high concert ticket prices

by beelissa Apr 24, 2006 1:52AM PDT

Okay, I'll agree that this might be a business model: charging higher prices to defray the cost of sales lost to file sharing, but I think it's a bad idea.

I'm sick of the prices for concerts. I can't remember the last time I went to one. It's just not part of my life anymore, because I just can't afford it. No matter what genre, and there are several I'd be willing to attend a concert of, the prices are just prohibitive, for the most part. My husband says this is because of the prices the arenas charge. I think it's also because they think they have to spend so much on effects and big shows instead of just playing their music.

I do buy music, and I think this is the way most people support the artists they like. Because music is affordable. If artists are looking at concerts as a way to make their music more available or more well-known, or to sell other stuff like t-shirts, they will need to lower the prices, or expect only those with lots of money to participate in that part of their business model.

They should try lowering the cost of the concerts and see what happens. My guess is, people would attend, buy more music, and be more interested in buying even more music after they went home from the concert. But when they see the high prices, they think the artist is already so rich that it won't matter if they download music for free, or they can't afford to buy any more music now that they've paid for the concert ticket, so they download it for free.

This has been a pet peeve of mine for awhile. Thanks for letting me rant.

Discussion is locked

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Couldn't have said it any better myself.

by barret55 Apr 24, 2006 2:10AM PDT

I wholeheartedly agree that concert ticket prices are getting way out of hand. The last concert I went to was back in October, when the Rolling Stones came to play. If I had been the one to pay for the tickets, there was no way I would have gone (4 tickets cost over $750, and they weren't even the good seats!).

If the ticket prices were cheaper, I agree with you in that more people would probably go to the concert, thus increasing music and souvenir sales.

-Terry

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agreed

by erlk Apr 24, 2006 2:10AM PDT

the ticket prices are going crazy!
I think paying over $20 for a single ticket is a complete rip-off. After I went to see Disturbed for $35 I honestly dont feel like paying so much money any more. Dont get me wrong - I loved the show, but it bugs me that I have to pay so much just to see the artists I like live. $65 ticket to Perl Jam is definately out of the question. I think I'm going to get a good surround sound, a DVD with their concert, and a few friends to watch that with me; and I'm quite convinced that it could be more enjoyable rather than seeing them live.

Fez

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$20 a ticket . . .

by beelissa Apr 24, 2006 3:30AM PDT

... sounds like a bargain, for big name bands (I know that's not what you were talking about).

I was trying to remember. I went to several concerts in the Syracuse Carrier Dome when I was there in college -- big names: The Who, Springsteen. I remember camping out on the street overnight to try and get Springsteen tickets and having them sold out before I got inside to buy them. Then they did some mail order thing for extra seats that opened up after they decided how to re-arrange the seats, and I got some. I'm thinking I spent $25 per ticket, but I might be wrong. To me this is about the max I can consider paying, and to me as someone who is now in my 40s, this seems reasonable since I remember once paying that for big name concerts. But :::sigh::: no more.

I actually won tickets to see the Who, from a radio station contest. That's why I can't remember the price, I guess.

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$25 20 years ago ...

by erlk Apr 24, 2006 4:16AM PDT

that was probably quite a lot of money!
As of right now I found a few local bands that are pretty good, and their concerts are normally between $6 and $10, and sometimes even free. That's a way for me to listen to live music and not pay too much

Fez

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Some ticket prices have hit the ceiling already

by drivechevysordie Apr 24, 2006 5:01AM PDT

Last week I bought four Madonna tickets per request by my sister and they were $99 each. $60 tickets were impossible to get so I ended up with $99 ones and they were nearly impossible to get hold of. I spent 45 minutes frantically redialing as well as refreshing my browser to get them. Also ticketmaster charges $12 service fee per ticket on top of that.

I guess I felt slightly better when I looked up similar ticket on ebay and saw just a pair tickets being sold for $350 for seats not as good as ones I've got.

I just think paying this much money for concert seems obscene to me. Do anyone of you agree or am I just being cheap?

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And then there's the service fees....

by thatcherm Apr 24, 2006 5:10AM PDT

This weekend I bought tickets to a show through TicketMaster and paid $22 in ''convenience'' and ''processing'' fees. Granted, this show is certain to sell out, in which case I probably would have paid the $22 to a scalper anyway. But still: I pay you $22 just for selling me your product?! Come on!

In my college days when I had more time than money I'd go to the venue box office to buy my tickets in advance. Nowadays I not only don't have as much time, but many of venues for moderately well-known acts (in San Francisco at least) charge you a $1-$3 convenience/processing fee if you want to buy tickets at the box office at any time before the show. Meaning there is no possible way to pay face value for a ticket unless you wait until the night of the show, at which time the show is likely sold out.

Frankly, I'd rather pay a higher ticket price than feel like I'm being nickled and dimed with all these stupid fees.

/rant

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So how do they keep charging?

by acedtect Apr 24, 2006 8:51AM PDT

The artists make almost all their money off the concerts form what I've read. They make very little off the recording sales.

But if the prices are too high, how is it they keep selling out? I hate paying that much and I don't but there are enough fanatics that will pay almost any price, the it keeps the price high. If they didn't make money off it I doubt the prices would stay that high for long.

I'm not casting stones either. I pay waaaaaaaay to much money into major league baseball who has a very love/hate relationship with its fans. But I enjoy enough to do so.

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Album sales vs. Concert sales

by TicketGuyChris Jan 5, 2015 1:42PM PST

It's true, top artist gross 2-3 times more money on concert revenue vs. album sales.
Just look at these artists from 2010
U2 $219m $391m
Bruce Springsteen $144m $443m
Britney Spears $299m $196m

high concert ticket prices

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