Hello everyone and welcome back to Social Soundwaves! Concert tickets have become more expensive in recent years, making fans question why seeing their artists perform costs so much. From soaring production costs to the rise of scalpers and resellers, there are a multitude of factors that contribute to the growing cost of live music events.
Five Major Factors
There are five major factors that attribute to concert tickets being as much as your mortgage. Artists, promoters, the venues that host concerts, the ticketing companies selling tickets, and ticket resellers. These factors create a complex web of costs that each add to the price of a ticket. As a result, fans pay extreme amounts for a concert experience driven by these connected factors.
Artists
Artists with large, dedicated fanbases and high demand can command higher prices for their tickets because fans are willing to pay more for a chance to see them. Location also comes into play if artists are from overseas as travel expenses, visa fees, and international shipping for stage equipment can drive up costs even further. Artists and promoters pass down these added expenses to fans, making tickets even more expensive for global tours. Tickets may also have higher resale value if the artist has yet to visit your city or hasn’t visited in several years.
Promoters
Promoters play a key role in ticket pricing because they are responsible for financing the event. They negotiate deals with artists, book venues, handle marketing, and cover various logistical expenses. To make sure they earn enough money, they set the ticket prices high enough to cover all of those factors. They also must set it high enough to cover potential risks like low ticket sales. As a result, fans often see higher ticket prices that reflect not only the cost of the event but also the promoter’s need to minimize financial uncertainty.
Venues
Venue size plays another key role in ticket prices. Bigger venues, like stadiums, require additional facility fees. These fees can be anything like concessions, running merch tables, and venue security. Another factor is the capacity of the venue. To be profitable, the venue needs to fill many seats, which means it might be priced higher to ensure profitability. The higher the demand, the more tickets they will sell to ensure profit.
Ticketing Companies
Everyone has heard of Ticketmaster or AXS. These companies add various fees on top of the base ticket price, including service charges, convenience fees, and order processing fees. These extra costs can sometimes add 20% or more to the original price, making tickets significantly more expensive for fans. Ticketmaster also uses dynamic pricing, which means that ticket prices can fluctuate based on real-time demand, potentially increasing prices for popular events. As a result, fans often end up paying far more than the original ticket price, making live concerts increasingly inaccessible for many.
Resellers
There has always been a secondary market for tickets on platforms like StubHub and SeatGeek. During sales, brokers compete with fans for seats with employees or bots, which creates less supply for concert fans. The global resale ticket market size was estimated at about USD 3.4 billion in 2024 (Web Series Reviews, 2024). Resellers typically target high-demand events, purchasing tickets as soon as they are released to ensure they secure a large quantity. Once the tickets sell out, resellers list them for resale at inflated prices, capitalizing on the scarcity of available tickets. Ticket prices for high demand artists like Taylor Swift had ticket resales up to 13,000 dollars. This practice often leads to frustrated fans who are left with no choice but to pay exorbitant prices, further fueling the ticket price inflation.
The rising cost of concert tickets is a multifaceted issue driven by the combined influence of artists, promoters, venues, ticketing companies, and resellers. Each of these factors plays a role in increasing prices, from higher production costs to the manipulation of ticket availability. Ultimately, if these practices continue, it could lead to a shift in how live music events are experienced, with fans advocating for more affordable and accessible ticketing options.
I had no idea so many things went into that cost, no wonder the prices are so high!