Y Kant Tori Count?

[yendi]

Note that although this rant is directed at Tori Amos, it applies to a whole slew of artists who view their fanbases as nothing more than cash cows.


Understand, Tori Amos is wonderful in concert. She can makes songs off Boys for Pele, the shittiest CD of the last decade, sound wonderful, and songs off Little Earthquakes, one of the best CDs ever, into pure bliss. Attending a concert of hers is a wonderful experience, and highly recommended, especially if you pack a scythe to take care of any nearby annoyingly excessive Toriphiles.

However.

Tori sells her concert t-shirts for $35. She sells her sweatshirts for $50. She sells her "program" (a twenty-page softcover book containing a few lines of prose by Neil Gaiman, lots of photos, and absolutely nothing else) for $20.

Tori is either totally out of touch with her fanbase, or interested in them as nothing more than a way to make money.

Folks, go read how Tom Petty views his fans over at http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?journal=photognome&itemid=24846

Tom, who's managing to rake in millions for ticket prices that are roughly the same as Tori's, is also selling his t-shirts starting at $17.95.

CafePress shirts go for as low as $18 or so (they take a bit over $14 off the top, and users can set their own price). And that's for shirts that are decidedly not mass-produced.

In other words, Tori's in it for the money. Of course, it's entirely possible that some profits go to RAINN or some other cause, but there was no signage saying so, and, frankly, unless it's $10 per shirt, it wouldn't be enough to justify that cost.

Of course, it's perfectly okay for an artist to just be in it for the money. There's nothing wrong with that -- Tori's producing a commodity (music and associated memorabilia), and if she wants to charge an arm and a leg for it, that's great. It's no different than what Shell Oil or McDonald's or the Backstreet Boys do.

But I don't buy it when either of those companies pretend to give a rat's ass about me. And I don't buy it when Tori does, either. And I don't buy her shirts, either. If you're enough of a sucker to buy them (or if you're just floating in disposable income), that's your choice. But don't tell me that Tori gives a shit about her fans any more. We're her income base now. If you have trouble accepting that, well, you're probably her ideal customer.

Comments

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

Tori herself may not have much control over the price of the t-shirts and associated schtuff. The prices are almost certainly set by her agency, her promoters, and/or the record company. And they're certainly not above cashing out on customer loyalty. I know that most authors, at least, have almost no control of the RRP that goes on their books.

[juanfandango.livejournal.com]

Or, eendeed, arteests' CD pricees.

[piratejenny.livejournal.com]

Oh, there are things she can do about it. For instance, on Loreena McKennitt's last tour, when she found out how much merchandise would cost at Radio City (cause, after all, they have to have their cut of that as well), she decided not to sell any of it there, and include a flyer for the Web site that you can get stuff from. Iirc, she didn't make us pay for shipping because of that as well.

[yendi]

I'm aware of the RRP on books (and I'd never think of chastising Tori on her CD prices themselves), but she chooses her agency, etc (and has never had a problem speaking her mind before on any subject no matter what her opinion was or who it would piss off at her own company), and has switched record labels within the last year (and prices were just as bad on the other tour). In the end, I do see it all coming back to her.

[yendi]

Wow! that's extra cool -- she certainly would have been in her rights to ask for shipping -- I mean, that's a huge cost that she had to eat. But yeah, that' a perfect example of how the performer can't just foist the blame on the manager, or the label, or whatever.

[piratejenny.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but it did serve to thwart the instant gratification urge I'm so bad at giving in to. :-)

[silme.livejournal.com]

Janis Ian wrote a column for Performing Songwriter magazine a couple of years ago that addressed the whole idea of marketing -- and how often many venues do charge so much extra for selling goods. There are a number of artists who prefer to sell only through their websites; postage generally is cheaper.

On the other hand, I could have bought cheap Tori shirts years ago. When she first toured for Little Earthquakes, she played a late-night (started around 11 PM) show at a tiny Denver venue; a month or two later, she played a larger venue in Boulder. It was 1992. The t-shirts were cheap, but I wasn't thrilled with the design. I thought they were ugly. I like nifty shirts,
and I prefer my concert shirts to have the tour dates on the back.

I'll let you know how much her shirts cost here when we see her in London come January. However, be aware that concert shirts here run £10 ($15) -- cheap -- to £20 ($30) as it is. Sweatshirts run £25-£30 (about $38-$45 or so).

[yendi]

I got a nifty shirt on the Dew Drop Inn tour -- cost me all of $15, at the same venue she was selling them for $30 for last year.

The interesting thing is, her web site still doesn't offer any shirts for sale, at any price.

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

There are things an artist can do, but it takes guts and leverage to do them. If she just switched labels, she may not have much leverage right now. Or it may just be that she doesn't realize how much money $35 is anymore. Easy to fall out of touch with "normal" money values (says the guy wearing the $50+ team jersey).

[crowyhead.livejournal.com]

Last Tori concert I went to, t-shirts were $25. Ani Difranco's t-shirts were $20. B.B. King's were $20, I think...

I guess I sort of look at it as being kind of like paying $5 for a hot dog at a ball game. Yeah, it's a ridiculous amount of money for a tube of meat, but some people look at it as being part of the experience. A lot of people feel the same way about concert t-shirts. I used to, but now I tend to go for a patch or something, if I get any kind of souvenir, because it's cheaper and I've got a shitload of t-shirts already. I don't know how it is on this tour, since I haven't seen her yet, but Tori used to have pretty cool concert jewelry that was cheaper than the t-shirts (my favorite being the DewDrop Inn tour necklace, which was a crucifix that said "We Both Know It Was A Girl"). I did buy a $20 Rufus Wainwright baseball jersey at the last Tori concert I went to (he opened) and that paid off because it turned out he was signing autographs, and now I've got a nifty signed Rufus Wainwright t-shirt that I've never seen anyone else with. :)

My guess is that few artists put very much thought into whether people are going to be able to afford their concert t-shirts or not; people buy them anyway (they've sold out at many concerts I've been to), and if an artist's past the point where s/he's selling her/his own t-shirts after the show, s/he's not likely to be too in touch with how people feel about the prices. And if the choice is between upping the prices to pay the venue, or saying, "You can buy them on the website," then the artist's going to be losing a lot of money, because people are more likely to buy a t-shirt in the heat of "OHMIGOD I'M AT A CONCERT!" than they are to log on later and pay for one, even if it's ten bucks cheaper.