The Well-Tempered Ear

Do local arts presenters discriminate against single people? Is it unethical or illegal?

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By Jacob Stockinger

The start of selling single tickets — rather than season subscriptions, which have been on sale since the spring — is coming up.

The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra starts selling them on this coming Monday, July 31, and the Madison Symphony Orchestra starts on Saturday, Aug. 19, both through the Overture Center box office (below), which will also start selling single tickets to Overture Presents events this Friday, July 28. The Madison Opera starts selling single tickets in September.

Do the Madison Symphony Orchestra and other arts presenters discriminate against single people when it comes to selling single or subscription tickets? And if they do, is it legal or illegal?

It may sound paradoxical, but the question is especially relevant because of demographics — specifically, the increasing number of single seniors and the growing trend among young people to stay single and marry later. And it certainly violates the principles of equity and equality. It also seems to violate good fiscal sense and the financial well-being of a business that is usually first-come, first served. Plus seating at a concert would seem a form of legally protected public accommodation.

A CASE STUDY

A veteran concert-goer and reader of this blog recalls the following incident from last spring:

“I spontaneously decided I might go to the Madison Symphony Orchestra concert with “Carmina Burana’ and Florence Price (Symphony No. 3). 

“I went to the website and saw a seat, one of a pair, in the orchestra section of Overture that looked good for $98. Plus, there was a $15 service fee.

“But when I selected that, I was told by the computer that it wasn’t for sale because it would leave the seat next to it empty.

“In other words, the MSO is doing so well that they can reject somebody buying a single ticket because they want to save the two tickets for a couple. So I just decided fuck it.

“It left me feeling that if I couldn’t easily buy the seat I wanted, why bother. There were other less ideal seats available.”

And so a $103 seat was lost to MSO’s revenue.

IS THE OVERTURE CENTER RESPONSIBLE?

To be fair, it might not be only the Madison Symphony Orchestra that is guilty of the practice.

The Ear heard from another reader who said a theater group in the Overture Center did the same thing. The reader could not remember details.

So it makes one curious to know if other resident groups in Overture — the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Madison Opera, Forward Theater, Children’s Theater of Madison, the Madison Ballet, Kanopy Dance and Li Chiao Ping Dance — do the same thing.

If so, then perhaps it is a policy of the Overture Center’s box office and the algorithm that its computer uses for selling tickets.

But that just shifts the discrimination, not corrects or prevents it.

SINGLISM

The practice of discriminating against single people — which may not be illegal but certainly seems unethical —  has even been given a name: singlism.

Singlism can be compared to racism, sexism and ageism, to discrimination based on religion and sexual orientation or gender identity. But single people are not legally protected classes under federal law and in many states.

Here is a definition:

https://www.multiamory.com/podcast/355-singlism-and-the-truth-about-being-single

I think Overture and all its resident groups receive public funds from the Wisconsin Arts Board, Dane Arts (formerly Dane County Arts Commission) and the Madison Arts Commission. 

It seems logical, then, to The Ear that some investigation by the city, county and state — perhaps the various Offices of Equal Opportunity — is in order and that some correction should be implemented immediately, given the upcoming sale of single tickets to single persons. At the very least, political leaders and government lawyers should weigh in on the ethics and legality of the issue.

Have you ever experienced similar discrimination?

Are you aware of others who have?

What do you think of the practice of refusing to sell certain tickets to a single person?

The Ear wants to hear.