Then vs. Now – The Price of Rock + Metal Concert Tickets

Anybody that is been to a rock or metallic live performance lately is aware of that ticket costs are uncontrolled. Do you bear in mind how cheaply you can see an awesome present again within the day? It is perhaps stunning to see aspect by aspect simply how far more live performance tickets at the moment are than they have been then.

Heck, even earlier than post-pandemic inflation elevated the price of the whole lot, the price of live performance tickets had risen sharply. Bloomberg reported in 2019 that “ticket costs for live shows quadrupled within the final 20 years.” From the mid-’90s to 2019, the common ticket value went from slightly below $26 bucks to nearly $92. “Together with professional sports activities and Broadway exhibits, live performance costs have far outpaced inflation.” Bloomberg argues that as a result of albums gross sales from artists weren’t making them as a lot cash as they did in years previous, musicians upped the worth of tickets to their reside exhibits to recoup that misplaced earnings.

That is simply a part of the issue. The 2-headed monster of Ticketmaster and Stay Nation (the nation’s main ticket supplier and the nation’s main live performance promoter) are accused of gouging costs as a consequence of demand for reside experiences post-pandemic. Large “service charges,” which had been the gripe of concertgoers for a lot of the final decade, have been supplanted by complaints of the dynamic pricing model that Ticketmaster has lately employed for top demand exhibits.

“Dynamic pricing” implies that the face worth of a ticket can go up within the face of excessive demand. This turned the worth of a $400 Bruce Springsteen flooring seat into an eye-popping $5,000 mortgage fee. After Ticketmaster dropped the ball on promoting tickets to Taylor Swift‘s 2023 tour, they’re being investigated by the Justice Division for monopolistic practices. Hopefully the ticket shopping for public will see some motion on that early within the yr.

Till then, let’s look again on how good we had it. Take a look at some huge bands each of yesterday and immediately, and see how a lot ticket costs have gone by the roof.