Why Concerts Cost So Much
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https://www.vox.com/money/24159044/concert-tickets-ticketmaster-scalpers-expensive
The fact is, concerts have steadily gotten more expensive even on the primary market — the place where someone can originally buy tickets, like Ticketmaster — before any scalper upcharge is added. According to the live music trade publication Pollstar, the average ticket price of the top 100 music tours last year was $122.84. In 2019 it was $91.86 — a rise that outpaced inflation by a good margin. Back in 2000, it was $40.74. For the top 10 grossing tours in 2023, the average price was even higher: $152.97.
Though there are a number of factors involved in this price creep (including high fees, which a 2018 Government Accountability Office report says make up an average of 27 percent of the ticket’s total cost), the heart of the matter is simple: demand. People all over the world are clamoring to go to just a handful of the most popular artists’ concerts. Live Nation reported that 145 million people attended one of its shows in 2023, compared to 98 million in 2019. The momentum doesn’t appear to be slowing, with ticket sales in the first quarter of 2024 higher than they were this time last year.
and, one of the reasons is professional resellers
“Let’s say I want to see Taylor Swift in LA,” he explains. “As a normal fan, I enter the lottery one time with my one Ticketmaster account. Then you have a ticket broker who enters the Verified Fan lottery 20,000 times with 20,000 Ticketmaster accounts.”
Some options:
To deal with white-hot demand, artists can try to play more shows at the biggest venues. If that’s still not enough, artists and Ticketmaster often opt to hold a lottery where at least everyone has a fair shot at attending.
The secret third option to pour some water on fiery demand is not exactly popular, but it is simple: Make the tickets more expensive on the primary market.
I may have told this story before, but I went and saw Garth Brooks (US country singer) a few years ago, and his philosophy was the first option. When he would schedule a city to have his show in, if the show sold out, he would add another one and then another one, and so on until the demand had decreased. His tickets were (relatively) cheap also.
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I know back in the day, artists relied on album sales as their primary source of income. Back then concerts were reasonably priced with the advent of the Internet and the ability to download music, album sales have taken serious hits, and thus the concert venue has now become the performers, primary method of income. I can’t remember the last concert I have gone to as I stopped going when tickets started approaching $50 or more. It’s crazy now nowadays I know.
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I know back in the day, artists relied on album sales as their primary source of income. Back then concerts were reasonably priced with the advent of the Internet and the ability to download music, album sales have taken serious hits, and thus the concert venue has now become the performers, primary method of income. I can’t remember the last concert I have gone to as I stopped going when tickets started approaching $50 or more. It’s crazy now nowadays I know.
@NobodySock said in Why Concerts Cost So Much:
I know back in the day, artists relied on album sales as their primary source of income. Back then concerts were reasonably priced with the advent of the Internet and the ability to download music, album sales have taken serious hits, and thus the concert venue has now become the performers, primary method of income. I can’t remember the last concert I have gone to as I stopped going when tickets started approaching $50 or more. It’s crazy now nowadays I know.
Yep. Artists used to go on tour to boost album sales. Now they release recordings to engage and encourage people to come to their shows…
