The Arts comprise one of the most labor-intensive of industries in our economy, accounting for the genteel poverty of the Arts. If the Arts industry could be made capital-intensive (from ALI to ACI: Arts Labor-intensive to Arts Capital- Intensive), its prospects and its future would change as they have for other capital-intensive industries.Hypothesis: The Arts "product" or service seems technically intangible, hence "throwing money at it" seems ineffectual. But if a selling product, such as a reviver-cum-testifier (reviving the experience and testifying to others as to your presence), could be coupled in a prosthetic or symbiotic relation with an artistic event or exhibit, then the capital-intensive nature of that RT (reviver- testifier) product (or whatever) might capital-intensively lift the Arts service in its (RT-)growth. (The relation is symbiotic if the capital-intensive "business" needs the Arts "business" for customers; otherwise, the relation is prosthetic for the Arts.)
But today effective technology thrives and becomes more effective and "friendlier". In particular, acceleration of this century's Iconic Revolution provides plenty of devices which dispense applicable icons (signs mirroring their references) -- as in photographs, fllms, sound recordings, TV projections, etc.
A foundation could be established for implementing MACI steps, for selling services to orchestral associations, museums, theaters, galleries, etc. to manufacture these RT products.
The "gimmick": To transform Pat and Pam Public from spectators into quasiparticipants in any artistic event they attend; then sell them RT products (reviving the experience, testifying to others as to its occurrence) of that quasiparticipation.
The "artistic experience", whether occurring in the performing or the exhibiting arts, is two-fold: (a) the gratification or "high" which Pat and Pam enjoy during this temporary contact, (b) later, the vicarious pleasure that Pat and Pam derive from testifying (by photos or whatever) to other people that "they were there". From time to time, Pat and Pam pull out copies of a Playbill or another type of program to revive, however faintly, that gratifying experience at the theater, concert, opera, museum, gallery, etc. And they inflict their photos and home movies and such upon friends and family. If both the revivifying and the testifying effects could be significantly magnified by effective iconic products, Pat and Pam would be willing to purchase them at "modest" prices.
Here's a model to emulate. Part of the billion-dollar "tourist package" involves the photographs, souvenirs, and other RT products of the experience, particularly to show off to family members and neighbors who couldn't make the trip. I'll sketch a comparison of the revenue involved.
Many movie theater proprietors of the past 50 years will verify that more revenue accumulates from popcorn, candy, drinks, etc., bought by filmgoers than from tickets sold. Similarly, I conjecture it can be shown that more revenue accumulates from tourist RT products than from the trip tickets (and possibly even from lodging fees). Some sports teams (baseball, football, basketball, etc.) make more from "collateral" products than from tickets. There is a "baseball team" in Maine that has a lucrative business of selling jackets, caps, etc., but still has not put together a team!
The first step toward MACI would be to investigate this thesis and (if supported) to articulate its economic multiplier effect, indicating how many other "marketers" would benefit. If confirmed, the second step is to factor out a spectrum of various RT products which could be sold to Pat and Pam Public during their attendance at artistic events and exhibits. I'll mention a few that occur to me because the associated technology seems so robust.
If Pat and Pam Public attend a symphony concert, an opera, a stage show, a museum, etc., they could buy a video or CD or visual-sonic CD-ROM as reviver and testifier of that experience. It can be personalized in various ways. By morphing, digital alteration, and associated tricks (as in Zelig, Forest Gump, and Coca-Cola TV ads), Pat and Pam can be placed in the orchestra or on the conductor's podium; on the opera or theater stage; among the most glamorous of the museum or gallery patrons, or even become part of a painting or a statue or museum exhibit, etc. (Visual reality promises a vaster frontier.) Using the sampling theorem of acoustical physics, a few notes of the voices of Pat and Pam can be sampled to make them appear (script supplied) to be singing in that opera or that musical or speaking in that play, or even giving personal timbre to the sounds of orchestral or jazz or rock instruments.
In five years, the state of the art for virtual reality may be such that Pat and Pam can, "at will", feel that they are "back in that experience" again. (The Science Book Club, in which I have membership, offered, for about $25, a book showing how to use hardware-bought equipment to make the glove and helmet-with-glasses needed, and how to write a computer program to activate this equipment.) Kenneth Branaugh recently predicted that, in a few years, non-animated, "peopled" films would be made by virtual reality without using human actors! (It's rumored that a "good" acting VR of Marilyn Monroe has been developed and may be exhibited to the public. Imagine a session in the future with a VR John Lennon performing with the live remaining Beatles. If sports stars become more expensive, I predict VR for baseball, football, etc.) I'll cite one economist who can support the RT "demand" aspect of my argument, and another economist to support its "supply" aspect (how accomplished).
Thorstein Veblen worked in the later days of the "Robber Barons" and at the time of the "Muckraking" journalists. His book, The Engineers and the Price System, was the inspiration of the technocrats. But his most influential book was The Theory of the Leisure Class in which Veblen developed his unique notion of "conspicuous consumption", arguing that people are more interested in the status conferred by their purchases than in their utilitarian value. So a given article or service can be more attractive if priced high enough to make it exclusive than if priced low. Veblen said that unskilled laborers emulate the consumption of semiskilled laborers, who in turn emulate the consumption of skilled laborers, with the emulation proceeding upwards. On the other hand, the wealthy leisure class develops tastes which filter down through the classes.
For "skill", substitute "artiness", for "wealthy leisure class", substitute the "stars" of the arts to describe the RT motivation for different levels of patrons of the arts.
Economic historian Alfred Chandler Jr. in his "path-breaking" book, The Visible Hand, 1977, says that the capital-intensive firms which have grown the most have exploited not only the classically known economies of scale but also economies of speed. ACI could hitch-hike on these economic developments in these big firms, adapting devices or techniques as soon as their feasibility is demonstrated. (The "path-breaking" phrase is from Business Organization and The Myth of the Market Economy, by William Lazonick, who devotes a chapter to Chandler's contributions and influence.)
Many economies of scale are intrinsic and can only be enjoyed by scale- magnification, so would not be available for MACI. But some are extrinsic and independent of size, only becoming "visible" at an extended stage, so could be available for MACI. Many of the economies of speed derive from the "electronic revolution" (soon to be the "photonic revolution" -- information processes at light speed), so would usually be available for MACI.
Perhaps you know of other technical tricks or devices which could be used in personalizing testifiers of visits to artistic events or exhibits. Perhaps you can remember or find arguments from economists or experts in some other field to bolster a proposal for a grant or to persuade investors.
As the "Hardware Revolution" revs on, now or next year, facilities the size of a college recording studio (perhaps, because of "The Hardware Revolution", at cheaper cost) could provide an arts institution with the equipment for quick, relatively cheap creation of an RT product that Pat and Pam would buy.
If you care about THE ARTS, or grace and beauty in our society, I CHALLENGE you to contribute to this effort.