Anything over $50.00 is stupid. Why would anyone pay more. Ticket companies are rip offs, consumers are stupid, and the artists are somewhere in the middle.

The prices for Clapton, the Eagles, Buffett, etc. are ridiculous. I have to laugh when I see Madonna, the Stones, and others jack the prices up to $300 & $400 a pop as well. Festivals are somewhere in the middle, especially if you are a camping freak by nature. They do seem to be going into a bit of overkill here. One thing’s for sure: a lot of artists, including the big ones, are gonna really hurt this year. If they keep this up they may end up hurting far into the future as well.

Ticket prices are insane. 3 years in a row I went to Chicago’s Lollapalooza and loved it. This year tix are $50 higher. My regular group (4 in total) that attended, we all bailed. They lost probably $600 in ticket sales by trying to squeeze out $200 extra from us. These people are so stupid.

I agree. Paying anything over $50 – to just watch someone sing – is ridiculous.

Prince is diverse as far as pricing for his shows…giving impromptu performances at late night clubs..sometimes no charge-sometimes $250…at his record-breaking 21 nights in London just last year tix were only $31.21—$31.21 for one of his shows is like Christmas.ofcourse he filled the O2 arena nightly-but he would’ve either way.

I paid $250.00 to see Van Halen in Vegas. Worth every penny.

Greed. To make up for lagging CD sales, they think they can just keep jacking up ticket and merch prices (which have always been their bread & butter anyway).

I went to see Smashing Pumpkins last year (great show, btw), but their hoodie had a $90 price tag. Give me a break! Shame on the persons who paid that. If they have boxes and boxes of leftovers, more than likely they’ll realize merch prices are too high. If we stop showing up for shows, they’ll eventually have to drop ticket prices or be forced to take other actions.

Ticketmaster fees and the price of gas have forced me to be more selective about shows. Continually driving prices up will come to bite them in the ass.

I’m sorry, but part of this is a total crock of shit!! The real problem is GREEDY PROMOTERS who have been overpricing concerts since The Eagles in 1994!! Look at inflation and costs between 15 years ago and now, and concert tickets are *much* higher per budget now than back then.

It is companies like Clear Channel, Live Nation, and now AEG Live that have been killing the “big” concert business. I feel very fortunate to live in an area like Boulder, CO where I have alternate choices — shows at the Boulder Theater and Fox Theater, *reasonably* priced festivals like Rockygrass, Folks Festival and Telluride. In most cases, I receive a much more intimate musical experience, connecting with a given performing artist in places *meant* for live music!

Here’s a comparison: The Police are playing two shows at Red Rocks, where top tickets go for $250 + the “service charges.” That same amount of money covers a 4-day pass at Telluride Bluegrass Festival *including* camping…with a few bucks in return too! That same amount of money covers both Rockygrass and NedFest, Nederland’s Jam Band festival.

THE VERY BEST THING that could ever happen to the live music industry is the demise of these soulless rip-off corporations, and to return to regional promoters that can charge a reasonable price according to that area’s market.

Until then, the only way to counter this is with your pocketbook.

All I care is that the value of the ticket equals the show. I used to be a reg. concert goer, but now with kids it’s harder to get away.
I just paid mucho bucks for a great seat at the upcoming Iron Maiden/Anthrax show. Since this is my one show possibly all year, it was worth it and then some. But I doubt I’d feel the same about the ticket price if I were averaging a $50 show every other month like I used to.

You’re lucky you don’t live in Singapore…recent concert prices here (in USD equivalent)…The Police 430, Elton John 340, Maroon 5 130, Christina Aguilera 215.

Agree. Promoters are the guilty culprits here. I’m paying $250 plus a service fee to go see the greatest band of all time New Kids On the Block perform and they’re not even kids or new. What the hell?! And on top of that I’ll probably be paying around $75 to $100 on New Kids On the Block t-shirts and bobble head dolls and key chains for myself which is just plain riduculous! And in whose pockets does all this money go to? Some may go to those cute boys in the band, but the majority goes to the promoter taking advantage of the little guy like me. Screw ‘em.

The indie/underground scene becomes very attractive in terms of value for live music performances. Here in Philadelphia, for example, we have concert promoting company R5 Productions which specializes in bringing metal/alternative/underground acts to the city almost every night; the price charged is about twelve bucks a ticket, and a typical show will feature from two to four bands. For example, this Friday night they’re bringing to Philly excellent metal band The Sword, who have the Sabbath-y album Age of Winters, along with two other bands. Yep, twelve dollars! It seems wise for the Sabbath fan to keep up with newer bands that have that same sound and save a ton of money for a great show. In terms of value for the dollar: the underground rules!!

The ticket price can pose a big problem for fans. Take Madonna for instance. She’s trying to corner the youth market by snagging producers and writers like Justin Timberlake, Kanye West & Timbaland. Even if she did find an audience in that market she won’t sell tickets to those fans unless they rob a liquor store or sell something valuable. Most kids can’t afford a $350.00 ticket. The last Madonna concert I went to was super classist. If she wants to go that route so be it but to me she has lost sight of what the music is about. Like she needs the money.
It’s really sad and totally disgusting!

There’s a great festival in Oklahoma called DFEST this summer – it’s got a great lineup and the ticket price is only $33.50 total for a two-day ticket. The Flaming Lips played this “weird” little festival last year to about 20,000 people and they had about the same amount of folks the next night for Leon Russell, Amos Lee and a bunch of other bands last year, and now this year they’ve got The Roots, moe., All American Rejects, Paramore, Disco Biscuits, Ghostland Observatory, Zappa Plays Zappa and they have like 150 bands total over the two night festival – I bailed on Lollapalooza this year too because of ticket prices and the cost to get to Chicago, but I can afford the gas, even at $4 gallon, to get to Tulsa, stay at a hotel downtown and both me and my girlfriend get to see some really kickass bands at Dfest because their ticket price is so low. So, I guess that is the difference, Dfest is run by local promoters, a husband and wife team that seem to really get it.

I used to go to at least 10 concerts a yr. Those days are long over unless I can hit some acts at smaller venues where I pay $20-35. Now I hit maybe 2 a yr which totally sucks. I love live music but who can afford shows that cost over $100? Then with the Ticketmaster ‘convenience charges’…it’s outrageous. Even Tom Waits is going for $85 on his current tour. Guess I’ll just watch their concerts on dvd instead of the much better live experience. I hate to think what it’ll be like in 5 yrs. The artists either need to scale down their shows or suck up the fact that they shouldn’t make a bazillion dollars at each show. I won’t even get into t-shirt prices.

I will not pay over 50 bucks to see any band UNLESS the band is Pink Floyd….in which case I would give a testical..plus my bank account. I think my testical is safe though.

I went to see Genesis last year and the cheapest ticket here in Toronto was $80+taxes.This was at the back of the stadium where you needed binoculars.Phil collins said this tour made them no money,and that they were not even touring to make money.So where is all this money going?I THINK THE PROMOTERS ARE FLEECING PEOPLE.Phil was shocked when people on the floors told him how much they paid for tickets.The band did NOT know this.Can you believe this.Somebody making lot of money if not the bands.Denis ps-please Rolling Stone do an expose into this in one of your issues.

Anyone remember when this crap of high priced tickets started? I do – it was the Eagles Hell Freezes Over tour where tickets started at $75. I thought to myself this is the start of something very bad (as far as ticket prices go). And here we are many years later spending lots of money on bands that are crying about gas prices and whatnot, but still charging and arm and a leg.

Thanks Henley – you ass!

Mr. Burns And to think, Smithers, you laughed when I bought Ticketmaster. ‘Nobody’s going to pay 100% service charge.’

Smithers: Well, it’s a policy that insures the rich and the ignorant, sir.

Where does Ticketmaster come up with their charges, anyway? The fee should be the same for every ticket, regardless of the price of the ticket, because they are doing the same “service” in issuing it to the consumer. But no, if your ticket is $100, then they add $20, and if it is $50, they add $10. I recently got tickets to 2 shows on consecutive nights at the same place. One charged me a venue fee, and the other did not. What is up with that?

Stop listening to dino rock and maybe you can find a good concert ticket for under $30.

I don’t really find it that bad because most of the shows I go to are for smaller indie bands. Those usually cost me between 10-30 dollars. If I am going to see a big band it is going to be at a festival. I saw Prince and Roger Waters at Coachella this year for a price that would be much less if I had seen both of them seperately. People just need to be smart about how they see bands.

I find this all very interesting as I sent an OP Ed piece, included below, last July to the online editors of RS as well as Mr. Wenner. Unfortunately, it was never pubbed nor did I get a response. I imagine we can label that fear of biting the hand that feeds you. Shame.

“I Know It’s Only Rock And Roll” But It’s EXPENSIVE!

Written by Keith McCabe 07/13/07

Just what is it about yesterdays and some not so old stars of R&R who have found it necessary to price themselves out of the reach of those who made them who they are? Has anyone looked at the Rolling Stones ticket prices, for example, of late? Has anyone complained to them? Granted the booking agents have something to do with it but Mick, Keith, and their employees – lawyers, personal managers, etc. have to sign off on it. Come on! This is capitalism at its greatest employ! Thank God the Beatles aren’t around any longer; imagine what those tickets would cost! And yes, Sir Paul is no better than the rest of them. These folks have made their money hand over fist for years. So why do they continuously gouge us, their fans, over and over again to watch them perform? At one time R&R was the voice of the common people, the voice of the young from an era that was anti-establishment and now we come to find that those we held so high, those who were the voice of a generation are ripping us off time and again. Of course, it’s true, no one is making any of us attend and yes we may elect not to go but lets be honest here, I enjoy a good rock show as much as the next person and should be able to afford to attend.

I will never forget the first time after spending a night outside of the Electric Factory, yes in those days that was the name of the local, soon to be national ticket broker, box office on Lombard Street in Philadelphia, and being told there was a service charge on top of the ticket price. I questioned the validity of such a charge as I had come to the ticket office in the first place and was; needless to say, quite outraged by the added expense that I’m sure by today’s standards was a pittance.

Really now, do the Stones need to have the largest stage ever erected? Do they need all the glitz? I think not. They would surely sell out venues by just showing up and playing their tunes, and the same for everyone else.

What really got me started on this was looking at today’s Ticket “master,” to quote a local morning jock, listings to learn that it would now cost me $150 for a ticket in the better seats, if there really are better seats in a casino venue, to see the Steve Miller Band. And to see her Highness, Sheryl Crow? It would cost me no less than $100 for the cheap seats NOT to mention what it would cost to drive to Atlantic City and back to Philly in gas money. Perhaps I need to be a high-roller at the casinos of Atlantic City to get comped free tickets or maybe work for a corporation or have an affiliation with one, as a customer perhaps, that owns a box at either the Wachovia Center, the Spectrum, Lincoln Financial Field and other venues who can write off purchasing and gifting tickets to me. Shame on all of them!

Well, with all that said, I am looking so forward to attending the WXPN Xponential Music Fest for four days next week at the low and affordable cost of $30. Amazing how that can be done in today’s world. Unfortunately I can no longer afford to see the aforementioned Rolling Stones, Sheryl Crow, Steve Miller, The Police or anyone else of that caliber. After all the years of support I/we have given to these artists, is this the thanks we get?

It seems that the message is not the answer in rock and roll any more.

“Baby, You’re A Rich Man,”

KMC

p.s. Rosanne Cash put on one excellent show last night Thursday July 12, 2007 at Cooper River Park in Pennsauken/Camden NJ and for FREE, I might add. Kudos to the Camden County Board of Freeholders for a job well done!

JUST BUY THE DVD AND STAY HOME

I grew up in the late sixties and early seventies. In the early seventies i saw everyone from Jeff Beck to the Who and Led Zep and never paid more than 10 bucks for a ticket. Those were wonderful times and feel lucky to have been 18 in 1973.

Eagles eagles eagles – thanks for your 1994 move to jack ticket prices to $100 so everybody wanted to. Now, who the hell can afford a damn concert? Gas to get there? For-ga-ta-bout-it! To hell with these gougers. Makes ya’ want to get into illegally dl’ing concert DVDs.——Up your’s Hendley!You’ve hurt everybody. A public apology’d be nice.

Here’s the deal, peeps:

STOP BUYING THE GODDAMNED TICKETS!! If you paid $250. to see Van Halen (or whoever) then you’re an idiot!!

Vote with your wallet. It’s that simple.

Bring it back to the locals. Once artists get too big, their money glazes over their soul. They can’t sing about inspiration and struggle when they’re rolling in cash. Where’s the difficulty in the human condition in that?! Poverty inspires innovation, thus local artists can still find a way to bring good content to the people.

Regional promoters, regional artists, and regional scenes are the future. Plus you can actually be in the know about a rad band before they break. Tastemaker city.

I mean, who really enjoys being herded around a huge festival or arena like a bunch of cows anyway? Good art should be enjoyed on a personal level so as to inform the human condition, period.

Don’t forget about Ticketbastard.

Thanks RS for removing my comment. WTF?

JUST SAY NO!

My favorite Concert Venue … The Santa Monica Pier, last year I saw David Lindley, Queen Ida, Patti Smith (unbelievably good) and Los Lobos on seperate nights … for free. Thank you Santa Monica City Council.

There’s one statement to sum up what is and has been going on in the world’s economy: “The love of money is the root to all evil.” That statement is found in GOD’s Holy Word in The Holy Bible!! Just don’t blame a particular ticket company, rock band,etc. WE ARE ALL TO BLAME!! So stop blaming one another and point the finger at ourselves!! Thank you!!

Alice Cooper is coming to my town $57.00 with tax and service charge.That’s good value today.

Well, I wish everyone would have supported Pearl Jam back in the day when they protested Ticketmaster and the venues they had.

DEVO in Philadelphia, baby!

Just thought I would throw in a comment from the artist side of things.
I play in an indy band and we have been able to make a decent living over the last ten years with $5 to $20 ticket prices.
However now that our expenses have gone up we have had to make a decision to take a cut in pay or raise our price to the clubs and promoters.
This in turn makes them jack up the ticket price to cover their extra expense. While we hate to charge more money for tickets, our kids have to eat too.
People have no problem paying $12 to see a movie or hundreds for a seat to any number of sporting events but everyone always expects musicians to play for next to nothing.
Trying to compete with the major acts these days is incredibly hard because the ticket buying public has seen it all. You need incredible lights and pyrotechnics and things that will impress a generation that has to be stimulated sonically and visually every second or they get bored.
If you want to see a ” show” you will have to pay the high price.
If you want to hear good affordable live music go support the guys like me who are traveling around the country in a van playing at your local club or small venue for $10 bucks a head.
It is cheaper and more intimate.
The costs people don’t see are enormous for big acts and small ones.
The band has to pay for EVERYTHING!!!
lights,sound, crew, transportation, gas, food, security,staging, advertising and a hundred other hidden costs.
Not to mention paying 10 to 20 % off the GROSS to a booking agent and 10 to 30% to a manager. 30% of merch goes to the venue and the promoter takes 20 to 40% off the top of everything.
At the end of the day the band is lucky to walk with enough money to pay rent.
All of these % are different for everyone but the ticket buying public doesn’t have a clue how much it costs these days for a band to be on the road and for promoters to put on a show.
You should all be glad that musicians tour at all any more instead of putting out a DVD once every two or three years and letting live music die out completely.
Think about that next time you steal a song off the internet or bitch about a $10 cover.

If it’s not worth the money to you then don’t go. Is that too hard for people? I agree the promoters are getting rich; your choice is to a) pay up b) don’t go or c) throw your own show. Coachella’s a steal every year and my Tool tickets last year were $60, good seats. You just can’t see every act that comes to town and expect to have cheap tickets for every show.

On another note, did someone say $250 for New Kids on the Block? You couldn’t pay me $250 to see that, good lord.

High ticket prices are all because of the Eagles’ ‘94 tour.

Once they did it, everyone started charging huge fees.

I’m going to DMB and the K-I-D to the R-O-C

Dat’s it

High ticket prices are all because of the Eagles’ ‘94 tour.

Once they did it, everyone started charging huge fees.

I’m going to DMB and the K-I-D to the R-O-C

Dat’s it

I still think the big problem is Ticketmaster. Even for a low priced club show of 25.00 they will charge 9 dollars for a service fee. That is between 30-40%. What the F? The government should regulate them. Because they are basically a monopoly. There should be a standard 5% fee for Ticketmaster. But no government again favors corporations over consumers. And Ticketmaster is hurting the musicians more than the consumers as they probably lose a great portion of their audience who don’t want to pay Ticketmaster fees. I can think of a lot of shows where I didn’t go because i didn’t want to shell out to the evil Ticketmaster.

wow i read all of your articles and i can say i relate to some and not others. I myself am a promoter and i can tell you up front alot of the time price comes into play because artist want so much damn money, they may tell you the public they are not making this and that but trust me they get paid 1st, then you have venue cost that is outrageous, promotions which are high as hell, and you have to pay for everything that the artist wants so that combined with ticketmaster is 90% of the problem. I have resonably priced tickets anywhere from 30-50 for everyone of my shows and this is in chicago so i know i can say i am not a greedy prompter because i have yet to make one penny in profit doing this.

Folks can complain about greedy Ticketmaster, promoters, et al. all they want.

However at the end of the day, ticket prices are, like any other commodity (e.g. magazines, groceries, etc.), set by simple supply and demand. This is capitalism. Why do they charge so much? Because they can. It’s that simple. Would you work for $10/hr when someone else is wlling to pay you $15/hr? Probably not.

That said, I have a suggestion for disgruntled music fans:

Check out local bars and clubs for up-and-coming or even well-established regional acts. Prices are much more reasonable, the venues are much more intimate and often the sound is better.

They may not have the over-the-top lights and pyrotechnics, but you can enjoy some great music put on by acts who genuinely appreciate the support.

“I’m free to do what I want any old time”

Damn right.

I have seen a lot of concernts from the late 70’s on, would love to see more, but not at todays prices. I just checked Stevie Nicks in Cincinnati, $110 with fees, I don’t think so. Looks like most of the acts visiting Cincinnati are $80 and up plus fees.

It is simple, supply and demand. The demand is high, so the price is high. If you want prices to come down, don’t go. If you don’t mind the prices then go.

For our family we have become involved with work in Haiti, and for $100, we can feed around 200 people for a day. Something to think about.

I have seen about dozen concerts every year since 1981. The ticket prices are way too high. Over the last 8 years, I have notice a huge trend. Promoters are offering 4-tier pricing structure where 70% of the tickets are in the two highest priced ranges. Only 30% of the tickets are in the two low end ranges. In a 15,000 seat arena there will be a large crowd in the rafters and plenty of empty seats closer to the stage. The artists do not care. They are making money off the people who buy the expensive seats. Although the shows do not come close to selling out, the artists and promoters hit the break even point much faster. The other factor causing tickets to skyrocket is the secondary market. StubHub, Razorgator and others are quenching the thirst of fans that want to get 4 feet closer to the stage. Reality check, if you buy tickets at the venue on the day of the show you will not pay the Ticketmaster junk fees. On the day of the show, the artists and promoters release about 500 seats that were not scheduled to be sold. This is due to a number of reasons mostly because of stage reconfigurations that cause a lot of the seats that are side stage not to be sold. Also 45% of tickets that are given away for Radio promotions and other contests are never picked up by the winners. These seats will be sold. Buy tickets the day of the show at the venue. You will get great seats and you will not have to pay scalper fees. Also you can find a guy who bought six tickets when they originally went on sale only to get the call that the couple next door cannot go because their kids have the chicken pox. More than likely the guy stuck with the tickets will sell the tickets to you instead of the sleazy ticket scalper that smells like urine hanging outside the auditorium.

Part of the problem is ticket surcharges. alternatives to ticketmaster (vivaticketing, foe example) offer a $2 surchage, print at home capability 7 instant pay to promoters. Are venues stupid or just lazy?

Part of the problem is ticket surcharges. alternatives to ticketmaster (vivaticketing, foe example) offer a $2 surchage, print at home capability 7 instant pay to promoters. Are venues stupid or just lazy?

Does the word INFLATION ring a bell? Or how about the word GREED?
Been in the entertainment biz 38 years and only thing that has changed are prices ON EVERYTHING!!
GAS,FOOD,REAL ESTATE,PERFORMANCES–EVERYTHIN G! Why? GREED! How? Big biz and government control prices. You out-spend your income what’ve you done? Now you’re stretched to capacity just trying to make ends meet–at which point going to a concert is the least of your concerns.If we all had incomes in the millions or more NO ONE would bitch about a $500 ticket price to see two wombats in heat do it in a treetop.

I’m actually surprised that ticket prices aren’t higher. Most festivals I go to tickets sell out in a matter of hours on the day they go on sale. These tickets are sometimes later sold on ebay for 2-3 times the retail price. If promoters were truly greedy profit maximizing bastards as you all say, then they would raise ticket price to the point where demand=supply. At the current prices for most concerts and festival demand > supply by a lot.

My question, which nobody seems to have addressed is, why aren’t ticket prices higher?

Are we to believe that bands and promoters are consistently being benevolent?

Jeff Beck is in town (Sydney Aust)
I was happy to find he’s playing at a smaller more popular venue rather than the huge 12000 seat concrete bunker known as the Entertainment Centre.
Then I saw the ticket prices $129 & $149 AUSD. ($86-$100 US)
I can afford these prices but I refuse to be ripped off. Bye bye Jeff!
I’m not interested in how they rationalise these prices, from my perspective it’s GREED,pure and simple.

I was hoping to see Elton John and Billy Joel perform at the Air Canada Centrer in Toronto…but at $275 a ticket? Forget it! I realize that it is a 3-hour show and you are seeing 2 of pop music’s top entertainers, but even the seats at the BACK of the arena (in the lower stands) are $275. I refuse to sit at the back of the ACC and have to use binoculars to see the performers and pay $275 for that priviledge. I have been a long-time fan of the band Chicago, and although they certainly are not as popular as they used to be, they still keep their ticket prices reasonable….they are performing in Ontario in March at a top ticket price of $58. I was a huge Billy Joel fan for the past 30 years, but I can’t continue to support an artist at these ticket prices.

it is all ticket master. its them they own the side companys that sell scalp price tickets thats why there always sold out. cuz they transer to the other companys and stupid people pay the burn price. ticket master are the evil doers!