Yes, You Really Are Paying More for Concert Tickets Now
Categories: Music
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| www.economist.com |
​As recorded music sales slide, at least among the young, artists and promoters are charging you more (lots more) money to go to concerts.
How much more?
Check it out after the jump.
Between 1999 and 2009 concert-ticket sales in America tripled in value, from $1.5 billion to $4.6 billion...It is not that more people are going to concerts. Rather, they are paying more to get in. In 1996 a ticket to one of America's top 100 concert tours cost $25.81, according to Pollstar, a research firm that tracks the market. If prices had increased in line with inflation, the average ticket would have cost $35.30 last year. In fact it cost $62.57.
Of course, larger concert promoters such as Live Nation took a big hit this previous summer, and were forced to cancel shows and cut fees. But while Rolling Stone attributed the year's sagging ticket sales to fans finally revolting and refusing to pay more, the Economist says it happened largely because "some big-selling acts [like U2] took a break."
The magazine also does not see any let up in the rise in concert ticket prices. Why?
Fans complain bitterly about the rising price of live music. Yet they keep paying for concerts.
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