Lynn From PVRIS Responds to VIP Package Criticism

from the replies

$9000!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

 

missed out memeing=(

 

That's great but still seems weird that they didn't just say from the beginning

 

How much of an increase was it from last year to this year?

 

Are you talking about the charity excuse?

It's probably something that (unless it was in the fine print) they added in after the outrage. Or it's such an insignificant amount

 

Why wouldn't you want to market that portions of your VIP is going to charities? Feels like something you would want to mention...seems sketchy to me! It's like oh shit you caught us, I guess we will just say it's going to charity now to take the heat off us.

 

As long as the charity excuse is real it seems like a no brainer to state that it's going to charity or 99.99% of ppl would assume you're pocketing the cash (as much as it's nice to not need to boast about your good deeds and I'd hope it's more than a couple bucks being flung the charity's way)


Is above fair dinkum? The VIPs are $9000? Who do they think they are? A reunited and back from the dead Beatles?

 

Where are people finding the $9000 amount? I'm not seeing that anywhere, or is that just an exaggeration?

 

Stop paying for meet and greets, you fucking imbeciles

 

If you meet a band for 5 minutes they don't care about you. What they do care about is the easy 100 dollars they just made for 5 minutes spent being uncomfortable.

 

Replies to the linked tweet

 

I think the fans that pay, 1) care 2) like that their favorite bands get to keep making music, cause 3) they're not making money from music.

 

This is not true in most cases of people buying meet and greets. From my experience with it, meet and greets, especially specifically at tours like this, are mostly younger people or their parents who buy the meet and greet ticket for them.

I don't think people are specifically buying meet and greets just to throw the band some extra money, and that's a really idealistic view of what the purchaser's intentions are, in my opinion.

 

I would just like to add that every meet and greet I've gone to with The Wonder Years was 100% worth it and affordable. I've had really good conversations with them each time and got to hear some cool acoustic versions of songs. I also really like knowing that TWY can continue to do music because I was able to give them more money (and not just have to buy a bunch of extra merch and stuff I don't want). However, some artists definitely abuse the ability from an ethical standpoint (from a capitalist standpoint, they are winning the game).

I guess the answer is, as always, it depends.

 

And I think it should be noted, I quite like PVRIS and many other bands that do this kind of thing, I just think it's intensly manipulative. Perhaps the band views it the way Jason does, in that they think, "we've been out here grinding really hard, working hard to make this music thing a stable living, perhaps some of our fans will reward us for our hard work by spending more money on us." But while that is a good idea in theory, in practice, you still have to square it with the expectation of the consumer, which is that they are paying extra for the chance to interact with you as a human being, which is an inherently inequal power dynamic and displays to the fan- i.e. the consumer- that they are unworthy of meeting you in a "free" or just normal interaction

That's the part I have an issue with here, and that's why i think these things should stop.

 

It's strange to me that people get so upset about this thing. In most cases, you aren't really paying for the opportunity to meet the band... So much as the easy/guaranteed access to them. Big difference. I'm sure, if you want to hang around after the show and wait to meet the band it can happen. This is just a way for bands to make more money touring (and in some cases, probably--to survive as a touring band).

But that's not really my thing at this point. In the handful of cases where I've actually purchased a VIP package I've skipped the meet and greet. Really, I was just there for the acoustic performance, the exclusive music, or the special edition poster or whatever.

That being said, the price here is just to meet the band feels high. But I'm almost 33. If you had asked me if I would be willing to pay that amount to meet Blink-182 or Green Day when I was like, 16? The answer would have been an emphatic "yes." So... I get it.

 

depending on the cost i think paying for a meet and greet could be a nice way to avoid having to wait longer after the show, but i agree it can leave a bad taste in the mouth if it seems hastily done.

 

I didn't say specifically, but, it's the outcome and most of the time both parties are then happy.

I said the fans do care about that experience, and do like that their favorite bands keep making music. Even if they don't specifically tie one to the other.

 

I got the meet and greet VIP for mayday parade tomorrow and I think it was very well priced for everything included. Although, it is weird to me because I've been going to shows for so long that you actually have to pay to meet bands now.

 

i've definitely hung aroundd after shows and met bands that had pre-show meet and greets, but i remember buying the VIP package for the underneath farewell tour and it was a solid deal. an hour-long open meet and great following sound check; had to wait in lines but it felt very relaxed and genuine.

edit: forgot to say the reason i say that is because i did not want to wait afterwards haha sometimes it takes forever or they don't come out at all

 

I can't believe anyone is taking a stance against mid-to-large sized bands doing meet and greets and finding a way to monetize one of the few things they can in their profession.

 

I'm all for it, I would like my favorite bands to be able to continue for as long as possible.

 

Ditto. Bands should absolutely be finding ways to monetize the things they can for the brief moments they can in their careers -- I always tell bands they should have things that scale to all price points and be done with the fan in mind -- but that there's a relatively small window for most bands to make any money playing music and there should be away for the casual fan and the die-hard fan to both be reached. The casual fan maybe listens on Spotify and goes to a show. The die hard buys the deluxe package and wants the VIP package. That bands can't make (any) money just from making music and streaming it sucks, but in that reality this innovation is great.