richard, your comment led me to the kennedy center and prices. for rich tastes, which is five of the six shows i checked, tickets for october are about $60-$150 and have more than 50% open. for poor peoples performances, ethnic, regional, song and dance (not ballet) they are $10-$15 for balcony and are sold out.  11M people went last year, i would bet most are repeats every month and the elite use the prices to ensure they dont have to rub elbows. 2B people watch taylor swift on youtube. millions watch a guy named onisionspeaks and millions more watch peppa pig math cartoons. absolutely an ego enhancing effort for the rich. tks