Why you so seldom read about obscene Ticketmaster-style ticketing charges
It’s because critics get into concerts free. They don’t have to pay the charges–they are barely aware of them.
I’ve gotten comped to concerts my entire life, so I don’t complain about paying occasionally; besides, an artist will get a lot more money from you at one concert than he or she will over the course of a career’s worth of album releases. Still, it’s always shocking to experience a public event as a civilian.
Case in point: An upcoming Vampire Weekend concert. I go online to the site of a local concert promotion group, Lucky Man Concerts, which has the virtue of not, as far as I know, being an arm of Live Nation, formerly known as Clear Channel.
The cost is a reasonable $19. When you start to buy the ticket online, you get the choice of will call or printing your own ticket. As you can see, the latter costs $2.50!
Printing the ticket myself saves the promoter money, right? So why am I paying $2.50?
Fine, whatever, it’s only a $20 ticket. Proceed through to checkout and you get presented with this screen:
Two more charges are appended, with no explanation other than “ticket fee” and “order fee.” Again, I’m not complaining for myself; I’ve seen nearly every great band in the world free multiple times. (And many. many more bad ones.) But this is the sort of Sopranos-like extortion that affects millions of concert-goers every year:
Original ticket price: $19.
Total price, three fees later, after being shaken down by the ticket-selling system: $30.50, for a 60+ percent premium.
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What I said. Add in a babysitter and you’ll never go out again.
From Ticketmaster’s website:
Ticketmaster’s primary financial goals are to maximize long-term earnings and free cash flow. We strategically evaluate and allocate capital toward growth initiatives to drive shareholder value.
Ticketmaster is the connection to live entertainment. Established in 1976, Ticketmaster serves more than 10,000 clients worldwide. In 2007, the company sold over 141 million tickets through paid channels valued at over $8.3 billion on behalf of its clients.
At least they are clear who they are looking out for.
Just like foodies who are locavores, a good way to enjoy music is local bands in local venues where you pay cash at the door. At least you have a reasonable idea where the money is going.