4 ms·

Ticketmaster doesn't get 100% of the fee. One of the services that Ticketmaster offers is to charge a large fee, which is then split between everybody (i.e. the

• jumelles 9y ago
  Okay, so let's just slash prices in half and give all the money to the artists ;) EDIT to add: I'm being glib, but only a little - I think the artists, compared with venues and promoters, ought to hold much more power than they currently do. Of course venues should get paid - but are fees the best way?
  • pstuart 9y ago
    Well, the venue has to pay its bills too.
    • jalk 9y ago
      Doesn't the venue also make a small fortune selling overpriced drinks/snacks?
      • tehwebguy 9y ago
        Depends on the target audience age and proclivity for buying concessions / alcohol. (Also, LiveNation owns the House of Blues locations and often takes a cut of merchandise sales in their venues)
  • smt88 9y ago
    The artists themselves would have to be on-board with that, and they're not. Like it or not, many artists believe they need TicketMaster to promote their shows. I think they're wrong, but there needs to be a large culture change for TM to actually get the quick death it deserves.
    • deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
  • klodolph 9y ago
    Part of the reason why it's so expensive is because the artists are getting a percentage of profits on top of a fixed fee per performance. They're absorbing a much lower amount of risk than the promoters are.
    • thedarkginger 9y ago
      Add to that the cultural aspect that artists have a stake in making tickets look artificially inexpensive -- no one wants to see Bruce Springsteen "take advantage" of his fans, but if TM does it, then they take the blow even if a cut goes back to the artist/promoter.
• freehunter 9y ago
  A big problem with that is the history of the musical acts themselves. People have come to expect massive productions with fireworks and laser lights and literally tons of equipment and the people to set it up and everything to go off without a hitch... and not only that, it has to be priced so everyone who has ever listened to that artist's music can afford to go. Like you mentioned, the price of a ticket isn't anywhere near the cost of the production, so they tack on fees to make the ticket price look more reasonable (until you've already committed to buying it). Same thing cut-rate airlines do. It's not cheaper, it just looks like it is. They have to lie to you in order to get you to buy it. I know music is a personal choice and I can't decide for anyone else, but over the years I've come to prefer smaller venues or more local acts because every big artist in a big venue is a big production and it stresses me out just thinking about it. The bands playing at my local brewery are just as good and I can get a front-row seat for the price of the beer I'm drinking. I actually saw a big-name star do a pop-up show at a local pub and there were only about 100 people there and it was just such a real experience. It's hard to justify the price for bigger venues.
  • KozmoNau7 9y ago
    I've sworn off big arena shows as well, basically anything with capacity for more than 500 people. I find smaller shows to be much more enjoyable, especially from the perspective of a fan, who actually wants to hear the music and have a reasonable chance of actually seeing the artists.
    • freehunter 9y ago
      I run a local blog in my small town, and we have a C-list Nashville singer that grew up here. Occasionally they come back to town to do smaller shows at the local brewery. Of course I talked about this on my blog and mentioned them on my Insta/Twitter/Facebook, and during an intermission in the show the singer came and sat down next to me and said "hey you're the guy from [blog name] right?" and we had an actual conversation about what they miss about living in this small town compared to Nashville. You'd be hard pressed to have that experience at a Taylor Swift concert. And this was a no-cover-charge show.
• throwawaymanbot 9y ago
  I'm sorry, "convenience fees" that are the exact same price as the ticket are total and UTTER Bollox. not to mention that I dont understand how websites that are owned by ticketmaster, that resell their tickets at a higher scalpy price, within 60 seconds of tickets going on sale online are legal.