Gig Ticket Prices

[BoringMidlander]

1 hour ago, Suprefan said:

Yep, thats our ticket reality for most gigs here. The only thing that can save you on fees is depending which ticket service the venue uses. So if you can use Dice or See for example then fees are much lower. But if its AXS or Ticketmaster youre at the mercy of them.

Regarding delivery, almost everyone is digital now or will be turning to that in the U.S. which is a shame. Some ticketmaster gigs are still offering tickets by mail which is nice and its usually a $2 charge. AXS is THE WORST when it comes to that. If you want a ticket via mail they will charge you $25. I dont know why they do but apparently its to remind you to save trees. Fortunately gigs put on by Goldenvoice in Los Angeles offer will call pick up for everything which is $5 so I go for that whenever I get a ticket for something they put on. 

 

I can post more examples if you like to see the disparity of ticket buying here. The one thing in the UK that is nice is theres laws in place to prevent that sort of thing. Although the hidden thing is that the promoter just makes a ticket a few quid more expensive to offset not being able to charge higher fees so you think youre saving a bit but not really.

The move towards etickets (with 'delivery' fees remaining in place) is something I've really disliked in recent years, especially as an avid gig ticket scrapbook-er. Whenever I'm booking stuff for the States now I always try for will call. 

AXS are a weird bunch. I recently grabbed a ticket to see Titus Andronicus for their anniversary tour of The Monitor in Cambridge MA and they've shipped it over here to the UK for $2.50. Absolute madness. Rest of the usual processing and facilities fees do make up the ~50% markup though. 

. 

 

Edited July 22, 2021 by BoringMidlander

[waltere]

"Convenience Fee" is an all-time awful euphemism

[Hugh Jass]

Just now, waltere said:

"Convenience Fee" is an all-time awful euphemism

It’s not even that convenient.

[Suprefan]

I miss going to a record shop to buy tickets for ticketmaster shows because you didnt get charged the internet fees. That finally changed around 2010, and then they slowly started eliminating ticketmaster outlets at lots of stores. Although the Live Nation office in Los Angeles has a literal ticket ATM where you can buy tickets at which I used a couple of times. My favorite was ticketmaster offering an option where you could collect tickets at an authorized outlet after ordering online. It saved from losing tickets in the mail because they used to mail them out a week before a gig sometimes which was ridiculous. Now they mail them a week after you purchase them.

[gigpusher]

13 hours ago, Suprefan said:

Yep, thats our ticket reality for most gigs here. The only thing that can save you on fees is depending which ticket service the venue uses. So if you can use Dice or See for example then fees are much lower. But if its AXS or Ticketmaster youre at the mercy of them.

Regarding delivery, almost everyone is digital now or will be turning to that in the U.S. which is a shame. Some ticketmaster gigs are still offering tickets by mail which is nice and its usually a $2 charge. AXS is THE WORST when it comes to that. If you want a ticket via mail they will charge you $25. I dont know why they do but apparently its to remind you to save trees. Fortunately gigs put on by Goldenvoice in Los Angeles offer will call pick up for everything which is $5 so I go for that whenever I get a ticket for something they put on. 

 

I can post more examples if you like to see the disparity of ticket buying here. The one thing in the UK that is nice is theres laws in place to prevent that sort of thing. Although the hidden thing is that the promoter just makes a ticket a few quid more expensive to offset not being able to charge higher fees so you think youre saving a bit but not really.

Yes See or Dice are where I usually buy tickets. It's not often that I resort to Ticketmaster and they don't usually even sell tickets for the things I tend to go and see which is best all round. I love Dice and hope especially in COVID times that more and more venues start using them. There's no have I forgotten my ticket you can send one to friends and also much better if you need to try and re-sell a ticket. 

[Hugh Jass]

I buy tickets from whoever is selling them. Sometimes that means going through the likes of TM and See and paying the fees. These days I don’t even look at the fees and consider the final amount as the ticket price.

Worth remembering too that presales are usually done via the likes of TM. Sometimes it feels worth paying the fee just to guarantee a ticket and/or better seats.

[funkychick2007]

Its crazy!! Im happy to pay a admin fee which is sensible!! But not all the extra bits and pieces!! Id be very rich if i got paid for every bit of my job which would count as extras!!! 
i wouldnt mind paying it if it went to the band or stage crew etc!! 
i just hope gigs concerts etc dont outprice themselves and people dont get to experience live music!!! 
And call me me old fashioned I do like to have a paper ticket an actual ticket tht you can hold in your hand, a bit tht gets ripped off when you attend then can keep the rest forever!!! 

[vintagelaureate]

9 minutes ago, funkychick2007 said:

Its crazy!! Im happy to pay a admin fee which is sensible!! But not all the extra bits and pieces!! Id be very rich if i got paid for every bit of my job which would count as extras!!! 
i wouldnt mind paying it if it went to the band or stage crew etc!! 
i just hope gigs concerts etc dont outprice themselves and people dont get to experience live music!!! 
And call me me old fashioned I do like to have a paper ticket an actual ticket tht you can hold in your hand, a bit tht gets ripped off when you attend then can keep the rest forever!!! 

Ticketmaster charge you now for 'souvenir'  paper tickets or 'collector' plastic tickets if your gig is eticketed. I noticed when I bought tickets a few weeks ago.

 

 

[gigpusher]

13 minutes ago, funkychick2007 said:

Its crazy!! Im happy to pay a admin fee which is sensible!! But not all the extra bits and pieces!! Id be very rich if i got paid for every bit of my job which would count as extras!!! 
i wouldnt mind paying it if it went to the band or stage crew etc!! 
i just hope gigs concerts etc dont outprice themselves and people dont get to experience live music!!! 
And call me me old fashioned I do like to have a paper ticket an actual ticket tht you can hold in your hand, a bit tht gets ripped off when you attend then can keep the rest forever!!! 

I did when they used to put effort into designing them and I like my Glastonbury ticket for that reason but the way they look these days nah I'd rather save the environment than have a load of useless bits of paper. 

[gigpusher]

1 minute ago, vintagelaureate said:

Ticketmaster charge you now for 'souvenir'  paper tickets or 'collector' plastic tickets if your gig is eticketed. I noticed when I bought tickets a few weeks ago.

 

 

Whilst I don't obviously like the extra charge aspect of it (or the plastic bit) if you were buying tickets for something special as a gift that would probably be a nice touch if you could get a proper ticket with some nice artwork. 

[st dan]

I wonder if See/TM etc would consider an ‘Amazon Prime’ style approach - i.e. giving people the option to pay say £80 a year, but for that all your charges, service fees, delivery costs etc are ‘nil’.  Would be cost effective if you went to a lot of gigs over the course of a year. Just think something needs to change, as the ever increasing costs just isn’t sustainable long term. 

[Hugh Jass]

2 minutes ago, st dan said:

I wonder if See/TM etc would consider an ‘Amazon Prime’ style approach - i.e. giving people the option to pay say £80 a year, but for that all your charges, service fees, delivery costs etc are ‘nil’.  Would be cost effective if you went to a lot of gigs over the course of a year. Just think something needs to change, as the ever increasing costs just isn’t sustainable long term. 

More likely is that they’ll simply stop telling you what the fees are and just display one final price - ticket + fees + everything else = the price you see.

[jump]

10 hours ago, Suprefan said:

I miss going to a record shop to buy tickets for ticketmaster shows because you didnt get charged the internet fees. 

I used to do that alot with Star Green in London, I would save £5-7 per tix which is basically a pint. Too bad they have closed down now. I also remember queuing up at HMV for Reading festival tickets too.

[Suprefan]

57 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

More likely is that they’ll simply stop telling you what the fees are and just display one final price - ticket + fees + everything else = the price you see.

They do that already. Biggest problem is no prices in advance anymore. So you have to scour across multiple venue websites To get a reasonable estimate if that info is available.  The bug companies are using covid as an excuse to get rid of paper tickets. Theyre also going to make all the mobile tickets have the rotating barcodes so you cant fake a screenshot. Its funny how they were more worried about fake paper tickets but digital is so much easier to fake now especially cause of resale markets being so convinient. Ticketmaster is also dumb to have gotten rid of “paperless” ticketing. Wheb you used your credit card to enter a gig. There was a work around with that where you could go to the box office and tell them you lost your card so they will print you paper tickets. Did that wuite a bit.

 

 

Edited July 23, 2021 by Suprefan

[eFestivals]

18 hours ago, st dan said:

Now that gigs/tours etc are back on the horizon, how is everybody feeling in regards to the pricing of some of these shows? Not necessarily the face value of the ticket itself, more the sum total of all fees and delivery etc.

Now I fully appreciate the artists, promoters, venues etc need the revenue after a torrid 18 months, but blimey they are getting a bit steep aren’t they! They were already on the up pre pandemic, but seems like there has been an understandable rise. 

This isn’t a thread to complain as such, as I’m delighted live music is back and want to get to see as much as you can. But I’ve just paid the best part of £100 for 2 x The War on Drugs tickets and £90 for 2 x The Kooks (mainly for mrs st dan’s nostalgia). So almost £200 is a hefty sum of money and that’s hardly touched the surface of those we want to see in the coming months.

Will a lot of us now have to be more selective with who we choose to pay to see in future? Especially when you add travel, food, drink etc in to the cost - its an sizeable expense.  
Also - it just goes to show how good value for money festivals are too!

ticket agents have had two years of costs with zero income so they'll be looking to recoup some of that

Edited July 23, 2021 by eFestivals

[st dan]

1 minute ago, eFestivals said:

ticket agents have had two years of costs with zero income so they'll be looking to recoup some of that

Completely get that - but customers only have a set amount of money they are willing to spend on watching live music. If the prices continue rising as they are, I can only see more and more people deciding against getting tickets for individual gigs, and holding out for festival appearances instead. Then their incomes will be hit by reduced sale volumes. 
Appreciate it’s a fine balance in terms of pricing, but for me the scales have now tipped to being too extortionate in most cases, and I’d rather not watch the act than pay some of the prices they are asking. 

[thewayiam]

18 hours ago, st dan said:

Now that gigs/tours etc are back on the horizon, how is everybody feeling in regards to the pricing of some of these shows? Not necessarily the face value of the ticket itself, more the sum total of all fees and delivery etc.

Now I fully appreciate the artists, promoters, venues etc need the revenue after a torrid 18 months, but blimey they are getting a bit steep aren’t they! They were already on the up pre pandemic, but seems like there has been an understandable rise. 

This isn’t a thread to complain as such, as I’m delighted live music is back and want to get to see as much as you can. But I’ve just paid the best part of £100 for 2 x The War on Drugs tickets and £90 for 2 x The Kooks (mainly for mrs st dan’s nostalgia). So almost £200 is a hefty sum of money and that’s hardly touched the surface of those we want to see in the coming months.

Will a lot of us now have to be more selective with who we choose to pay to see in future? Especially when you add travel, food, drink etc in to the cost - its an sizeable expense.  
Also - it just goes to show how good value for money festivals are too!

I said we would all be paying for this views in one way or another.

18 hours ago, FakeEmpire said:

It's been going this way for a long time. It's the extortionate booking fees that are particularly annoying, especially when you try and get them back after things are cancelled.

And this exactly why we are paying extra. Like above too, when the numbers hit ridiculously higher than now again and if bands cancel shows and offer refunds etc because people can't make new gigs....this is how money is made.

It kinda goes towards I'd rather they did everything properly on this live scene and got everyone double jabbed first to prevent excess of these issues. The more these happens the more they will make back.

18 hours ago, dotdash79 said:

I’ve found that tickets for gigs track the ticket prices for football. Most seem to start at £40 for a reasonable sized act. 
 

I am selective about who I book, but it shows the amazing value of Glastonbury when you compare it to gigs. 

I find this a weird one. Who you want to see elsewhere for money won't necessarily be booked at Glastonbury. 

If I went and spent money on Green Day, Papa Roach, Rise Against, The Offspring just got eg, the likes of those are extremely unlikely to be there so.

13 hours ago, Hugh Jass said:

I spent 800 quid on four football matches recently, so I’m not really in a position to judge gig ticket prices.

And I thought st dan was mad. Although to be honest, my friend spent £850 on one ticket from someone he'd spoke to for 3 days that he met at Wembley Park station. Madness even for a semi final.

[gooner1990]

Just paid over £45 to see James next month at the o2 academy in Oxford!

[sisco]

Just paid £25 in fees for Disney on Ice!! (4 tickets)

[nikkic]

Ticket prices were always going to go up when listening to music became free.

Artists have to earn money somehow. 

And I’m happy to pay fees to companies who do the middle work, but it would be better to see prices inclusive of those, rather than getting to the check out and having another tenner lumped on. 

[Hugh Jass]

2 minutes ago, nikkic said:

Ticket prices were always going to go up when listening to music became free.

Artists have to earn money somehow. 

And I’m happy to pay fees to companies who do the middle work, but it would be better to see prices inclusive of those, rather than getting to the check out and having another tenner lumped on. 

Think this is my stance, fees don't really bother me. I just look at the final number.

[jump]

Yeah I remember someone one here being shocked I was gonna pay £25 to see Orange Goblin last December (which got cancelled anyway) as that was too much for a small band but my mentality was that it was a small band who don't sell loads of albums and haven't been able to tour in a year, so £25 to make sure an artist is employed to do their art (I'm also one of those weirdos that buy music still rather than streaming it) plus being able to go back to a gig seemed like a bargain myself. 

Edited July 23, 2021 by jump

[jump]

1 hour ago, thewayiam said:

 

I find this a weird one. Who you want to see elsewhere for money won't necessarily be booked at Glastonbury. 

If I went and spent money on Green Day, Papa Roach, Rise Against, The Offspring just got eg, the likes of those are extremely unlikely to be there so.

Surely you should be seeing them at their own gig too if you're a fan? I love festivals and all that but sometimes seeing a band you love early on in the day for 40mins with a crowd that is hungover/half disinterested doesn't compare to their own gig where they play a full set including the deep cuts that they can't get away with at a festival slot with people who are properly energized and eager for just the band doesn't compare a lot of the times.

Edited July 23, 2021 by jump

[dotdash79]

1 hour ago, thewayiam said:

I find this a weird one. Who you want to see elsewhere for money won't necessarily be booked at Glastonbury. 

If I went and spent money on Green Day, Papa Roach, Rise Against, The Offspring just got eg, the likes of those are extremely unlikely to be there so.

Oh I was saying the value of a festival looks better the higher ticket prices go not that I’ll only go to a festival. 

26 minutes ago, jump said:

Surely you should be seeing them at their own gig too if you're a fan? I love festivals and all that but sometimes seeing a band you love early on in the day for 40mins with a crowd that is hungover/half disinterested doesn't compare to their own gig where they play a full set including the deep cuts that they can't get away with at a festival slot with people who are properly energized and eager for just the band doesn't compare a lot of the times.

And I do go to see a lot of them at there own gigs.  Festivals are a great gateway to getting in to acts. 

[fred quimby]

2 hours ago, eFestivals said:

ticket agents have had two years of costs with zero income so they'll be looking to recoup some of that

aye. But I wonder when the good times come back they will reduce this. I think I know the answer