Toby Parks

softer demand for service providing businesses.

Yeah, thanks for having me, Kai.

You know, we're very fortunate that we are doing quite well here in Des Moines, Iowa.

But I can't say that that is necessarily the case for other independent venues across the country.

It's been kind of a hard road post pandemic for a number of reasons.

But, you know, we're doing OK.

We're hanging in there.

I wish we were every Friday or Saturday night.

But, you know, really one of the big issues that we're facing is, you know, I think we in the independent sector are really trying to remake the connection with music fans.

I think, you know, a lot of times due to the secondary ticket market and ticket scalpers, you know, people have gotten used to it feeling like they're going crazy.

to battle to get a ticket to see their favorite artists.

So I think a lot of times they're not really thinking like, Oh, I can spend 20 bucks and go to my, my local music venue in their own communities, in their own neighborhoods.

It actually is.

You would be surprised.

When people are in a position where they're paying literally hundreds or thousands of dollars for this one big concert, they're not going and spending $20.

They're saving every dime that they can to go to this big concert.

So that really is a huge part of some of the things that we're battling is just trying to figure out where we fit in in people's entertainment budgets if they have one.

Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, when people are paying exorbitant gas prices, I mean, that's hard not only from the venue perspective because there's less money in people's pockets, but I would say, you know, from the artist perspective even, you know, there's a lot of concern about artists being able to afford to actually be able to go on tour.

So, you know, we're fighting a lot of things.

On top of, we as concert promoters and venue owners, you know, we make most of our money from concessions and people, you know, buying drinks at the bar.