Happy #TBT! Here’s an oldie-but-goodie post from Jim: “The Transforming Fire of Machines … .”Is not a tagline from the upcoming Terminator Salvation movie [circa 2009], although it might work for that, too.Instead, it’s one of the “New Rules for the New Economy,” which, although not so new anymore, are still highly relevant because they were ahead of their time, back in the benighted year of 1998.In full, it’s this: No one can escape the transforming fire of machines.Before you...

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Happy #TBT! Here’s an oldie-but-goodie post from Jim: You Know What Customers Love? Rules.I understand the reasons that the secondary market gives some venue operators the heebie-jeebies. Any kind of disorder or chaos created by sellers acting badly in the secondary market rolls downhill onto them when the customers who bought tickets from the secondary market actually arrive at the venue.Most obviously, fraudulently sold tickets are a real bummer. Imagine that a ticket broker sells a phony ticket, gets the...

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Happy #TBT! Here’s an oldie-but-goodie post from Jim: What’s the Difference Between Roller Derby and the XFL?I’m here to tell you that as a viable form of live entertainment, roller derby is for real.By “viable,” I don’t necessarily mean, to paraphrase Lloyd from Say Anything, that it’s the “sport of the future” -- only that it’s something that may have the ability to sustain itself with a fan base and even grow.But let’s catch you up a little bit. Many...

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Happy #TBT! Here’s an oldie-but-goodie post from Jim: Who Wants to Be a Pontiac?[Editor’s Note: When Jim wrote this on February 20, 2009, Pontiac was still in business. GM discontinued manufacturing and marketing Pontiac on October 31, 2010. This post is a helpful reminder about the importance of branding.]Not many takers on that, I’m guessing. To put it the way The New York Times Business section did, Pontiac will “shrivel up” over the next couple of years. Here’s the key...

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Happy #TBT! Here’s an oldie-but-goodie post from Jim: 3 Ways You’re Wrong About Live Entertainment, Part III. (Read Part I and Part II.)We’ve been talking about misconceptions widely held but both untrue and bad for the live entertainment business. You can go back and catch up by reading: Misconception No. 1: New Technologies are Making Actually Going Out a Thing of the Past and Misconception No. 2: Everything’s Sold Out!Now that you’re caught up, on to …Misconception No. 3. It’s...

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Happy #TBT! Here’s an oldie-but-goodie post from Jim: 3 Ways You’re Wrong About Live Entertainment, Part II. (Read Part I.)Beyond the flippant title of this post, there lurks a serious purpose: to dispel some of the most damaging and widely held misconceptions about the business. If you need to catch up, go back and look at Misconception No. 1: New technologies are making actually going out a thing of the past.Now that we’re all together, on to …Misconception No. 2:...

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Editor's Note: Happy #TBT! It’s our one-year anniversary of this announcement. And we are excited to share with you the details of the upcoming Tessitura Learning & Community Conference at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego. Make sure you check out our session on August 13 at 1:30pm:Panelists include:Laura Burgos, Director of Audience Research & Analytics at Lyric Opera of Chicago Alexandra Llamas, Associate Director of Marketing at San Francisco Symphony Andrew Moreau, Operations Manager/Systems Administrator at Boston Lyric...

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Happy #TBT! Here’s an oldie-but-goodie post from Jim: 3 Ways You’re Wrong About Live Entertainment, Part I.Personally, you may not be wrong about all three or any of these things, but collectively, these are some of the most widely held misconceptions about the live entertainment business, and it’s time to set the record straight.Below, I’ll dismiss one of these vicious misconceptions and give you the real story, so as to help you avoid tragic perdition on your otherwise uninterrupted path...

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Happy #TBT! Here’s an oldie-but-goodie post from Jim: Are You Really a Permission Marketer?Today, I'd like to introduce you to the High Priest of how to “earn” the loyalty of potential customers versus trying to “own” them.(BTW, during this whole discussion of “owning” customers, all I can hear in my head is Lesley Gore singing “You Don’t Own Me.” Or the Blow Monkeys, if you prefer.)And with no further ado, the man’s name is Seth Godin. Way back in 1999,...

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Happy #TBT! Here’s an oldie-but-goodie post from Jim: Customers Aren’t Slaves -- Stop Trying to “Own” Them.Customers don’t want to be owned.In fact, to the great astonishment of marketers everywhere, customers don’t even think of themselves as customers. They think of themselves as human beings who might (or might not) happen to like what you and your venue have to offer.So, besides the general repulsiveness of the sentiment behind wanting to “own” the customer (gee, how 19th century of you),...

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