The financial side of Libera

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maartendas
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The financial side of Libera

Post by maartendas »

The concert programme of Epsom has some text on the back about the costs and financial picture of Libera. I'll quote it here in full and then share some thoughts it raised by me.

The text is as follows:

"Libera is a non-profit charity registered in the United Kingdom, and as such is wholly dependent on the generous financial support of its private listeners around the world. Without this support we would be unable to hold public concerts of this nature. The cost of training and touring is close to £5,000 per chorister per year, most of which is not recovered through royalties, ticket or album sales, or tour advances. If you wish to consider supporting Libera, or know of someone who might, we would be delighted to hear from you at office@Libera.org.uk. Thank you."

The figure of 5,000 shocked me but maybe I'm just naive. It made me think of all the cash just standing there on stage :shock:

The whole thing of having this text in the program booklet seems to me to be a plea for help. It sounds not just like any other charity who simply always asks for extra money, but really like a group in need. And it's right below a wonderful collage of pictures from their concerts called "Libera around the world" and you're not going to tell me that these two (the collage and the text about the money) were put on the same page by accident.

Now, the difficult thing about this is - Libera has loads of fans, but try as we might, buying CDs and tickets to their shows apparently does not substantially help them with their financial needs. They need donations next to that. But will devoted fans be able to give them? Ofcourse, every small donation helps, but like I said, the whole text to me came across as basically saying "we need more than that, in order to keep doing what we do." (especially considering the fact they mention the figure of £5,000) And this at a time when Libera seems to progress once more in terms of musical achievement and making new fans.

I spent about £400 for my London trip altogether - travel, accommodation, concert and food and drinks etc. So, for roughly every 12 fans willing to spend as much in order to see the boys live, one chorister - just one - could be supported financially to perform live. All this money that goes into seeing Libera tour, and yet they are still in financial need. It makes me worry, and wonder whether Libera will ever go commercial, in order to survive, and also whether fans would be more supportive if they stayed home and donated instead of traveling across the world to see them.

Just some thoughts...
You raise me high beyond the sky
Through stormy night lifting me above
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