The following was written as a part of an application for a small-business loan by a group of developers in the city of Monroe.

The following was written as a part of an application for a small-business loan by a group of developers in the city of Monroe.

A jazz music club in Monroe would be a tremendously profitable enterprise. Currently, the nearest jazz club is 65 miles away; thus, the proposed new jazz club in Monroe, the C-Note, would have the local market all to itself. Plus, jazz is extremely popular in Monroe: over 100,000 people attended Monroe’s annual jazz festival last summer; several well-known jazz musicians live in Monroe; and the highest-rated radio program in Monroe is ‘Jazz Nightly,’ which airs every weeknight at 7 P.M. Finally, a nationwide study indicates that the typical jazz fan spends close to $1,000 per year on jazz entertainment.”

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.

In the application for a loan to support a jazz music club, the author lists three reasons why it would be a profitable business. First, the market in Monroe is all to the proposed club since the nearest existed club is 65 miles away. Also, jazz is very popular in Monroe and the typical jazz fan spends about $1,000 per year for jazz entertainment. However, there are three questions to be answered before the application makes it convincible.

First of all, is 65 miles within the appropriate extent for this existed jazz club’s service or not? 65 miles is a huge distance only if you are facing poor transportation conditions. The transportation in Monroe may be wide enough to cover a distance of 65 miles. There may exist a freeway or even a railway connecting downtown and the existed jazz club. If the transportation is convenient, it is possible that a considerable part of residents in Monroe will still go to that jazz club instead of the proposed club. The author assumes that the jazz club which serves fans in Monroe is missing because of the distance of the nearest club. However, the author fails to prove that 65 miles is an unbearable distance. Therefore, he can’t assert that the market in Monroe is all to the proposed club.

Second, will a jazz club popular because jazz is popular in Monroe? The author lists plenty of evidences to show how popular jazz is in Monroe, yet that someone enjoys jazz music doesn’t mean he or she has to do it in a club. As the author mentioned, there are annual jazz festivals in Monroe, and a jazz radio program airing every weeknight. Thus, the residents may be already satisfied by these entertainments and have no interest in a jazz club. The author hasn’t made it clear that the popularity of jazz in Monroe will be equal to the popularity of a jazz club so this evidence is weakened.

Furthermore, how much does the expense by the typical jazz fan relate to the profits of a jazz club? Of course, $1,000 per year is not a small number but how much of it will be contributed to a jazz club’s income? A jazz fan may spend hundreds of dollars on a ticket or purchase plenty of CDs every year but is unwilling to consume in a jazz club. Also, even if the largest part of this $1,000 will be spent on the jazz club, is it comparable to the club’s annual costs? If a club will averagely spend $950 on each member, there is not much profit left. As a whole, only stating the dollars that a typical jazz fan spends per year can’t make it to the profits of the proposed jazz club. The author must attach more information such as the constituents of the expense and a typical jazz club’s operating costs.

In conclusion, the argument that a jazz music club in Monroe would be hugely profitable doesn’t hold water. Unless the author makes reasonable answers to the questions above, he or she will unlikely get the loan.