curious if y’all have any thoughts (other than “fuck ticketmaster”) regarding getting tickets for live shows. i have not been to a live rock concert in forever and with the cure announcing a new tour i looked into it… but by the time you add in fees etc… you end up doubling the cost to buy a seat. They tried to curb scalping by making tickets non-transferrable, and Robert Smith has stated publicly that the band was fighting costs & fees the whole time but they have basically no choice but to go through ticketmaster for any kind of large tour.
Back in the 70s, when I bought tickets it was generally through Ticketmaster. I remember calling up on the phone to buy tickets. Fees are higher, but what isn’t.
They are doing a good job on scalping. You have to present your phone to be scanned, no more paper tickets. One of the downsides to that is there are sites you can resell your tickets on, and those sites are really expensive. So I don’t know that the cure for scalping isn’t as bad as the disease.
If you want to get good tickets, you need to get in on the pre-sale. That’s a problem. It is easier to get tickets than in the past. But I remember the Eagles Hell Freezes Over tour tickets were $100+ before fees, so monetization isn’t new.
Part of the problem is Ticketmaster have the associated businesses tied in too. Big bands have tried to organise tours or festivals without these guys but then find that the venues are tied, practically everything down to the portapotties is tied to these evil scumbags.
It is an operating monopoly with no-one being able to break the links they have made and I fear it will take actual legislation to break the stranglehold they have been allowed to place on the entertainment industry.
If Bruce Springsteen can’t control the price of his own tickets, with Ticketmaster implementing dynamic ticket pricing, what chance have smaller acts got of making any impact on this situation?
They make a big show of wanting to target secondary sales and I believe that they do want other scalpers taken out of the equation. With dynamic ticket pricing however, all they have proved is that they want scalpers out of the way so that they can gouge the public’s pockets directly
Tickets should be sold at face value, not available for re-sale and if you can’t use the tickets they should be returned/refunded minus an admin charge for the original seller to re-issue at said face value. Anything else is just rank profiteering
So far this year I have tickets for Muse, Duran Duran, the Cure, and Depeche Mode. All in the same arena. Tickets for the Cure have been the least expensive ($63 after fees for one ticket, upper bowl)
So Robert Smith putting his foot down has made a difference.
Prince played the O2 in London quite a few years back. He put his foot down over what he considered to be extortionate ticket prices. Tickets were eventually priced at £29 each and every entrant was given a free copy of his latest CD.
This proves that artists can influence ticket prices but the question I find myself asking is how much influence do they actually choose to exert?
This is a complex topic. For Prince, who writes his own music and in fact owns his own record label, he has a guaranteed revenue source if he never plays a show. A lot of artists don’t control the rights to their own music, and make a living through concerts and merch. And even artists who do, like say Judas Priest, Rob Halford gets the royalties, and the bassist Ian Hill depends on touring to make money.
Then there’s the question of who is making the money. Take Babymetal, like them or not they are a money making juggernaut. Their first show in Europe was a festival, and they out sold Iron Maiden for merch that weekend. The girls however, get paid a salary. So they don’t see the gate or royalties. It’s a complex business. I will say their tickets are reasonably priced. Probably because they sell so much merch. Local shows were about $45 in 2019, with an arena was $60 with all the effects
Wow, a complex topic indeed and, it seems to me, can be quite unfair. How can Rob Halford receive all the royalties yet his Ian Hill has to tour to make money? Not sure I’d sign up for something like that (unless it’s another complex topic and nothing unusual).
I’m seriously curious about Babymetal now; I’d never heard of them until I read your post.
Rob writes the lyrics, not sure with the lineup changes who writes the music now, but whoever created the music or owns the rights if the composer sold them gets the royalties, the other musicians are more dependent on touring and merch
Worse than the mafia or a cartel, a bunch of greedy businessmen operating within the bounds of the law with carte blanche to charge what they like unchallenged.
The Root 