This is just an observation from afar and all the buy/sell reported in shows. If artists have voted with their feet, have they been replaced with buy/sell? And if so, where have the artists gone? Are there too many shows and not enough artists applying to promoter shows? I can't see that a promoter who gets no cut of the take turning down an artist for B/S.
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No I don't. There are all levels of shows around here. I live in New England, and a 6 hour drive puts me in a potential customer base of over 20 million people.
When I was slamming my schedule I was doing 40 shows a year. Everything from Flower and Garden shows in winter to doing a show almost every weekend outside from Memorial Day to Columbus Day. And then inside every weekend from that point to the second weekend in December.
I will not drive halfway across the country for a show with the hopes of making enough money to buy gas for the trip home. So I do as many shows with as few promoters as possible.
So no, there aren't too many shows here. And we're all pragmatic in the knowledge that some B/S may slip in because they outright lied on the application. Nobody has a tantrum over it, we just make them uncomfortable to a point where they don't want to come back.
I don't think they're turning down artists in favor of B/S, it's more like there are fewer artists applying and they need to cover expenses, so they resort to selling real estate to fill the empty spaces.
Exhibitors aren't necessarily not applying due to the presence of B/S, but rather the other way around. There have always been shows available for us. But I will guarantee that literally thousands of real artists and crafters have fallen by the wayside in the last few years alone. They got out. The money is not so easy anymore so they actually had to work at selling and they didn't like it, or they retired, died, or went bankrupt.
The promoters, meanwhile, have got the same spaces to fill or they will go bankrupt too. It's a matter of survival.
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No I don't. There are all levels of shows around here. I live in New England, and a 6 hour drive puts me in a potential customer base of over 20 million people.
When I was slamming my schedule I was doing 40 shows a year. Everything from Flower and Garden shows in winter to doing a show almost every weekend outside from Memorial Day to Columbus Day. And then inside every weekend from that point to the second weekend in December.
I will not drive halfway across the country for a show with the hopes of making enough money to buy gas for the trip home. So I do as many shows with as few promoters as possible.
So no, there aren't too many shows here. And we're all pragmatic in the knowledge that some B/S may slip in because they outright lied on the application. Nobody has a tantrum over it, we just make them uncomfortable to a point where they don't want to come back.
I don't think they're turning down artists in favor of B/S, it's more like there are fewer artists applying and they need to cover expenses, so they resort to selling real estate to fill the empty spaces.
Exhibitors aren't necessarily not applying due to the presence of B/S, but rather the other way around. There have always been shows available for us. But I will guarantee that literally thousands of real artists and crafters have fallen by the wayside in the last few years alone. They got out. The money is not so easy anymore so they actually had to work at selling and they didn't like it, or they retired, died, or went bankrupt.
The promoters, meanwhile, have got the same spaces to fill or they will go bankrupt too. It's a matter of survival.