An alternate business model
November 8th, 2011 | 
Author: Before I dive into this piece, I’d like to offer a disclaimer: this is purely an opinion piece, sharing some of my thoughts on the business of Salsa. I mean no criticism of any professional or group of professionals in the industry, in Hong Kong or elsewhere.
The general business model of salsa in Hong Kong is that the community is run by teacher/promoters. Teachers run studio classes, and they also run parties for which they hire DJs. Each teacher/promoter generally only hires the same DJs, with very few DJs working for multiple promoters.
I perceive a flaw in this system, in the form of a conflict of interest on the part of the teachers. Teachers have a vested interest in “training” students to prefer their parties. This reflects in the quality of teaching regarding musical appreciation, dance floor etiquette, dance technique… Basically, teachers want their students to feel they dance at their best when dancing at their teacher’s parties, with students that learned the same way, to music that they are familiar and comfortable with.
Consequently, we have a fractured salsa community, with cliques of dancers mostly attending only one promoter’s parties, not because those parties are better, but because they have no one to dance with if they go to other parties.
I would like to consider an alternate business model, that I have seen in effect to a greater or lesser extent in other cities around the world. What if individuals working in the salsa industry focused only on wearing one hat?
- Promoters: they would try to put together the best parties. The nicest venue, the best DJs they can get, the most charismatic teacher to lead the introduction class.
- Teachers: they would try to recruit as many students as possible (by attending the most parties, showing off their skills), and teach them as well as they possibly can (to have the students represent their teachers’ instruction)
- DJs: they would try to energize dancers as much as possible. The better the music they play, the better the likelihood of being hired again.
Such a model could foster healthy competition, that would drive all the people involved to improve themselves and the services they provide.
Posted in opinion