With the ever growing number of tours this year, fans are expected to pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars, just to see their favorite artist. What is causing this rapid increase in concert prices, and why have we shifted from reasonably priced tickets?
Ticketmaster, founded in 1976, originally served as a licensing company for computer systems and sold hardware for ticketing systems. In 2010, the operator and ticket manager, Live Nation Entertainment, merged with Ticketmaster Entertainment. This marked the beginning of Ticketmaster’s reign as the official ticket vendor for events.
There are so many factors that are affecting the raise in prices. As you can assume, inflation has a considerable weight, but there are other underlying causes.
In 2020, the world was hit with the pandemic, leaving people stranded and economies damaged. When large public gatherings stopped in 2019 and 2020, many artists were forced to take a step back from their tours for health and safety issues. As a result of this, many truck drivers left the concert business. To get these workers back into the business, wages had to be increased to entice drivers to return to their original positions. This in turn, directly leads to higher ticket prices.
Inflation also plays a role, as it affects everything around us. Not just the gas for travel, but hotel accommodations, and stage production was also impacted. Fans are simply expecting more now and want to feel immersed in the experience. Having an artist sing on stage with a band behind them playing is simply not cutting it anymore as fans expect lights, visuals, and surprise aspects in the stage.
Despite all these factors, Ticketmaster is not the only company to blame. While yes, they have absurd fees after the tickets have been purchased, the artist and their label are the ones pricing the original tickets.
Though it is likely that a label has more control, the artist still has some leverage. Artists like Beyonce and Taylor Swift likely have more leverage than a smaller artist, but they still need approval through their label. These tickets are known as “face-value” tickets and are not surged as much as resale. Even though artists do not have control over the price of resale tickets, they do have the choice to not allow reselling, which many artists do not do. It’s simple supply and demand.
Senior Brianna Salasblanca says she paid $800 in resale for two tickets to see Taylor Swift at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. Junior Hayley Black paid $250 face value each to sit in a partially obstructed view seat for the same event. Sophomore Peyton Moser paid $330 face value each to sit in the 200s.
All in all, we should not expect to see a decrease in concert prices anytime soon unless there is a change in our ticketing systems. If your favorite artist went on tour, how much would you spend to see them?
