Lynn From PVRIS Responds to VIP Package Criticism • Page 2

Yeah fuck everyone for not knowing about something you intentionally kept from them

 

£75.00

• Meet & Greet and Photo Opportunity with PVRIS
• Venue Early Entry and First Access Merch Shopping (Where available)
• Exclusive PVRIS T-Shirt
• Commemorative Event Laminate
• Special Surprise Gift for PVRIS Meet & Greet Upgrade Package Purchasers!

I know my last regular 'ol show Blink-182 tickets with a beer and food cost more than that.

 

Where did they say "fuck everyone"? Literally says "sorry we didn't post this before, in the future we probably will."

 

Because I think the connection between a band and their fans shouldn't be monetized in that way. If a fan of the band wants to walk up to a band and hand them a 100 dollar bill and say "your music really connected with me. thank you" or they wanna write it in a note and pass it through the merch table or whatever, or even, in the case of the wonder years where they do a special performance for the people willing to pay a little extra to support them sure I'm fine with all of that.

But i, personally, have a difficult time saying, "yes it is okay for my favorite artist to think I should have to pay 100 dollars to meet them." Especially if they are the type of artists, as many of these are, that don't make themselves available to talk to and meet their fans in any way besides this.


Playing the ethics game and saying "I can't believe anybody would be OFFENDED by someone trying to monetize their business" is not what this is about to me. It's about your values as a person and the desire (or lack thereof) to connect with the people who experience your art on an equal playing field

 

And if the band wants to keep doing it, in a strictly capitalist sense, sure monetize your business how you see fit.

But a fan who is deciding how they spend their money should decide whether the band's decision to monetize human connection makes the fan feel "less than" and decide whether the ethics of that line up with their own ethical values.

 

i think i'd have a bigger problem with it if i thought this was more prevalent (at least in my experience i've been able to meet the bands i wanted to by hanging around later). i see meet and greets as less of a "this is how much it costs to talk to us" and more of a "pay a bit more now (plus extra perks) and don't worry about finding other opportunities."

 

This is just silly. Plenty of people are paid based on how valuable their time is worth, why shouldn't musicians be able to also do this? If a fan wants to trade money for an experience they can't get otherwise they should have the chance and the artist should be compensated.

 

Meet and greets like this have always felt weird to me (thus, me not participating even if I've paid the money/have the option to do it). But I felt just as uncomfortable standing in line for free to meet bands at like, a signing booth at Warped Tour or whatever. It's just as contrived a situation.

You're saying that you feel like you don't have an issue with fans just handing bands the money. Is the issue literally just that the artist is saying "Pay X to meet us"? Would you feel differently if they said "You can pay the VIP prices or you might bump into us around the venue before/after the show?"

I'm seeing your point, and frankly feeling like an asshole for me saying I didn't understand why people would get upset about it because... Your perspective is making a lot of sense (doesn't align with my view--but I get it). Just trying to understand it better.

 

And for many artists they're not doing many other things because they'd literally be mobbed by thousands of people.

 

Name another profession where the person can talk to you for less than a minute and get paid for that interaction? I'm failing to come up with one.

 

My lawyer ... my accountant ... freelancers ... my consulting business.

There's four.

I can start down the entertainment/celebrity/convention/artist/athlete industry path next if you'd like.

 

get a better lawyer

 

And pay even more?

Great advice clearly spoken from someone that's never actually run a business.

 

This is an incredibly common practice at comic book conventions. You pay to take a photo and have a brief chat with celebrities.

Political fundraisers that include a photo are the same deal.

 

You have really really efficient lawyers accountants etc if they can do absolutely no work leading up to your interaction, have a less than 1 minute interaction, and still get the job done/get paid

 

Just because Will Wheaton or whoever does it, doesn't make it right.

 

What? Of course they do other work too, and still charge you for the interactions when needed as well. And charge you a lot of money.

Just like bands do other work before and after ... like making the music ... performing the show.

You're spinning out here.

 

This "squeeze every last cent out of your fans because you don't know how long your chance at the music industry will last" angle is a really jaded capitalist view of things and makes me really sad. That's the way the music industry has always been done, sure, but I like to think there is a better way to do things in which you can actually give a fuck about your fans and view them as equals while still making a living for yourself.

 

1. Is the price really that extreme? It doesn't seem bad.
2. While the "this was going to donation" can sound like an excuse for being caught, I don't really like to talk about charitable things because I feel like it puts an unnecessary spotlight on my own actions. Also, they may have not specified charities out of fears of polarizing their fanbase, which I do disagree with but it does make sense to not disclose that money is going to charity out of fear that it becomes "in-genuine" at that point.
3. I don't blame fans for not wanting to pay to meet artists they like. I also don't blame artists for needing to make money due to how little they make off music, and also don't blame them for wanting to meet their fans in a controlled environment instead of while leaving a show all sweaty or while eating dinner or something like that.

 

Starting off with "I hate that I even have to clarify this..." comes off aggressive. Like it's absolutely ridiculous that people weren't aware that they donate proceeds to charity.

 

That you think selling things you have to sell, like your scarce time, or deluxe packages of your music, means you don't care about your fans is a really jaded view that is ignorant of the realities of being a band (or an adult).

It is ridiculous to think that having a meet and greet package means a band doesn't give a fuck about your fans.

 

I read that with the second sentence to mean "we don't usually like talking about what we do with money." And following with why she felt the need to clarify, even if she didn't want to for the reasons given.

 

And the last thing I will say here is to reiterate my initial point which was that, by doing this, you are creating an uneven power dynamic between you and the biggest fans of your music. You may view this as the price of running a business- a view I wholly reject, and many other artists, including The Maine whose op-ed on this you posted Jason, would also reject.

I think that sure there could be better ways to monetize being in a band that we haven't figured out quite yet, but running a VIP Meet and Greet is, in my opinion, not one of those ways.

 

It's very well what she could've meant, but I think that was a poor choice of wording. Just start with "Just to clarify..." and it would completely change the tone of the statement.

 

Look, Jason, I like interacting with you and I like that you've given me the opportunity to write for this site, but this kind of response is really patronizing. To say that I'm ignorant of the realities of being an adult because I think someone could make money without being deliberately manipulative is downright insulting.

I understand that where you're coming from is at least in some regards colored by your own perspective of having to run your own business and find ways that work for you in order to monetize this business without feeling exploitative .

But i think you also have to listen when other people have differing perspectives on how some actions can be viewed as exploitative or even actively harmful