If enough people don't go, prices will go down.
A recent article online says that "some fans" of Bruce Springsteen are upset that Ticketmaster is using "dynamic pricing" and offering tickets for as much as $4000 apiece - and sometimes more, not including "convenience fees." What is going on here and how can you change it?
With regard to the latter question, the answer is simple: Don't Go. If you pay outrageous prices for concert tickets, you have no one but yourself to blame for it. You have forfeited all right to complain about high prices if you pay them. After all, a concert is not like oxygen, water, or food - things you need to survive. When you pay the "outrageous" price, well, that validates to Ticketmaster that the price is indeed correct - the optimal pricing strategy. You paid it and by doing so, told them that is how much you were willing to pay.
I noted before how James Taylor was coming to Jacksonville and we thought about going for all of ten minutes, until we saw the ticket prices - starting at $200 for seats in the back of a huge stadium. Uh, no thanks, we don't really like James Taylor all that much, and concert experiences are often less than optimal - people standing in front of you, holding up their stupid smart phones, and the performers on the stage looking like ants. Some fun. Better off watching a YouTube video of it.
What was interesting is that as the concert date approached, suddenly the prices come down. They didn't get too many takers at $200 a pop, so they lower the prices. Empty seats represent no revenue at all (and look bad to the people who paid top dollar to be there). So even at half-price or less, they are increasing their profit margin. It's why no two seats on an airliner are the same price. It is why GM had a car for "every purse and purpose." It is basic economics 101.
But what about the first question? Why are prices so crazy and who is paying $4000 for a seat? Springsteen is not alone in this, either. I saw online, a menu from a "rap" festival, offering entrees starting at $160 and up, with bottles of bubbly in the four-figures. I've seen receipts from Coachella-type events in the five-figures for some of these gigs - a few bottles of wine, some food, and it isn't hard to do - not that I would ever do that myself!
I guess the closest I came to that was going to see the Charlie Daniels band, which is Charlie Daniels and some backup musicians, doing the songs that made him famous back in the day ("Heard it in a Love Song"). I was not a fan, but a friend suggested we go with them and "VIP" tickets for the event on intimate Rainbow Island (at Sea Island) were a little over $120 each, but included two free drinks and some food items. That was a freaking bargain and we got to sit up-front in a venue of less than 200 people. It was a good time. Ol' Charlie has James Taylor beat, hands down. I guess I was spoiled by that experience.
But some others think nothing of spending thousands to attend these events, and some of them even have the money, too. The problem - as it always has been - is the "strivers" who are not entertaining guests of the firm on expense account, but rather are just rabid fans trying to buy their way into the VIP zone. Those poor bastards bankrupt themselves trying to keep up with the real rich. It is like the working man who buys a Rolex watch for several thousand dollars. He really can't afford it, but he wants to be in the club so badly.
And like the guy who bites the bullet and buys the Springsteen tickets, he ends up squandering a lot of dough. Most of those $4000 tickets are going to be sold to very rich people or to companies with expense accounts. A few will be sold to rabid "fans" who will max out their credit card to attend. There is a huge difference between these two kinds of people. One can afford it, the other only thinks they can.
Quite frankly, I really can't recall a stadium concert I went to that was any fun. We used to go to the Birchmere in Arlington, and they served food and beer which was nice - and you got to see some acts that were on there way up - before they commanded stadium crowds. Ditto for Club 9:30 in Washington - they have a cigar-and-martini bar there, and it is a lot of fun - and doesn't cost that much. but that was 30 years ago, of course. Much has changed.
But stadium shows? Usually the acoustics suck and you are so far from the stage you can't see the performers except on the Jumbotron. Paying $200 to watch television. And the ringing in your ears and the hearing damage (what?) - I never had a good time at places like that.
Of course, the E-Street band is playing innocent in all of this. Stevie Van Zandt claims he has "nothing to do with ticket prices" but he still cashes his paychecks. The band engaged that venue, which in turn engaged Ticketron. If they really felt strongly about it (and they don't) they'd cancel the gig or use another outlet than Ticketron. Sadly, there have been few alternatives, and if you sell tickets at face value, well, you are just putting money in the pockets of scalpers - and the "fans" end up screwed either way.
Just don't be a fan and you'll be surprised how much money you'll save. Not going is always your ace-in-the-hole. If more people did that, well, prices would come down.
Simple econmics.
