Stadium Ticket Pricing

[-TLR-]

8 minutes ago, clarkete said:

Thankfully we got to see their boring but beautiful prime on the farm for a pittance way back (checks notes) ... 25 years ago?!?

i used to absolutely LOVE The Corrs.

saw them loads of times in the late nineties - including on the farm in 1999 which was a great show and has been unfortunately largely forgotten to the sands of time..

and to this day, Talk On Corners is one of my favourite ever albums.

 

but there is no f**king way i am paying those prices to see them now... 

[fullfathom5]

Ticketmaster are the scum of the earth, always prefer Seetickets.

[gigpusher]

4 hours ago, Scrump said:

Agreed! I can't make sense of the pricing for bigger gigs at the moment. Although I'm firmly rooted in feeling that gigs should never cost more than 15 quid, so maybe I'm just tight. But then I go and see things like this ....

 

I mean I kind of get the large prices for big pop acts. If you have a troupe of dancers and musicians that need paying as well but it does feel like sometimes some acts have just decided to take advantage of the situation and normalised these things becoming unaffordable for the average person. 

4 hours ago, clarkete said:

Thankfully we got to see their boring but beautiful prime on the farm for a pittance way back (checks notes) ... 25 years ago?!?

Exactly it’s not like they are trying to recoup the expense of making lots of new albums because they can no longer make a living from them. 

[clarkete]

52 minutes ago, gigpusher said:

Exactly it’s not like they are trying to recoup the expense of making lots of new albums because they can no longer make a living from them. 

So you're suggesting that they were so young then, so young, so young then? 

[Dark Star]

8 hours ago, 4AssedMonkey said:

What, I mean...what?  Who in their right mind would pay that?  Half empty arenas beckon, surely?

Good old man of the people Bruce "The Hypocrite" Springsteen as worst offender.  Who'd have thunk it.  For shame, Bruce.  For shame.

He is the worst on there by far. His only justification can be that it's currently (including him) a 20 piece band. 
Interestingly, the equivalent tickets outside of the UK/Ireland for him are around the £120 mark. Wonder why they've lumped on for the shows here? 
The US pit tickets (about 1000 per show) start at around $349 before dynamic, which is utterly obscene.

Edited February 16 by Dark Star

[Suprefan]

On 2/14/2024 at 8:10 AM, fred quimby said:

Haven't trawled through the thread but has there been a breakdown of why these high prices. I know inflation has been high and people want to also be paid fairly but just wondering if there was anything out there

Everyones pushing to see how much the audience is willing to spend on seeing their favorite artist. This year seems theyve reached the limit in some aspects. And people are really getting tired of the same tactics and smell the bullshit any artist that claims theyre doing their part in fair access and pricing for tickets. Post covid there was a huge influx of supply chain issues and it forced companies to charge more for what they had. Now those prices are the norm and it has to be passed on somewhere. Along with artists wanting their piece of the pie and you get what we have now. The only way it will change is if concerts are visibly empty even for the biggest acts in the world. 

[parsonjack]

41 minutes ago, Suprefan said:

Everyones pushing to see how much the audience is willing to spend on seeing their favorite artist. This year seems theyve reached the limit in some aspects. And people are really getting tired of the same tactics and smell the bullshit any artist that claims theyre doing their part in fair access and pricing for tickets. Post covid there was a huge influx of supply chain issues and it forced companies to charge more for what they had. Now those prices are the norm and it has to be passed on somewhere. Along with artists wanting their piece of the pie and you get what we have now. The only way it will change is if concerts are visibly empty even for the biggest acts in the world. 

Certainly for the biggest acts in the world I fear the seats will always be full whatever the pricing, but the demographic will change with seats being occupied more and more by well heeled punters who simply want to tick a box and Insta themselves at the front of a Stones gig etc.  The diehard fan with a mortgage and a family, well, he/she's seen him/her/them a gazillion times, had their moment, paid their cash........thanks very much but.....

Springsteen is a prime example again where tons of long term US followers have ditched him for this very reason but his tickets are still like rocking horse sh*t even at crazy prices.  A big shame tbh.

[Ayrshire Chris]

302 quid now on ticketmaster for standing tickets for AC/DC. Disgusting,

[Superscally]

43 minutes ago, Ayrshire Chris said:

302 quid now on ticketmaster for standing tickets for AC/DC. Disgusting,

Yeah man. Shite.

[Ayrshire Chris]

1 hour ago, Superscally said:

Yeah man. Shite.

I’m waiting, highly likely in vain, of an announcement for a stadium Scottish date. 

[Suprefan]

6 hours ago, parsonjack said:

Certainly for the biggest acts in the world I fear the seats will always be full whatever the pricing, but the demographic will change with seats being occupied more and more by well heeled punters who simply want to tick a box and Insta themselves at the front of a Stones gig etc.  The diehard fan with a mortgage and a family, well, he/she's seen him/her/them a gazillion times, had their moment, paid their cash........thanks very much but.....

Springsteen is a prime example again where tons of long term US followers have ditched him for this very reason but his tickets are still like rocking horse sh*t even at crazy prices.  A big shame tbh.

I mean Madonna on her current us leg has 5 nights in LA and theres going to be a ton of open seats every show except the single Saturday date she has booked. They botched the onsale dates and failed to communicate about it all so it flew under the radar. And you add in higher pricing because she knew she could get away with it and the late start times so itll be not a good look. And Travis Scott overeatimated his return on his tour because resale dropped to $5 on stubhub for a lot of tour dates. Resellers thought everyone would be mobbing every date and they bought everything up and nobody bit.

[Superscally]

7 minutes ago, Suprefan said:

I mean Madonna on her current us leg has 5 nights in LA and theres going to be a ton of open seats every show except the single Saturday date she has booked. They botched the onsale dates and failed to communicate about it all so it flew under the radar. And you add in higher pricing because she knew she could get away with it and the late start times so itll be not a good look. And Travis Scott overeatimated his return on his tour because resale dropped to $5 on stubhub for a lot of tour dates. Resellers thought everyone would be mobbing every date and they bought everything up and nobody bit.

Excellent.

[beau1]

As scummy as Ticketmaster are artists DO have a choice to use different platforms or disable dynamic pricing if they stick with TM. Most of them seem perfectly happy to fall into line. 

God bless Robert Smith's efforts last year; The Cure effectively proved that much of this is in artists hands, but it seems you can't stop greed by some artists. 

I've drawn my line at £100 - I don't care who the act is or how special the show is. It's not worth it when I could see two medium size bands or grab a day ticket at a festival for less and have an equally good experience.

Edited February 17 by beau1

[charlierc]

3 hours ago, Suprefan said:

And Travis Scott overeatimated his return on his tour because resale dropped to $5 on stubhub for a lot of tour dates. Resellers thought everyone would be mobbing every date and they bought everything up and nobody bit.

I'd still be reluctant to pay $5 for a Travis Scott ticket, having seen him open for Depeche Mode at a festival in Paris and decided after two songs to go do something else until he was finished (which, as it turns out, was before his scheduled stage time was due to finish).

[Suprefan]

3 hours ago, beau1 said:

As scummy as Ticketmaster are artists DO have a choice to use different platforms or disable dynamic pricing if they stick with TM. Most of them seem perfectly happy to fall into line. 

God bless Robert Smith's efforts last year; The Cure effectively proved that much of this is in artists hands, but it seems you can't stop greed by some artists. 

I've drawn my line at £100 - I don't care who the act is or how special the show is. It's not worth it when I could see two medium size bands or grab a day ticket at a festival for less and have an equally good experience.

The Cure were vigilent about it. Nobody else has been doing that to their level. Fans were pointing out the system was showing the wrong prices and the Cure spoke up and TM fixed it. Everyone else just makes a statement and then it goes haywire.

 

had to dig a little but finally found a screenshot of Pearl Jam's last leg in the fall which had face value exchange activated. Stop scalpers you say?

[beau1]

49 minutes ago, Suprefan said:

The Cure were vigilent about it. Nobody else has been doing that to their level. Fans were pointing out the system was showing the wrong prices and the Cure spoke up and TM fixed it. Everyone else just makes a statement and then it goes haywire.

 

had to dig a little but finally found a screenshot of Pearl Jam's last leg in the fall which had face value exchange activated. Stop scalpers you say?

It was more than the fact The Cure were vigilent about it. They had gone out from the start to ensure tickets were (more) affordable. It only kicked off because TM were fleecing the cheap tickets with ridiculous fees.

They had already set ticket prices extremely low for a band of their stature. Tickets were as cheap as $20 for many of their Arena shows, with the most costly being around $120 - disabled dynamic pricing & barely any price banding. 

Even their UK Arena tour in 2022 averaged out about £50 a ticket; which was a lot cheaper than Depeche Mode's current arena tour.

[Dark Star]

3 hours ago, Suprefan said:

The Cure were vigilent about it. Nobody else has been doing that to their level. Fans were pointing out the system was showing the wrong prices and the Cure spoke up and TM fixed it. Everyone else just makes a statement and then it goes haywire.

 

had to dig a little but finally found a screenshot of Pearl Jam's last leg in the fall which had face value exchange activated. Stop scalpers you say?

The face value exchange only allowed people to sell tickets for what they paid for them. So 10 club or very early purchase tickets would stay low, anyone who bought dynamic priced amd wanted to sell would have to hope someone was prepared to pay it. 

[gfa]

On 2/17/2024 at 4:29 PM, beau1 said:

As scummy as Ticketmaster are artists DO have a choice to use different platforms or disable dynamic pricing if they stick with TM. Most of them seem perfectly happy to fall into line. 

God bless Robert Smith's efforts last year; The Cure effectively proved that much of this is in artists hands, but it seems you can't stop greed by some artists. 

I've drawn my line at £100 - I don't care who the act is or how special the show is. It's not worth it when I could see two medium size bands or grab a day ticket at a festival for less and have an equally good experience.

Acts the size of The Cure can throw their weight around though - your academy bands cannot unfortunately. Although their prices are much less anyway.

Ticketmaster in the US (not sure about here) is very tied to many venues, so you have no choice but to use them. similar to AXS and the o2 here

[tarw]

Just spent £19.50 ( inc. fees) to watch Dead Poet Society in Barcelona. Had a fantastic time. The band and audience fed off each other. 
If I pay £160 for an AC/DC ticket I will be guaranteed a good performance but I doubt amazing- if you’re charging that much for a ticket you are usually “professional” about it. 
 

I know paying £30 a ticket you will see some poor bands, but you can uncover some gems and have fantastic memories. 
 

I find the stadium acts will deliver you good entertainment but never an OMG experience 

[beau1]

7 hours ago, gfa said:

Acts the size of The Cure can throw their weight around though - your academy bands cannot unfortunately. Although their prices are much less anyway.

Of course the large bands can throw their weight around - it has to start from the top otherwise it can't work. That's why it's disappointing to see the likes of Pearl Jam, The Killers, Smashing Pumpkins, AC/DC etc allow themselves to be taken in by sh*tty practices. 

7 hours ago, gfa said:

Ticketmaster in the US (not sure about here) is very tied to many venues, so you have no choice but to use them. similar to AXS and the o2 here

Agreed, but bands can still opt out of dynamic pricing or to negotiate lower fees/ face-value prices. I guess it's difficult when a lot of these more premium prices end up selling out though.

Edited February 19 by beau1

[thewomble]

On 2/17/2024 at 9:42 AM, Ayrshire Chris said:

302 quid now on ticketmaster for standing tickets for AC/DC. Disgusting,

This is beyond a joke, there's literally nobody I could justify spending that much to see

[Dark Star]

This is what Pearl Jam tells 10 Club members about the dynamically priced tickets...

 

PJ Premium:

 

PJ Premium seats are located in a variety of preferred locations and account for approximately 10% of ticket inventory per show. They are priced at market rate to offset increased touring costs while also keeping prices low* for the rest of the ticket inventory. PJ Premium tickets will only be available through Ticketmaster Registration Sale along with regularly priced tickets. 

 

* The asterisk was put there by me. For the US, they are cheaper than a lot of the other big names. Notable that there's now only a tenner or so, give or take, between their US, UK, and AUS/NZ prices. 

Edited February 19 by Dark Star

[gfa]

4 minutes ago, Dark Star said:

This is what Pearl Jam tells 10 Club members about the dynamically priced tickets...

 

PJ Premium:

 

PJ Premium seats are located in a variety of preferred locations and account for approximately 10% of ticket inventory per show. They are priced at market rate to offset increased touring costs while also keeping prices low* for the rest of the ticket inventory. PJ Premium tickets will only be available through Ticketmaster Registration Sale along with regularly priced tickets. 

 

* The asterisk was put there by me. For the US, they are cheaper than a lot of the other big names. Notable that there's now only a tenner or so, give or take, between their US, UK, and AUS/NZ prices. 

Not sure how I feel about this

If your stupid enough to pay i'm glad your subsidising others - in a similar way to people buying hospitality glasto tickets for example

Right intentions but not sure this is the best approach

[The Nal]

AC/DC ticket went up to 400 euro for the Irish date. Dynamic pricing is here!

[Drinky]

The Cure disallowed TM from doing any Platinum resale or ticket exchange on the platform… but it was still possible to transfer tickets between accounts, so resales moved to third party sites. Source: I was unexpectedly in Seattle the week of their show and I impulse bought a ticket off TickPick the night before for $180 (front row of the seating at the side, which felt like fair value, but more than the $75 face)

Once you allow TM to benefit from resales at ‘market price’, you incentivize them to act unethically (hold tickets back for ‘Platinum’, for example)