The followers are preventing once more. Followers of artists like Harry Types and BTS reported seeing ticket costs properly over $1,000 for seats — and that’s when shopping for tickets instantly, not solely resale websites.
The price of attending a live performance has skyrocketed in recent times, making it nearer to a luxurious buy than a interest. We are able to partially blame the pandemic for jacking up the price of operating an enormous manufacturing. And, as all the time, we will blame resellers for getting up low cost tickets and promoting them again to us for exponentially extra.
However the base worth of a ticket now appears to be like oddly just like that inflated resale worth. Why? And is there any quantity we gained’t pay to see our favourite artist carry out reside?
On Right now, Defined, co-host and avid concertgoer Astead Herndon dug into these questions with Taylor Mims, a Billboard editor who covers the reside leisure business. They focus on the behind-the-scenes prices of touring, why costs gained’t come down, and whether or not a breaking level is on the horizon.
Under is an excerpt of the dialog, edited for size and readability. There’s far more within the full podcast, so take heed to Right now, Defined wherever you get podcasts, together with Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.
I just lately learn that Harry Types was charging $1,000 for a live performance ticket. No beef with Harry Types, however that looks as if a surprising worth. Are you able to inform me what’s happening right here?
$1,000 is some huge cash for a ticket. But when we’re being fully sincere, it’s pretty typical for these huge excursions at this level to search out tickets within the $1,000s, $2,000, and so on., particularly for these actually beneficial seats. It’s been slowly going up over time, but it surely actually grew to become regular following the Covid-19 pandemic. Concert events had been so in demand, nonetheless are in demand, and other people actually wish to be there. They’ll pay good cash to have a superb seat at a superb live performance.
I hear what you’re saying, however provide and demand was true earlier than the pandemic too. What precisely has modified to make this course of a lot extra sticky?
Individuals have found out that there’s a approach to get in that queue and make a bunch of cash off of those tickets. It’s develop into its personal market. Ticket resellers get in there, purchase these tickets at a low worth, after which mark it up as a lot as they probably can for the secondary market. Resell that ticket, and that’s their entire revenue proper there. It’s not that tough to make a bunch of cash off of those live shows.
However now we’re seeing large ticket costs from the unique sellers like Ticketmaster. Who units that preliminary worth for a ticket, and who ought to I be blaming right here?
That’s going to be between the artist and the agent or the promoter. One of many huge issues that occurred over the course of the pandemic is that we misplaced a number of good employees, a number of good crew, as a result of they couldn’t earn a living when live shows had been shut down and the value of all the pieces has gone up. So the value of touring — that may very well be a crew, provides, journey — has gone up, and in order that makes the value of the ticket go up as properly. These artists need to recoup prices sooner or later.
“It’s not slowing down — it’s solely getting worse.”
And if you’re telling a fan it’s going to price you this a lot to get into the door, they count on a present. So on high of that, which means extra rehearsal time. It prices some huge cash for these large productions. Loading out and in of a stadium present is extremely costly, and so is hauling all that stuff throughout the nation, throughout oceans. So there’s a number of prices which have made it costlier simply to be a touring artist.
Is it additionally that artists are seeing these excessive resale costs and assume, Hey, if individuals are going to pay it, would possibly as properly. I imply, might this simply be a case of artists prioritizing backside line over fan accessibility?
Sure, but in addition it’s not essentially that they’re prioritizing the underside line over the fan. It’s that they know the fan’s going to pay that worth both method, so that cash would possibly as properly go to them. In the event you’re promoting a ticket for $200, but it surely’s going to go for $1,000 on a secondary market, in the event you elevate that ticket worth to $500, it’s rather a lot much less worthwhile for the ticket reseller, and that fan was going to pay that worth anyway, if no more.
What’s the recourse for followers who really feel like $1,000 for a reside live performance is likely to be an excessive amount of?
One of many issues that’s taking place throughout the nation proper now could be {that a} bunch of various states try to implement rules on this as a result of it has gotten actually out of hand. And so that you’ll see just lately in California, in New York, what they’ve launched are resale caps. When any person buys a face-value ticket, if, for no matter motive, they’ll’t go, they’ll resell that ticket for not more than 10 p.c above face worth.
And what that does is take the wind fully out of the resale market, as a result of that makes it a lot much less profitable to be on this job, to be doing this for a profession. It’s very attainable. However just one state thus far has handed the ticket resale cap, which is Maine.
Do you assume there will probably be a tipping level the place followers might say, “Hey, we’ve had sufficient,” and this highway we’re on reverses course or not less than slows down?
I undoubtedly assume if we’re not there but, we’re getting very shut. It’s not slowing down — it’s solely getting worse. And I do assume that this laws is admittedly going to inform us the place we’re at as a result of we’ve had nearly 10 states introduce these resale caps. Even simply a few years in the past, you couldn’t even get these payments mentioned as a result of there’s a lot lobbying cash in opposition to it. So if we see extra states capable of move this, that ought to inform you proper there that the tide is popping.
