Over the past years, frequent concertgoers have felt the sting of inflation to their ticket prices. Compared to twenty years ago, seeing your favorite artist live in concert is much harder than it was then. Many factors have contributed to this problem, like dynamic pricing on ticket-selling apps and heavy taxes. If you are a frequent concertgoer and are wondering why you have seen this problem everywhere, read on to find out!
This issue has left many people wondering why this is happening, and the core problem is inflation. Inflation has impacted every corner of our current economy, and concerts are no exception. Since shows are very frequent for artists, the cost to produce them is higher, which contributes to the ticket cost, venue expenses, and artist fees.
Service fees can add up to 20% or more than that to the base cost of a ticket and have become a major problem for customers who were initially willing to pay for tickets. Many ticket buyers have shown their frustration over these secret fees that significantly raise the total at checkout. Lawmakers in the U.S. have even introduced legislation aimed at increasing honesty and regulating excessive charges in ticket sales.
Impact on fans and artists
As these prices are growing, it is ruling out many fans from being able to attend shows. This causes the artists to lose out on money. The price to set up the show, supply the venue with their merchandise, and overall book the space for the venue is large, and not selling out tickets leaves them with a big hole in their pocket.
Many different tours and artists have seen the effects of this, with one example being the Eras Tour by Taylor Swift. Tickets for this tour were typically found on StubHub, and prices got as high as 4,000. This left many Swifties not able to go, and thousands of fans were seen sitting outside of the venue listening to the music from afar. Another tour that has been affected is the Weeknd’s newest tour, called the “After Hours Till Dawn” tour. The tickets for this tour went on sale in January, and fans were quick to notice the difference in the prices from pre-sale and resellers. SHS junior Viktoriya Walton said this about the tour tickets: “I am a huge fan of the Weeknd and have been waiting to see him in concert for years. Now that I have a job and can pay for it myself, I was looking to buy my sister and me tickets to see him in Orlando. They are so expensive, each ticket that I saw wasn’t cheaper than like 300 dollars. Even the highest sections are very expensive, so I think I am going to wait until the days closer to the concert and see if the prices go down any because I cannot see myself paying that much money for a bad section of the concert.” This opinion is shared by many concertgoers, so waiting for prices to get lower might be the smartest and most cost-efficient option!
Despite the rising costs, the demand for live music remains strong, with many fans willing to pay premium prices for the experience. However, if ticket prices continue to rise, the concert industry may see a drastic shift, with more fans opting for alternative ways to experience music, such as live-streamed events or smaller, more affordable shows. And for now, fans will have to choose whether seeing their favorite artist live is worth the increasingly heavy price tag.