The possibility of negative experiences is the danger of a Patron event too. It's easier for one person to ruin an "exclusive" event with only 9 other people, more likely to generate whining from people that have missed out and easier for the grumpy person to be the only one that actually has a blog. People arbitrarily selected for a hugely lavish "exclusive" event are strangely more likely to object to being treated as a glorified photo opportunity, delays and not liking one of the dishes on the 5* menu than people lured into a moderately exclusive nightspot by the promise of entertainment and selected free drinks if they and their friends can stomach the queues.

You can make more compelling YouTube videos of your branded live music event too.

The reality is that it all ultimately depends on whether you're trying for mass appeal or exclusivity.

So you're saying you would purposely invite fewer people to an event (even if that means a much higher cost per participant) in order to minimize negative reviews? That doesn't make very much sense to me.