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With so many folks struggling financially right now, it seems a good time to talk about the out-of-control price of concert tickets. It’s getting harder and harder to sell tickets these days, and a big part of the problem is that live music has become a luxury some can no longer afford. Concert tickets have always been a canary in the coal mine for impending economic downturns. They’re an expense that requires disposable income, so they’re amongst the first things to be cut from the budget when folks are feeling pinched. Venues and musicians usually feel the tremors of a downturn before they show up on a wider scale. (I’ll beat trolls to the punch by saying that, in my case, it could definitely be that people are getting tired of me. Regardless, I’ve talked with other artists, venues, and promoters, and almost everyone agrees that things are slowing down.) Here are what I believe are the biggest factors behind the surge: The primary driver is greedy ticketing services. Ticketmaster is the biggest and worst offender, but they aren’t alone. When the final cost of a ticket is broken down, it’s shocking what percentage goes to the ticketing service. Thankfully, some smaller ticketing services are cropping up with more reasonable fees, but artists have no control over what ticketing service a venue uses. Another factor is the perilous state of live music venues. Venues are closing right and left in the Twin Cities and elsewhere, and shrinking competition is never good for consumers. The economics of operating a live music club have always been perilous, but it’s become much, much worse. Rents, insurance, and other costs have soared, and people are drinking much less. To keep their doors open, many venues are taking a larger percentage of ticket sales. Some venues are also adding their own fees on top of the fees charged by ticketing services. I truly believe that these are acts of desperation, not greed. Music streaming is also a big part of the problem. Many of us musicians used to live largely off royalties and record sales. Now, thanks to streaming, both have all but disappeared. On top of paying the bills, we’re struggling to build up nest eggs for “retirement” (which is scary for those of us late in our careers). Our music catalogs were basically our 401(k)s, and they were wiped out almost overnight. As a result, most of us now rely almost entirely on performing live to pay the bills and build up savings. The bottom line is we aren’t in a great position to lower our performance fees or percentages. The situation is clearly unsustainable, and I’m not sure what the answers are. Maybe if the bad actors amongst ticketing services come to realize the status quo can’t hold, they’ll lower their fees. I’m not going to hold my breath on that one. Maybe rents and other operating costs will drop for venues, and they’ll be in a position to take less from a ticket and survive. I’m not hopeful on this one, either. Artists always seem to be the ones who make concessions. Most of us are working to cut our operating costs and lower our percentage as much as we can bear. Sadly, one of the only ways I could significantly lower my operating costs would be to do more of my shows solo, which would really, really suck. As it stands, I fight hard to bar the use of surge pricing or “resale” options for my shows. When a ticket is resold these days, it is almost always the actual ticketing service doing the reselling, meaning they scalp tickets to “sold out” shows at ridiculously marked-up prices. These shows aren’t truly sold out; the tickets being scalped should still be available at the set price. To disable these options, I have to petition the venue, which in turn has to petition the ticketing service for an exemption. Thankfully, some venues have been willing to do this for me. One thought I’ve had is to perform mostly via live-streamed shows. I would dearly miss the immediacy, joy, and energy of being in the room with everyone, but with livestreams, fans could either listen for free or make a small donation to a virtual tip jar. They could also save money by picking up their own Coors Party Ball for the show. Another benefit of this approach would be that it would allow fans in markets I no longer travel to (or infrequently) to hear me play “live”. Good Idea? Bad idea? I just don’t know.
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