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Many things were cheaper for decades and just went up in the last few years. Nothing surprising there!

eesmith 2y ago
The video points out the prices aren't do to with inflation but with decades of a trend toward monopolization. What you are seeing now in the last few years is with industry consolidation following the same playbook Ticketmaster applied to the music industry since at least the 1990s, to Pearl Jam's dismay. The video summarizes this long history well.
- mytailorisrich 2y ago
  Increase in purchasing power and broadened customer base thanks to cheaper transport means that they can increase prices while still filling venues. Tickets are also probably easier to buy now, a few clicks away on your smartphone, which may also widen the customer base while supply remains unchanged. In economic terms tickets are only "too expensive" if they can't find buyers.
  - eesmith 2y ago
    I feel like you are not rebutting the points made in the video but instead making a comment that is at best tangential and at worst promoting a narrow ideological belief which rejects the existence of monopoly power. To start with, who are you quoting with "too expensive"? Second, your analysis does not explain why it is cheaper to fly to Europe to see Taylor Swift on the same tour as in the US. https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-europe-eras-tour-fans-bcf8a207f06fd1f3e17a2f3f3b24dab5 https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-europe-eras-tour-fan... attributes the cost difference due to "restrictions on ticket fees and resales", rather easy of purchasing. Just like in the video.
    - mytailorisrich 2y ago
      I am not trying to rebute anything or to be argumentative so I don't really get your somewhat aggressive tone. Ultimately concerts and events tickets are optional leisure/luxury items and, as I mentioned, we can argue all we want about bad monopolies but as long as the tickets sell it means the price is fine, so why would they be cheaper? It's not an ideological belief about anything or a rejection of anything. This is a natural monopoly anyway. There are no competing Taylor Swift concerts for instance and, at least for popular events the number of available tickets is going to be smaller than the number of people interested and the basic law of supply and demand applies. When we see how prices often still massively inflate on resale it seems to me that official prices could often still be higher if they wanted to but it then becomes a PR issue. We've recently seen that here in the UK with dynamic pricing for tickets to the Oasis reunion. Perhaps they are simply getting more effective, and with fewer qualms, at extracting the best prices possible.
      - dastbe 2y ago
        whiles taylor swift has a natural monopoly on taylor swift, you can always have more venues. and each of those venues could compete on price/margin to court taylor swift and all of the other artists. and for venues that want to compete, there could exist alternative platforms that also compete on price/features. this all could lower prices AND put more money in the artist and venues pockets. ticketmaster ensures this doesn’t happen by controlling the market, so venues that don’t use them get locked out from artists and artists who don’t play ticketmaster only venues get locked out from too much of their audience.
      - eesmith 2y ago
        Because it's become increasingly clear you aren't actually engaging in the video but have your own axe to grind. The monopoly power discussed was about control over venues and artists, which you seem to completely ignore, to talk about ticket pricing.
  - namaria 2y ago
    So it's ok to price gauge as long as it's profitable?
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - mytailorisrich 2y ago
      It is not price gauging. It is the market price as tickets sell, and people even miss out and are willing to pay even more from resellers/touts. Odd that so many people feel that they are somehow entitled to low prices for something that is totally optional and by its very nature always in short supply.
      - namaria 2y ago
        Denouncing monopoly price gauging is hardly acting entitled and the fact that you affirm so is a win for owning class propaganda.
      - acdha 2y ago
        > Odd that so many people feel that they are somehow entitled to low prices for something that is totally optional and by its very nature always in short supply. This a dishonest characterization of criticism of monopoly abuse of the market. Those fees aren’t going to the artists, they’re highlighting the way competition has been removed from the market. This affects both sides of the equation: it’s not just that ticket buyers have few options but also that bands and venues also have little choice – if they buck Ticketmaster they’ll be shut out of a lot of deals which everyone else would like to happen. It’s hardly entitlement to think that market competition would be better for everyone except Ticketmaster.
        mytailorisrich 2y ago
        Abuse, again, and you're implying that I am in bad faith, which I am not (also remember the guidelines) I am just discussing and you're ignoring my points. Again, I don't understand the aggressivity here over such a trivial topic...

The video points out the prices aren't do to with inflation but with decades of a trend toward monopolization. What you are seeing now in the last few years is with industry consolidation following the same playbook Ticketmaster applied to the music industry since at least the 1990s, to Pearl Jam's dismay. The video summarizes this long history well.

mytailorisrich 2y ago
Increase in purchasing power and broadened customer base thanks to cheaper transport means that they can increase prices while still filling venues. Tickets are also probably easier to buy now, a few clicks away on your smartphone, which may also widen the customer base while supply remains unchanged. In economic terms tickets are only "too expensive" if they can't find buyers.
- eesmith 2y ago
  I feel like you are not rebutting the points made in the video but instead making a comment that is at best tangential and at worst promoting a narrow ideological belief which rejects the existence of monopoly power. To start with, who are you quoting with "too expensive"? Second, your analysis does not explain why it is cheaper to fly to Europe to see Taylor Swift on the same tour as in the US. https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-europe-eras-tour-fans-bcf8a207f06fd1f3e17a2f3f3b24dab5 https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-europe-eras-tour-fan... attributes the cost difference due to "restrictions on ticket fees and resales", rather easy of purchasing. Just like in the video.
  - mytailorisrich 2y ago
    I am not trying to rebute anything or to be argumentative so I don't really get your somewhat aggressive tone. Ultimately concerts and events tickets are optional leisure/luxury items and, as I mentioned, we can argue all we want about bad monopolies but as long as the tickets sell it means the price is fine, so why would they be cheaper? It's not an ideological belief about anything or a rejection of anything. This is a natural monopoly anyway. There are no competing Taylor Swift concerts for instance and, at least for popular events the number of available tickets is going to be smaller than the number of people interested and the basic law of supply and demand applies. When we see how prices often still massively inflate on resale it seems to me that official prices could often still be higher if they wanted to but it then becomes a PR issue. We've recently seen that here in the UK with dynamic pricing for tickets to the Oasis reunion. Perhaps they are simply getting more effective, and with fewer qualms, at extracting the best prices possible.
    - dastbe 2y ago
      whiles taylor swift has a natural monopoly on taylor swift, you can always have more venues. and each of those venues could compete on price/margin to court taylor swift and all of the other artists. and for venues that want to compete, there could exist alternative platforms that also compete on price/features. this all could lower prices AND put more money in the artist and venues pockets. ticketmaster ensures this doesn’t happen by controlling the market, so venues that don’t use them get locked out from artists and artists who don’t play ticketmaster only venues get locked out from too much of their audience.
    - eesmith 2y ago
      Because it's become increasingly clear you aren't actually engaging in the video but have your own axe to grind. The monopoly power discussed was about control over venues and artists, which you seem to completely ignore, to talk about ticket pricing.
- namaria 2y ago
  So it's ok to price gauge as long as it's profitable?
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - mytailorisrich 2y ago
    It is not price gauging. It is the market price as tickets sell, and people even miss out and are willing to pay even more from resellers/touts. Odd that so many people feel that they are somehow entitled to low prices for something that is totally optional and by its very nature always in short supply.
    - namaria 2y ago
      Denouncing monopoly price gauging is hardly acting entitled and the fact that you affirm so is a win for owning class propaganda.
    - acdha 2y ago
      > Odd that so many people feel that they are somehow entitled to low prices for something that is totally optional and by its very nature always in short supply. This a dishonest characterization of criticism of monopoly abuse of the market. Those fees aren’t going to the artists, they’re highlighting the way competition has been removed from the market. This affects both sides of the equation: it’s not just that ticket buyers have few options but also that bands and venues also have little choice – if they buck Ticketmaster they’ll be shut out of a lot of deals which everyone else would like to happen. It’s hardly entitlement to think that market competition would be better for everyone except Ticketmaster.
      - mytailorisrich 2y ago
        Abuse, again, and you're implying that I am in bad faith, which I am not (also remember the guidelines) I am just discussing and you're ignoring my points. Again, I don't understand the aggressivity here over such a trivial topic...