Great read, thanks.

I was looking forward to seeing the Black Keys this fall. Hopefully the smaller venue tour will come to fruition.

I think solving concert attendance is a much tougher problem than movies. You can play a movie on 50 screens, 20 times in a weekend, so the supply can be extremely high, which should bring down prices. You can't do that with a concert. Supply will always be outpaced by demand. Adding to the problem, though, is that promotors have realized they can make more money by charging top dollar and leaving half the arena empty.

I think it depends on the audience.

Bad Bunny was expensive ($250/ticket in the rafters) and sold out at the Toyota Center in Houston - both nights.

I paid $700 for two tickets to Def Leppard (also Joan Jett, Poison, and Motley Cru) in Sept of 2022 in Vegas for the wife and I. Only wanted to see DF and it was worth every penny.

Dropped $2k for VIP service for GNR in San Antonio last September. It was worth it. You get what you pay for.

That said, at our age, wife and I are bucket listing shows at this point. Next up, Bon Jovi.

What did the VIP package include?

Ticket prices are number one factor in this. Its stupid how much concert tickets are now. However, people are/were paying it, so why not? Thought about going to see Weezer and saw how much tickets were for that was like naw, not doing that. Personally, George Strait was the last straw for me. Paid 450 a seat and left thinking thats about a $150 show. Went from 26 shows in 2022 to just 3 this year with only one other show planned. Might sneak in some smaller venue shows locally. Maybe.

Urban Ag said:

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That said, at our age, wife and I are bucket listing shows at this point. Next up, Bon Jovi.

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If you really want a bucket list item, go see Bon Jovi in Australia.
Bon Jovi is 10x more popular in Australia than they are in the USA.

Concert tickets for US touring acts in Australia start around $300.

Glad I paid $300 to see Meat Loaf even though he couldn't sing any more and it was about $900 total to take my daughter and a friend to see Eminem for her birthday one year. The only thing that sucked was due to a fiasco getting into the stadium, I missed Hilltop Hoods but at least I could hear them since it was an outdoor venue.

I pulled the trigger on a Weezer ticket. GA Floor Ticket: $129.50 + Order Processing Fee: $12.00 + Convenience Fee: $25.50 = $167.50

It's on the high end of what I'd like to spend for a concert but Weezer playing the entirety of the Blue Album live is something I couldn't pass up.

I will say I don't buy much "stuff" so most of my spending goes towards experiences (e.g. restaurants, concerts, movies, sporting events, etc.) and I have backed off a lot on my outings because the prices and fee gouging has just gotten out of control. Luckily when it comes to music most of the bands that I like don't get much attention from the media/radio airplay, so it's rare that I go to a venue bigger than the House of Blues.

AustinAg2K said:

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I think solving concert attendance is a much tougher problem than movies. You can play a movie on 50 screens, 20 times in a weekend, so the supply can be extremely high, which should bring down prices. You can't do that with a concert. Supply will always be outpaced by demand. Adding to the problem, though, is that promotors have realized they can make more money by charging top dollar and leaving half the arena empty.

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Only for good bands.

Still plenty of good seats for The King at Kyle. I can get 2nd row floor seats for face value at their newly reduced face value. Problem is that face value with fees is still $700/ticket. We were trying to pay back Jimbo with one concert.

Well the JLo one is no mystery. She sucks.

She has some catchy songs, but nobody is gonna pay $150+ to see her in concert.

BCSWguru said:

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Ticket prices are number one factor in this. Its stupid how much concert tickets are now. However, people are/were paying it, so why not? Thought about going to see Weezer and saw how much tickets were for that was like naw, not doing that. Personally, George Strait was the last straw for me. Paid 450 a seat and left thinking thats about a $150 show. Went from 26 shows in 2022 to just 3 this year with only one other show planned. Might sneak in some smaller venue shows locally. Maybe.

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Even at $150/ticket for George Strait, that's still pretty high for what you get, especially if you've seen him before. I love George but if you've seen one of his shows, you've seen them all. He tweaks the set list a little when he has a new album out, but otherwise it's the same. I can't believe what people paid to go to the Kyle Field show.

Convenience fees weren't that bad when it was just a couple bucks, but they have got out of hand, like ticket prices in general. It's like the car market. If people are lining up to pay a ridiculous premium for a car, why should they lower the prices?

CheeseSndwch said:

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I pulled the trigger on a Weezer ticket. GA Floor Ticket: $129.50 + Order Processing Fee: $12.00 + Convenience Fee: $25.50 = $167.50

It's on the high end of what I'd like to spend for a concert but Weezer playing the entirety of the Blue Album live is something I couldn't pass up.

I will say I don't buy much "stuff" so most of my spending goes towards experiences (e.g. restaurants, concerts, movies, sporting events, etc.) and I have backed off a lot on my outings because the prices and fee gouging has just gotten out of control. Luckily when it comes to music most of the bands that I like don't get much attention from the media/radio airplay, so it's rare that I go to a venue bigger than the House of Blues.

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I saw them do the Blue album at Stubbs and I think I paid 55 dollars.

I had to go look this up. The "service charge" was 9 dollars. They were getting 16 percent in fees then. Ticketmaster is right at 20 percent now. I'm just done with it.

Why are some artists able to control ticket prices/fees? When I saw Louis C.K. In 2016 it cost $50.00 and while demand was high Louis C.K.'s management team was somehow able to prevent scalping/resellers from gobbling up all the tickets.

Same. You know her songs from the radio, but I never met a single person who calls themself a "JLo fan", in the same way people were fans of someone like Britney Spears or Lady Gaga.

I think another part of the reason of declining concert attendance is the fragmented music scene that came with having music at your finger tips. Sure, the major record companies can still curate stars, but we no longer have to rely on the radio or MTV to find music. This last generation of big rock bands got big from the indy scene but made it to mainstream radio. Now when they come out with a new album, only their actual die hard fans know or care Many of these band didnt have large fan bases for their catalogue. Just fans of those radio singles. I suppose thats true for most popular acts. But you have to be currently popular to fill an arena for those singles and in the case of the Black Keys they are not currently popular. I'm sure its a gut punch to their wallets and expected income but a band like black keys would do better either doing sold out shows at 5,000 seat venues or by doing the music festival circuit.

CheeseSndwch said:

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Why are some artists able to control ticket prices/fees? When I saw Louis C.K. In 2016 it cost $50.00 and while demand was high Louis C.K.'s management team was somehow able to prevent scalping/resellers from gobbling up all the tickets.

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This is the crux of it. Artists have responded to squeeze out the scalpers, and rightfully so. However, it's led to higher ticket prices, especially for good seats, across the board. Now does the artist make more in an 80% sold venue at these prices? Maybe, but the shows lack energy.

Zach Bryan did this at reliant last year. I think the issue is you can still sell on stub hub, then you can transfer through AXS. I like the effort and intent, but the market will always find a way.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/zach-bryan-ticket-sale-non-transferrable-tickets-scalpers-1234681130/

Unfortunately the best way to protect from scalpers is to price accordingly. Which sucks for everyone.

CheeseSndwch said:

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Why are some artists able to control ticket prices/fees? When I saw Louis C.K. In 2016 it cost $50.00 and while demand was high Louis C.K.'s management team was somehow able to prevent scalping/resellers from gobbling up all the tickets.

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Well Louis CK is one guy with a microphone. His touring expenses are minimal.

There's a couple of guys on this board who see more shows than 10-20 per year.

CheeseSndwch said:

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Why are some artists able to control ticket prices/fees? When I saw Louis C.K. In 2016 it cost $50.00 and while demand was high Louis C.K.'s management team was somehow able to prevent scalping/resellers from gobbling up all the tickets.

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My son saw Noah Kahan at Cynthia Woods last night. He had a great time and said it was absolutely packed. Him and his friends had lawn tickets that were like $70 each. They prevented scalpers by making the tickets only digital and non-transferable, so tickets could not be resold. If you wanted to sell your ticket, you could sell it for the exact price you paid on Live Nation's "Face Value Ticket Exchange" site. I purchased the tickets using my account, so he had to log in as me when he got to the venue since I couldn't transfer them to anyone.

Yes I'm middle aged but I'll say it anyway, modern music that is pushed by producers sucks. Period. That is the problem. Hard rock bands who write their own stuff and play an actual instrument are still hugely popular. If the penny pushers would start pushing young rock bands they would launch off like rockets. Luckily some older bands are having great young bands open for them to get exposure. Examples include The Pretty Reckless opening for AC/DC, Greta opening for Metallica a few years ago, Dirty Honey opening for Black Crowes.

Check out Powertrip or ACDC recent tour pics. Huge crowds
Edit for pics/vid:




Here are the shots from The Pretty Reckless- one in Houston opening for the Stones one in Munich opening for AC/DC

EclipseAg said:

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wangus12 said:

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I do wonder how much of this is because artists don't really bank on record sales anymore do they?

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This is exactly right. They rely on touring and merch sales to make up for lost recording revenue.

To me, it's a bifurcated problem:

On one hand, in a fragmented market, how many artists are big enough to sell out a typical 18,000-seat arena? Not a lot. And those who can are mostly legacy acts appealing to older folks who maybe go to one show a year and are willing to fork over a lot for tickets. So ... high prices.

On the other, the few current artists who can sell out will fill 18,000 seats multiple nights or they move to a football stadium. Demand is huge and prices reflect that.

Back in the day, kids went to 10-20 concerts a year ... whenever they could scrape together the $7-$10 for a ticket (or maybe they were friends with Mike Damone, who always had extra Blue Oyster Cult tix). Does anyone do that today?

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I'd also add that the proliferation of new venues built over the last 20-30 years has added to the cost of booking. A venue like the Moody Center in Austin replacing the Erwin Center probably increased the cost of arena shows by at least 50% while other venues in the Austin area have opened up.

Same with Dickies Arena in FW. I gave up on watching acts that go through there as it became obvious very quickly that there wasn't going to be anything in the price range I find acceptable.

How did The Cure get their fees to be lowered last year after even they complained about the ticket prices for their shows?? Can't other artists do the same?

I don't think my opinion is relevant but I don't go to concerts anymore because they are too expensive, I don't like crowds, and it's too loud. And the venue might suck.

#oldman

Exception being we went to see U2 at the Sphere which was a total bucket list event. The cost of that one concert was more than all concerts I've ever attended so we are probably good until we are dead.