As more artists have started going on tour, ticket prices have been on the rise, especially due to dynamic pricing. Dynamic pricing is the tactic of raising prices the more people purchase tickets, and then lowering the prices once the demand dies down. Many artists have started to use this due to the high demand for their tickets. Some artists, including Taylor Swift and Oasis, decided to turn off dynamic pricing in order for there to be fair ticket prices. Due to this, ticket prices have reportedly risen by 42% since the pandemic.
Dynamic pricing has also been used for booking hotels, airline tickets, ride sharing apps, like Uber, and even food prices. These prices will surge if there is a lot of demand due to a large event coming to town, or it’s a holiday weekend.
Ticketmaster initially introduced dynamic pricing to stop ticket scalpers from reselling overpriced tickets. People thought that at least with dynamic pricing, the money from ticket sales will go to the artists and not to scalpers. However, this has seemed to have gone out of control, with ticket prices rising to over $100 for just a single nosebleeds ticket. Dynamic pricing also has not stopped scalpers from overpricing tickets. With Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, resellers were selling tickets for over a thousand dollars each.
In 1996, the average price per ticket was $28.51, or roughly $51 today due to inflation. Now, tickets cost on average $135.92 per ticket. Ticket prices have constantly been on the rise, but now more than ever with dynamic pricing.
You may be wondering why your favorite artist is using dynamic pricing because they seem to love their fans. Well, artists have teams of tens to hundreds of people helping with the tour, including dancers, backup singers, musicians, bus drivers, etc. . . These people all get paid by the artist, which takes money out of what the artist earns from ticket sales each show.
In order for these artists to be able to afford to pay their crew, they need to get the money from dynamic pricing. Especially if it is a newer artist who hasn’t been in the industry for very long. Artists get paid barely any money from streaming services like Spotify, or Apple Music. In order for them to actually make a living they have to be able to go on tour and earn ticket sales. This causes artists to agree to use dynamic pricing.
Live Nations Lawsuit
In May of 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice and 30 other state and district attorneys tried to deal with all of this by suing Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation. Live Nation has ownership over more than 265 venues in North America, including Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall. It also generates more than $22 billion annually across the globe. Its revenue is derived from concerts (venues & promotions), ticket sales (Ticketmaster), and sponsorships. The DOJ alleged that Live Nation had a monopoly over the “live event sector”. It reportedly violated Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, which prohibits monopolization or attempts to monopolize.
Ticketmaster is responsible for almost 80% of the ticketing industry. This leaves artists with very little options to sell their tickets, causing them to have to resort to their high prices. The lawsuit’s goal is to then restore Ticketmaster’s competition in order to restore lower prices and to let more musicians or performers perform at venues.
Additional Fees
Many fans want to go see their favorite artists in person, but most aren’t willing to pay more than $500 for a decent seat, especially if they have to travel to the show. Travel costs have also impacted ticket prices. Hotels and airlines will jack up prices in a specific location if they know that there will be an influx of people traveling into the city. The impact of expensive travel costs makes fans not want to spend as much money on their ticket, because they are already dumping $300 on a hotel room and another $300 on flights.
Merchandise prices have also risen, with just a simple t-shirt being $40 and hoodie being up to $70. Merch also has to be factored into a fans budget when buying concert tickets, because they want to have some memorabilia to remember the concert that they went to. Merchandise lines have also been something that affects concert-goers. The merch lines at concerts can stretch on for what seems like forever, causing people to end up waiting in line for multiple hours in order to get over-priced clothing.
