothing illegal. Sad, but true. And the new law proposed to end cyber bullying could be frightening in the scope of abuse based on cases like the one above.
If your kid is so close to the edge that someone calling them a c*nt, f*g, fat or ugly online is going to push them to suicide, or into pulling another Columbine, no law is going to help them.
I am so sick of this "for the childrens" bullshit.
As a kid, I was tormented verbally and physically. I used to make myself throw up so I didn't have to go to school and face it. But I survived, I didn't kill myself or blow up my school or kill the offenders.
Hell, I've read the First Amendment up and down and nowhere does it say I have to give a crap about your tender little feelings.
A large part of profit from musicals comes from merchandising. Tee shirts, posters, soundtrack albums, you get the idea.
After a show closes, few products continue to sell with the exception of the soundtrack recording. I have vintage albums from the original cast recording of Camelot, Bye Bye Birdie and other shows that have ceased being produced professionally.
So, piracy is a convenient excuse for why soundtrack sales drop and kill off the cash cow for shows. What they don't mention is people buy the albums, rip them, then sell the hard copy. I pick up most of my soundtracks at flea markets now, for a fraction of the list price.
Nearly half of all musicals don't make their initial investments back, except for the rare show that plays for over 5 years. Development costs, theater rentals, cast and crew, ushers, box office staff all take about 75% of the show's gross income each performance. The bigger the show, the larger the costs.
And given that most Broadway shows don't run more than 4 or 5 years (Phantom, Cats, Les Miz being the rare exceptions) any profit to come from most shows is the merchandising. Some shows don't break even or profit until several years after they close. And the reason they finally do is because of the merchandise sales.
Having her compare a leak of a draft to "violating her human rights" was extreme, in poor taste and made her look incredibly stupid. (See the Entertainment Weekly story for the full quote)
For pity's sake, she writes about sparkly stalker vampires and the most pathetic female self-insert character ever.
It's not The Great American Novel. It's a poorly disguised indoctrination into the LDS (Latter Day Saints) belief system aimed at tweens and teens with poor self-image who relate to the self described plain, ugly, clumsy heroine.
I'm actually grateful she stopped writing. Now maybe her fans will stop whining and move on to the classic vampire genre novels that are actually well written with good plot, excellent pacing and unique characterization.
Kids are never able to magically deal with anything. I was a kid. I know this.
The issue as I see it is finding a balance between supervising your child and allowing them the space to become free thinking, responsible young adults.
I know very few parents that can find a balance. The kids are either covered in bubble wrap before they leave the house or left to their own devices. Neither extreme is healthy and the kids learn nothing.
Children should be supervised when online. But as the child grows older, the supervision should become less, and the parents should maintain a dialogue about safety, security and the way to handle unwanted attention, cyber bullying and other concerns.
Of course, that's way too much responsibility for most parents, who would prefer the web be sterilized so their precious little snowflake will neither see or hear anything bad or evil.
Earlier this year, celebrated author Neil Gaiman made his book, American Gods, free for download in e-book reader format, PDF and I believe a .doc as well.
The month after, his publisher saw a gain of 12% in the purchase of the "free" novel.
So many people liked it they wanted a hard copy.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Doggy Dork.
(untitled comment) (as River)
There's a 9. convenience fee, at box office OR online. And a 6. parking fee per ticket, regardless of whether you drive, take a bus, walk or carpool.
I passed on a lot of concerts this year, shows I would normally go see (Maroon 5, John Mayer/Train, Crosby Stills & Nash, Rush, Aerosmith, etc.)because my 25. seat was now 40.
And not only did they miss out on my ticket money, they lost out on the 6.00 Pepsi, the 13. beer, the 5.00 hot dog.. and the 40. shirt.
LN was so desperate to sell tickets they offered a no service fee June.. and the shows i did go to, I bought during June so I didn't pay an extra 15. per ticket.
And the concerts I went to, with artists that sell out? Had maybe half capacity. They didn't advertise the no service fee tix. And in this kind of economy, people couldn't afford those hefty fees on top of already outrageous prices. 50. for a lawnseat? I'm looking at YOU, Aerosmith!
Re: Travesty (as Bold Coward)
I'm amazed the human race has survived this long, what with all these laws designed to protect people. How ever did we manage before they protected us?
Seriously.. thousands of people "hack" on a daily basis on MySpace, using it for Role Play games. They impersonate celebs, other people, create new people. If you shut down and prosecuted every MySpace troll, they'd have a few hundred users.
The suicide was tragic, the actions of Lori Drew heinous. But she did nothing illegal. Sad, but true. And the new law proposed to end cyber bullying could be frightening in the scope of abuse based on cases like the one above.
Cyber Bullying my A$$ (as Lee)
I am so sick of this "for the childrens" bullshit.
As a kid, I was tormented verbally and physically. I used to make myself throw up so I didn't have to go to school and face it. But I survived, I didn't kill myself or blow up my school or kill the offenders.
Hell, I've read the First Amendment up and down and nowhere does it say I have to give a crap about your tender little feelings.
Re: (as Broadway Angel)
After a show closes, few products continue to sell with the exception of the soundtrack recording. I have vintage albums from the original cast recording of Camelot, Bye Bye Birdie and other shows that have ceased being produced professionally.
So, piracy is a convenient excuse for why soundtrack sales drop and kill off the cash cow for shows. What they don't mention is people buy the albums, rip them, then sell the hard copy. I pick up most of my soundtracks at flea markets now, for a fraction of the list price.
Nearly half of all musicals don't make their initial investments back, except for the rare show that plays for over 5 years. Development costs, theater rentals, cast and crew, ushers, box office staff all take about 75% of the show's gross income each performance. The bigger the show, the larger the costs.
And given that most Broadway shows don't run more than 4 or 5 years (Phantom, Cats, Les Miz being the rare exceptions) any profit to come from most shows is the merchandising. Some shows don't break even or profit until several years after they close. And the reason they finally do is because of the merchandise sales.
Re: (as Deb)
(untitled comment) (as Not A Fan)
Having her compare a leak of a draft to "violating her human rights" was extreme, in poor taste and made her look incredibly stupid. (See the Entertainment Weekly story for the full quote)
For pity's sake, she writes about sparkly stalker vampires and the most pathetic female self-insert character ever.
It's not The Great American Novel. It's a poorly disguised indoctrination into the LDS (Latter Day Saints) belief system aimed at tweens and teens with poor self-image who relate to the self described plain, ugly, clumsy heroine.
I'm actually grateful she stopped writing. Now maybe her fans will stop whining and move on to the classic vampire genre novels that are actually well written with good plot, excellent pacing and unique characterization.
Re: Re: Re: The 80s wants their parental psychology back (as Deb)
The issue as I see it is finding a balance between supervising your child and allowing them the space to become free thinking, responsible young adults.
I know very few parents that can find a balance. The kids are either covered in bubble wrap before they leave the house or left to their own devices. Neither extreme is healthy and the kids learn nothing.
Children should be supervised when online. But as the child grows older, the supervision should become less, and the parents should maintain a dialogue about safety, security and the way to handle unwanted attention, cyber bullying and other concerns.
Of course, that's way too much responsibility for most parents, who would prefer the web be sterilized so their precious little snowflake will neither see or hear anything bad or evil.
Re: Bunch of punks (as )
The month after, his publisher saw a gain of 12% in the purchase of the "free" novel.
So many people liked it they wanted a hard copy.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Doggy Dork.
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