Marketing is storytelling.
Price is a pivotal part of the story.
In some cases, price is really the only part of the story. The airline industry learned this the hard way. Customer service was nice, arriving on time was a plus, but consumers are trained to look for the cheapest flight possible.
You can also find examples of this in the land of luxury goods. A Mercedes is consider a luxury good because it costs $70,000. Cut the price to $15,000 and most of what makes a Mercedes "special" disappears.
You can build a billion dollar company based on a story about price.
The crucial question isn't really whether a price for art (or anything else) is low or high. That's always up for debate. The question is whether a particular organization, artist, or field is comfortable with the story that the price tells.
When I object to things like the nonprofit arts use of dynamic pricing, it is not because people are unable to afford a $100+ ticket to show. Some people can. I just have a hard time seeing how the practice of dynamic pricing fits with the story the field tells about its importance and relevance.
So here's today thing for you to ponder. What does your price say about your art? Does it say that it's accessible? Luxury? Cheap?
Give it some thought.
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