Why are concert tickets so expensive?

There’s no doubt that concert tickets are more expensive than ever, with prices rising faster over the past three years than in any previous period. Most major players in the concert business have acknowledged the rapid double-digit rise in prices since the end of the pandemic, but few agree on what is causing the price surge and whether the rise poses a real problem.

“It’s like going to Disneyland on a really busy day and wondering, ‘How can so many people afford to be here right now?’ – speaks Jed Weitzmanticket pricing expert specializing in the concert business. “Part of you wonders how a family of four can afford to be there, and yet clearly there is no shortage of people willing to pay to get there.”

This year, the average ticket price for one of the 40 highest-grossing arena and stadium tours of 2024 will cost fans $151 this year, according to data compiled by Billboard Boxscore. Three years from now, in 2027, the average ticket price for such a tour could reach $200 due to continued year-on-year increases to see in-demand top-tier performers such as U2, Weekend, Sabrina Carpenter And Billy Joel.

Before the pandemic, the price of a top 40 concert ticket increased 3% to 4% annually, according to Billboard Boxscore. When touring resumed, that number more than doubled, growing at an average annual rate of 9.9%. Recent research from Thorsten Slokchief economist at Apollo Global Management, concluded that tickets are growing at about 11% per year.

The reason for the price increase is less clear. Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, attributes the escalation largely to the inflationary cost of global business in 2024. Oasis, Beyoncé or Bruce Springsteenhave long been undervalued by image-conscious artists who don’t want fans to accuse them of inflating prices.

The problem with that argument, say U.S. Justice Department officials who filed the landmark antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, is that it ignores the structural advantages the megapromoter enjoys over nearly all of its competitors. Prices are rising, the government argues, because Live Nation can outbid its competitors by overpaying for touring talent and offsetting its losses in the concert promotion sector through its subsidiaries: venue ownership, Ticketmaster and sponsorships.

The government argues that by overpaying for talent, Live Nation is also passing on those increased costs to consumers through higher prices. The problem with this theory, many concert experts say, is that it oversimplifies the economics of touring and allows the government to get away with failing to enforce the Better Online Ticketing Act, which was signed into law in 2016 to prevent mass ticket buying. scalpers using bots.

This failure to curb the illegal use of software and hacking tools that drive huge markups on the secondary market, these experts say, has led to a pricing crisis that has made accessing tickets to popular tours at face value nearly impossible. In an article about StubHub’s delayed initial public offering earlier this year, longtime music analyst Chris Castle argued that the massive use of bots to purchase and sell concert tickets “is not a theoretical antitrust case” but “deals with massive real-time consumer fraud” that is “perpetuated and financed by public financial markets.”

WME agent Kirk Sommerwhose artist clients are Bruno Mars, Killers, Adele And Hoziersays he knows what other artists charge for tickets, but fans tend to rate concerts individually and are less concerned about price trends.

“I have never set out to set a single price for a tour that will satisfy the artist’s fans,” explains Sommer. “The goal is always to create a wide range of options that fans of all income levels can purchase. It’s important that there’s something for everyone.”