You know, I've had the opportunity to hear a lot from all sides of this equation, and I think everyone in this business is about making money, bottom line. The venues, the bands, the booking agents, the promoters, all of them. The music is somewhat secondary here. Can't blame them I guess, but keep that in mind when you bash the "fill in the blank" for ticket prices, monopolizing shows (as if 9:30 by default doesn't already have a monopoly on certain size shows in this city), etc.
In the end, we, the fans with $$, determine how a market deals with performance spaces. I'd love to live in a city like NY that can support so many venues and bring every band under the sun there. Except I hate NY for every other reason. But those venues don't open up cause someone says "let's give the fans more opportunity to see great music." They open cause they see a chance to make more $$. End of story. The same way 9:30 can charge $5 or more for a miller light, or the Synagogue can rent it's space for performance.
Speaking of which, anyone can put on a show at the Synagogue, if you've got an idea why don't you make something happen instead of complaining about the people who do put shows on there. It is amazing how much complaining goes on by lazy people. Don't like it, fucking do something about it, or at least try.
I love 9:30, I love the Cat, the Hotel, LiveNation, all of them have a place. But there are pieces of all of them that make me sick too, about the biz in general that makes me sick. But I'm not gonna trash any of them for trying to make money, cause that it is a given in this industry. If you have a problem with that you shouldn't go see live music.
