My hifi is probably a good investment in terms of fewer concert tickets bought. FBOFW.
Concert Ticket Prices - Not a Rant - Just an Observation
I’m not a major concert-goer. I do look for new bands playing small venues and I enjoy those. Some of these are as low as $15. Some as high as $50. I recently saw Marcus King at a tiny venue. Tickets were $90.
I haven’t seen a band in a large venue in ages.
I recently ’discovered’ a band that I was blown away by. Came across them on YouTube. They’re called The Red Clay Strays. They are relatively new from a recognition standpoint. I figured I’d look up their tour dates and maybe find a concert in a small-ish venue.
Well, my first surprise is that this band has already hit the big time. I ’discovered’ them a year too late. They are already playing civic arena sized venues almost exclusively.
I figured that since they’re coming to a couple of cities near me I’d go to a show. That’s when I got my second surprise. They’re ticket prices are in the $350-500 range. Yes, there are some for around $175 but most of those are single seats in the nose bleed sections of civic arenas.
I’ve heard that Taylor Swift and Springsteen tickets are $1000+.
I looked up Rush tickets and they’re in the $350-600 range.
I got to thinking about ticket prices. I went to see a lot of concerts in high school and college. Early to mid 80s. I remember seeing the big bands like Foreigner and Journey, often with 2 opening acts for $12.50. That never seemed like too much even for a high school kid with no allowance and an after school job for cash. An AI search indicates that that was indeed the typical price for big artists even bands like The Who, Fleetwood Mac and Rush.
A Google search indicates that $12.50 in 1982 was about like $80 is now. But tickets for the big acts are not $80. They are 4-8 times more than that now. That’s quite a phenomenon that vastly out paces inflation.
That brings me back to seeing the Red Clay Strays. They’re coming to my area in October. They usually sell out. Tickets for these shows were moving fast almost 4 months before the show.
My wife and I decided to go. We have some old friends, two couples, who also love this band and who have been extremely generous to us over the years. We decided to get six tickets and treat them to the show. We could not find six seats in a row at any price. Even as we browsed seats were disappearing. We finally found 4 seats in a row with two right behind them.
We bought the six tickets. Good seats too. Our friends are thrilled and we are thrilled to repay some of their kindness to us. It will be great to see them and get together for this.
Yes ticket prices are shocking even for a new act like the Red Clay Strays which, in fairness seem to have hit it big. But their shows are selling out and a tight wad like me bought six of them.
So it seems like they are charging what the market will bear.
Hope they put on a good show.
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Ticket prices have definitely increased a ton. It was explained to me by a couple of friends who are in the biz. The two main reasons why event pricing has increased are the advent of ticket companies ie Ticket Master and the biggest factor is that performers aren’t getting anywhere near the money from album sales, so they have to get from somewhere. Streaming services pay very little to performers and that’s why they charge us so little. 😁 |
+1 @mapman |
Concert ticket pricing has been terrible the last several years. Ticketmaster, AXS, and Live Nation have pretty much locked down the market. Every Live Nation owned venue uses Tickemaster because they're essentially the same company. They utilize dynamic pricing and block out sections of tickets in certain venues/markets for resellers/corporate/VIP situations. Some artists have tried to push back on that situation but don't have much control unless they're heavy hitters. Even smaller venues have raised prices simply because they have to. Artists make diddly squat from streaming, and many can only afford to do limited tours, which means fewer venue options for touring revenue. I recently went to see the New Pornographers play a small venue in Baton Rouge, and it was $75/ticket. The place may have held 200 people. 4 years ago I saw the same band at Tipitina's in New Orleans, and ticket prices were $50. The last big arena show I went to was Radiohead's 2016 Moon Shaped Pool tour. Tickets were $150 for the nosebleed section. Meanwhile, I saw New Order's 2023 NOLA show at a mid-sized venue that seats 1800 people. Tickets were $90 through artist presale, while the secondary ticket prices were $300! Thankfully I got the presale price. I also recently saw an article where several top artists were canceling shows due to slow or disappointing ticket sales because they booked venues that were too big to sell out and prices were insane. The last few years, I've been selective about the artists I want to see live because I know they put on a great show and won't cost a mortgage payment. I also happen to live in Louisiana where music festivals of every shape and size happen year-round. Jazz Fest - despite climbing ticket prices is still a great value for the number of acts you can see on a day or weekend. Festival International is completely free, and you can see acts from around the world that you won't ever see touring stateside. Where I live now in Lafayette, the venue options for the bands I like are practically non-existent. Even if we did have the venues, the market is so small it's not worth doing a show. I still try to go to Jazz Fest if the lineup is worth the effort for a weekend trip back to NOLA. In the meantime, I've resigned myself to watching mediocre "live" shows on youtube if I'm interested enough. Otherwise I just enjoy listening to music on my system at home. |
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