If the last concert you assist price the same as a myopic vacation , consider yourself part of the global phenomenon of rising ticket prices . With the average concert ticket price for 2018 reverberate inat $ 96.31 , ( a 14.1 percent increment over 2017 ’s prices ) , live euphony fees have far surpassed ostentatiousness rates — and probably the growth in your salary , too .
But why the skyrocket prices ? And is there any remnant in sight for sports fan of live medicine ? The nimble and dirty answer are 1 : supply and demand , and 2 : no . After all , fan are stilling buying the tickets , even at exorbitant prices . And because artists and promoters are charging as much as their fans are uncoerced to ante up , the price of attendingconcertsdoesn’t seem to be going down any meter soon . So what is influence prices ? Well , it ’s multiple factors , from the cost to put on the show to how performer make money today and who is selling tickets to whom . But here are five of the most common reason why concert tickets cost so much .
5: Major Changes to the Music Industry
In recent decades the euphony industry has fail from a line of work focused on selling records and cadmium , to one of less expensive digital downloads , to today ’s biz that is centered aroundstreaming music . count that sales of top - trade record album have neglect 17 per centum since in 2017 , according toBillboard . And if you comparetop - streaming songartists withtop - selling albumartists , you have to scroll fairly far to notice an artist on both inclination . swelled streaming platform like Spotifypay less than a penny per stream , so with a million streams , a song could bring in about $ 7,000 . And not all of that money goes to the artist .
Now that the medicine industry put up less likeliness for even the most democratic artists to make money from their song and album sale , concerts have become a lively reference of income . Even top - rain buckets artists likeThe Weekndturn to touring to bring in the material money . In addition to the potential for massive ticket sales revenue — view Taylor Swift’srecord - breaking Reputation Stadium Tour(it ’s grossed more than $ 100 million in slate sales in North America alone ) orBruno Mars ' 24 K Magic Tour(it gross well over $ 240 million ) — concert provide the opportunity to garner huge core from ware and interestingly , album gross revenue . Some duty tour now cluster a CD with the tag , and each fulfilled CD counts toward record album numbers , according to Iain Bluett , Centennial State - founding father ofTicket Alternative .
4: Concert Productions Are Bigger and Better
If Taylor Swift ’s $ 200 million - plus gross enlistment sounds telling , and cause for the artist to cater the fans she appreciates with a break in the tag Mary Leontyne Price , it ’s important to note that gross and nett receipts are altogether unlike . The toll of position on a show , from stagecoach product to backup dancer to indoor pyrotechnics and evenholograms , has rocket along with the price of concert tag .
" There is a lot more product that goes into [ concert production these days ] , " Ticket Alternative Bluett says . " Everybody ’s trying to put on the most elaborate show they can . " For Swift , that intend giant inflatable snakes , mega CRT screen , a fountain , fireworks and a embarrassment of dancers . For Coldplay ’s A Head Full of Dreams Tour , whichgrossed $ 523 millionin 2017 , a stadium performance call for multiple stages and Xylobands , interactive light-emitting diode wristbands the bandintroduced during its Mylo Xyloto Tour .
Behind the show audience experience is the cost of what goes into making it possible , like land in the " steel , " the strait and the lighting . Putting on the production requires unseen expenses , such as the price of getting equipment from city to metropolis and labor to set down the trucks . Shows also have to be advertise and advertised . The cost of the locus plays a part too , and for a great concert at a stadium , the total production cost promptly progress to seven design .
" You ’re building a $ 3 million home for a nighttime and tearing it down , " says Ross Schilling , artist manager with Vector Management , who has worked with big names likeLynyrd Skynyrd , Kid Rock and Toto . The cost of create these passing wonderland has to get passed on to the consumer via the just the ticket price .
3: Dynamic Pricing
Despite high output monetary value , the concert business concern is booming . While it might seem like the increased competition of more bands touring and touring more often should make concert attendance more low-priced , consumer demand has kept footstep , which take up the price . Even multiple - artist appearance that seem like a good deal offer way for profit .
" The appetency for live medicine is increasing year over year , " Bluett say . He channelise to the thrive festival market as an example . With multiple bands performing and one ticket price to make up , " festivals are probably still the best value for the money . " Nevertheless , 2019Bonnaroogeneral admission tickets start at $ 279 , and VIP tickets are $ 825 .
The Bonnaroo ticket show evidence of another phenomenon — graduated just the ticket sales . Bonnaroo’sticketing pageshows that prices go up as each grade sells out . Late purchasers will pay $ 70 more per ticket than fans who did n’t postulate to wait for the lineup promulgation . The use of dynamic pricing , similar to what the airlines offer , is increase in the concert humans , accord to Schilling . When you buy your ticket and where you sit affect the price you pay .
2: Pricey Ticket Packages
Gone are the days when the only way to get up close and personal with your favorite performing artist was to await outside the back door of a venue hoping to catch a glance as they hurried into their tour bus . Music fans today will find plenty of opportunities to attend special events like meet and greets , pic ops and soundchecks . There are multiple pricing levels that put up exclusive experience and interactions with the creative person .
Ticket sellers now have the ability to " service the ' super sports fan , ' " Bluett says . The more merchandise you buy or the more you interact with the creative person , onsocial media , for case , the well your position and ability to hit early tickets to a show that might deal out or realize access to special oblation . Just take a look at some of the packages offered byVIP Nation . These concert upgrades can make any fan feel like a high muckamuck — for a toll .
1: Technology and the Secondary Market
Not that this list was in order of least to most important , but one of the heavy changes in the price of concert ticket has hail from the digital world — in the var. of the secondary market . Yes , scalpers have stand outdoors of venues — or as near as they could legally get — for decades moderate uptickets for sale . But with the advent of the cyberspace , on-line ticket telephone exchange companies likeStubHub(getStubHub coupons ) andVerified Ticketsby Ticketmaster made merchandising , upselling and purchasing ticket light and dependable . see that fans purchase ticket on the subaltern market for much more than the original Mary Leontyne Price , concert impresario started boosting just the ticket damage . Technology made it potential for the secondary ticket marketplace to take off .
" If there is somebody willing to pay $ 1,000 for a front row ticket , should n’t [ the artist ] be allowed to sell them that slate for $ 1,000 ? " Schilling says . " Why not endeavor to seize some of that money ? Otherwise , the devotee is going to pay it , and the only person who wins is the scalper . "
Yet , even in a lowly market , Leontyne Price reach a innate crown . For now .
" What you are essay to do is price them at the price the most mass are uncoerced to pay , so it does n’t go up exponentially , " Bluett say . " The market will only expect what it will yield . "
