A Commentary on Music and the Economics of Value
Boy J took me to see Coldplay last night. Some friends joined in on the Coldplay action. It was good times. With all the impending hurricane action headed north in Texas, it was actually a really nice night. Cool, slight breeze. Calm before the rain hits up here, I suppose.

I spend a lot of time with friends who live and breathe music. I love that about them. They are rockstars. But, I am not a music expert. I'm not even a music junkie. I go through phases of wanting to have a lot of music, a lot of cds, versus phases of not wanting to spend my money on another cd. I generally hate the radio, although lately I've been listening to it more. I get bored easily with all of the music I have or listen to. I'm always searching for the next musical entity to get me excited about music again.

But, even in spite of all of that, I LOVE music. I was raised playing music, piano mostly. I can sing a bit. I am proclaiming myself a drummer, as of late. I can say that I am musical.

I've always listened to music, either records, tapes, or cds. Even 8-tracks, thanks to rescuing my Grandma's 8-track player and 8-tracks from her garage sale years ago. I can't function in the car without some sort of music on. I used to get ready for work every morning with music playing, knowing it so well that my morning routine was timed by length of song. If the CD hit song 4 before I was out of the shower, then I'd been in there too long and I was going to be late for work.

I don't know bands very well, I can't always name the song. Most of the time I don't even know the words. I usually have to look up the words to a song to get it, because when listening to music I tend to hear the musical parts over the words of a song. But I can recognize songs I like. And I will play those few songs over and over and over until I get bored and move on to the next song I obsess about.

What I like best about music is LIVE music. I love concerts. I don't go to them very often. But you take just about any song, whether you consider it good or not, and listen to it played live? It is good, for those few minutes you are hearing it. When it's live, you can feel it, feel the song. And sometimes that's what music needs - to be felt. It's so distant on a cd.

So, I'm not a huge Coldplay fan. I enjoy them. But I don't own any Coldplay cds. I know more of their music than I thought I did before hearing their concert last night. And I have to say, it was a really good show. They put on a good act. They sound great live. They played a lot of old stuff. It was fun. You can call me a fan now.

But, as much as I love live music and concerts, I almost always leave a concert feeling like I didn't get enough. And not in the sense of "That was awesome! I want more!" But in the sense of value for the money spent on the concert-going experience.

I mean, I can spend $15 on a Coldplay cd, and then I can listen to it as much as I want, as long as I want, over and over, all day. But, spend $40 on a concert ticket, and you get maybe an hour or so of music. You're far away, often so far away that the sound is delayed from the action of the tiny specks you can see on a stage in the distance. You had to sit through a mediocre opening act, then sit around awhile longer for them to reset the stage before you actually get to hear what you paid for and waited for. You essentially pay a whole lot of money to sit and wait, then listen to a Greatest Hits cd.

Granted, the experience is usually worth it. Again, I loves me some live music. But, I feel like the concert genre needs to be reworked. If I spend that much money on someone (ie: a band, a boyfriend, my mom, etc), I want to spend time with that person. I want it to be worth it. I want more than just an impersonal allotment of time. I don't want it to feel like we are just getting started, then everything is over for the night.

So really, if $15 gets me the flexibility to spend an entire day with Coldplay on cd, I think $40 should get us the concert, plus like, lunch with the band or something. Maybe dinner after the show. The opportunity to request more songs to be played. A small group Q&A session about why they wrote a particular song. Share family photos. Maybe go to a movie or hang out for awhile. Let's get to know each other.

Or at least include a t-shirt in the price of the ticket.

It is an experience, just the concert itself. But I want even more experience value for the dollar.

I'm all for good value. And the way I see it, Coldplay still owes us some burritos, or at least a phone call.

C.T.