Global concert magazine Pollstar found the $28.50 average it cost in 1996 to see the likes of KISS and Garth Brooks would now cost an average of around $108 to attend one of today’s 100 biggest concerts.
Blame the Eagles. I remember the outrage when their tickets for their Hell Freezes Over were super high, but fans paid it, which made it clear to promoters and ticket sellers that if you charge more, the fans will still pay it. And thus began the skyrocketing of ticket prices.
I blame Ticketmaster for helping to create all of these extra "fees" that mainly benefit the promoters and the venues, and Ticketmaster. They're listed on the Stock Market now, and none of this will ever be put back in the bottle. The genie is permanently out of the bottle. But the band's take of the ticket price, is still relatively affordable, for the cheap seats (and there are exceptions as wee al know). However, adding in the all the fees.... Not affordable like it used to be in the 70's. Even with inflation factored in, it just costs more to see an artist.
Yes. Along with Rod Stewart, whose '93 unplugged tour introduced tiered pricing to rock concerts. Prior to which, first come first serve on the best seats. Soon after which, the "economy" seats ~ first marketed as the trade-off in the fans' favor ~ were themselves more than a standard ticket would've been. But now looked like a bargain compared to the limitlessly escalating "gold circle" prices. No reversing this scam once it took root. Though it took a few years to proliferate.
Ticketmaster, Eagles, collapse of income from sales, take your pick. Allowing Ticketmaster to exist with little to no competition and ‘dynamic pricing’ are just icing on the cake. I really look at ticket pricing and, if it exceeds a certain amount of other concerts, then I choose not to go. For example, Aerosmith’s residency in Vegas when I was last there. When O saw how much decent seats were going for, let’s just say I just didn’t go to see them.
It's the collusion between venues and TM. Needs congress to look into this....It's very near a monopoly. As I understand the venues and hence acts are locked in with TM. Of course bands can move to lesser venues but the idea of playing for the people is long gone and only the myth of music for people remains...barely! Bands are hiding behind this fact and cashing huge checks and keeping quiet for the most part. Geez even streaming a concert will cost well over $30!
Feels like prices have really gone up the last 10 years. For instance: when I saw Spice Girls 15 years ago, their top price was about $125 or so... and that seemed crazy expensive. Now those same "elite seats" would be twice that, if not more. For top-level acts, it's become next to impossible to get good tickets for under $200 - and it's usually a lot more.
I just bought tickets for my daughter to see Metallica in Chicago in August. I hate to admit that I just followed a link that she sent me and didn't pay attention to what I was doing. Turns out they were $800 for the pair! Not the end of the world, but I later looked at the email a little more closely and saw that the show is in 2024, not 2023! Who sells tickets for a show 20 months away?
All I can say as someone in my 50s I can say I've seen just about all of my favorite acts before prices became ridiculously out of control. I DID pay the outrageous price to see the Eagles in 94, but most if us thought this would be an exception. We were wrong.
It’s interesting that if you look at the history of Super Bowl tickets when they started in 1967 and for about 15-20 years they were about an. inflation-adjusted $100. Then they began to creep up in late 1980s. In 1996 they took on modern pricing practices and began jumping several hundred adjusted dollars a year. Now they are about $8,800
That seemed to be the first tour where I saw the prices at the time and my jaw dropped. After that it was full sail ahead for others.
Many bands used to make little money from touring, but it was useful to help promote the album. Then the internet ruined the music business. Now many bands make little money from their albums and touring is where the money is.
That was the beginning of it, to my knowledge. Those post Live-Aid tours by the mega bands (Genesis in 1986; Pink Floyd in 1987, and others) were pretty much the last time you could see bands of that pedigree for not all that much $. If it's any consolation, the situation will probably a lot different in 10 years or so. Why? Because all/almost-all of the boomer bands will be gone/retired, and the number of bands formed in the 1980s/1990s/2000s who can command megabucks for tickets will be very small. Probably the most popular contemporary pop artists will be able to charge huge $ now going forward, no matter what year it is, but the future to me looks like just a handful of very expensive acts and then everything else pretty affordable. The 2000s bands that millennials will look to for nostalgia in 10 years just never had the same degree of name recognition and big sales that the 1970s/1980s bands did.
This^ Bands used to sell vinyl, cassette's, CD's and tours were to promote the album and maybe break even. Ticketbastard has pretty much ruined everything, except for the few percent.
In 1987, you could see a Grateful Dead three-night stand for $45 ~ $15 a night, and no surcharges to my memory (maybe $1 a ticket?). High school & college kids could afford it.
Yep! Used to see Grateful Dead on the beach in Ventura. You could be all in for a 3 day run for ~$100!!! Grateful Dead ticket office mail order really cool looking tickets at face value!
The bands are locked in with Ticketmaster because all they have to do is sit back and collect a check and don’t have to do any heavy lifting or assume any risk. The thing is, an attitude that bands should keep tickets cheap to “play for the people” or “bring music to the people” is kind of naive. These folks are professional musicians and they’re not into vows of poverty for their art and they’re looking to maximize their income and the only real income stream these days is touring. Is what it is.
