Reclaiming our Music Venues

Cynical advertisment has become an epidemic in the music industry.

One of our largest music venues has recently succumbed to insidious branding by a large company. If one wishes to book tickets for any show here, they are bombarded by this company's logo and image. In addition to this, ticket preference has been allocated to existing customers of the company's main service.

There are many potential problems for music lovers here. This company will only see live music as a commodity. To increase business, it is possible that the new caretakers of this venue will exclusively book extremely popular bands at the expense of emerging artists. In effect, music venue proprietors are becoming the new record companies, with their emphasis on the lowest common denominator over musical variety.

The parallels with record companies can be taken further to theorise a solution to this problem. In the same way that musicians have bypassed record companies and exercised ownership over their art, they should control how live music is presented. After all, these are the people who know precisely what it takes to put on a good show and at what price is fair. If a group of musicians were to take ownership of this venue, they could charge appropriate prices, encourage new artists and increase the frequency and popularity of shows.

With this system in place, artists and fans will have a greater connection through live shows. The only one who loses are these manipulative advertisers.

-The English Student