All entertainment tickets should be on a sliding scale. Ft. Coryn Rose
Summary
Coryn Rose comes in hot with a sliding scale proposal for all entertainment tickets, and Kareem's immediately on board. The conversation spirals from the "bread and roses" labor movement philosophy to Rose's truly scorching take that no ticket should cost over $50. Her logic? Lower prices mean longer runs, sold-out shows every night, and artists actually working more instead of chasing quick cash from half-empty theaters charging $800 a pop. They get into implementation details, noting that Amazon and Walmart already use algorithms to adjust grocery prices based on what you earn. Wild. Rose also wants to eliminate all service fees and ticket taxes while opening museums late. Kareem snorts with laughter but agrees completely.
Featured guests
Full Transcript
So, what's your take? All entertainment tickets should be on a sliding scale.
100% agree. The price gouging is outrageous.
It's outrageous. You can't do this to people.
And the thing is, like, bread and roses, right?
What's bread and roses? The saying that comes from this like labor union in New Hampshire. They walked out when they had short pay. And it was basically like, "Hey, like, people deserve to work to live to get their bread, but they deserve their roses, which is art and theater and sports and entertainment." And when you're like charging $500, $1,000 for a ticket, like, no regular person can like join in on that. So now we're making like art a privilege.
It's actually mindboggling. I'm not spending $750 for what? Honestly, you want a hot, hot take?
No ticket should be over $50.
That's too hot. Think about it this way. Like, we've created this model right now where it's like you have to have a star and then the star has this huge contract and then you have to make your money immediately, like, super quick, and then they're complaining that the theater is half empty, right? Well, that's because nobody can pay $800 a ticket.
Nobody can pay $800. So, you know what you're going to do? You're going to run the show longer. You're going to give everybody an opportunity to come. You're going to be sold out every stinking night. You're going to create more fans. You're going to create people like believing in art again. You're going to make your money back. And then flip side, artists work longer, crews work longer, shows run longer.
How are we going to implement the sliding scale though? Like, is there proof or we just rely on the goodwill of the people? We should start with the goodwill of the people, right? But if we really want to like get involved with it, like, Amazon knows how much you make, Walmart knows how much you make.
Oh, there's like an algorithm.
There's an algorithm. They already know that. And change your grocery prices based on it.
Oh, they do.
Yeah, they do.
They do.
They do.
Yeah. The algorithm knows how much you make and they're charging you different grocery prices at the same store.
That should be illegal. Also, get rid of all ticketing fees, all service fees. Get rid of that.
Get rid of the taxes on tickets.
Yes.
And museums should be open late. Listen, I 100%—[snorts]—agree with your take. [laughter]