Simon's travel theorem and the demand for live music

This paper extends Herbert Simon's Travel Theorem to the market for live music. It is also designed to provoke interest in using the method of subjective personal introspection in economic analysis. Music is a structured flow of information and is readily stored for flexible and convenient use. Live music performances involve many costs that can be avoided by listening to recorded music, yet a significant market for live music still exists. Subjective personal introspection is used here to identify characteristics of live music performances that cannot be offered by recordings. Particular attention is given to psychological, social and ritualistic aspects, and to different opportunities for risk taking and risk management that the two modes of consumption present.

[1]  John F. Sherry,et al.  The Sacred and the Profane in Consumer Behavior: Theodicy on the Odyssey , 1989 .

[2]  T. W. Hutchison,et al.  Knowledge and ignorance in economics , 1977 .

[3]  T. W. Hutchison,et al.  The Significance and Basic Postulates of Economic Theory: A Reply to Professor Knight , 1941, Journal of Political Economy.

[4]  S. Gould.  The Self-Manipulation of My Pervasive, Perceived Vital Energy through Product Use: An Introspective-Praxis Perspective , 1991 .

[5]  Simon During,et al.  The Cultural Studies Reader , 1993 .

[6]  M. Holbrook,et al.  Some Exploratory Findings on the Development of Musical Tastes , 1989 .

[7]  J. Bettman.  An information processing theory of consumer choice , 1979 .

[8]  E. Hirschman,et al.  Postmodern Consumer Research: The Study of Consumption as Text , 1992 .

[9]  E. Hirschman,et al.  The Experiential Aspects of Consumption: Consumer Fantasies, Feelings, and Fun , 1982 .

[10]  H. Simon,et al.  Models of My Life , 1991 .

[11]  Linda L. Price,et al.  River Magic: Extraordinary Experience and the Extended Service Encounter , 1993 .

[12]  Richard L. Celsi,et al.  An Exploration of High-Risk Leisure Consumption through Skydiving , 1993 .

[13]  Lawrence A. Berger.  Economics and Hermeneutics , 1989, Economics and Philosophy.

[14]  S. Gould,et al.  Researcher Introspection as a Method in Consumer Research: Applications, Issues, and Implications , 1995 .

[15]  An Audiovisual Inventory of Some Fanatic Consumer Behavior: the 25-Cent Tour of a Jazz Collector's Home , 1987 .

[16]  Morris B. Holbrook,et al.  Consumer Research: Introspective Essays on the Study of Consumption , 1995 .

[17]  Amitai Etzioni,et al.  The Moral Dimension: Toward a New Economics , 1989, Journal of Marketing.

[18]  M. Holbrook.  I'm Hip: an Autobiographical Account of Some Musical Consumption Experiences , 1986 .

[19]  Merrie Brucks,et al.  Introspection in Consumer Research: Implementation and Implications , 1993 .

[20]  Dennis W. Rook.  The Ritual Dimension of Consumer Behavior , 1985 .

[21]  Peter E. Earl.  Lifestyle economics : consumer behavior in a turbulent world , 1986 .

[22]  T. Scitovsky.  THE DESIRE FOR EXCITEMENT IN MODERN SOCIETY , 1981 .

[23]  Grant Mccracken.  Who Is the Celebrity Endorser? Cultural Foundations of the Endorsement Process , 1989 .

[24]  J. McAlexander,et al.  Subcultures of Consumption: An Ethnography of the New Bikers , 1995 .

[25]  Peter E. Earl,et al.  The Elgar Companion to Consumer Research and Economic Psychology , 1998 .

[26]  Stephen Brown.  The Wind in the Wallows: Literary Theory, Autobiographical Criticism and Subjective Personal Introspection , 1998 .