I remember when I was in College and one of my friends invited me to go see a concert. I agreed and handed over the $30 for my ticket, not expecting too much seat wise. Turns out the only closer tickets than what we had would have been the Pit/GA tickets. What a great memorable night that was!
Nowadays though, you’d be lucky if $30 got you nosebleed tickets in an arena, or even entry into some 1000ish capacity venues! What Gives? Well there’s a lot of factors to weigh in that are driving the cost of tickets through the roof.
The Pandemic:
After the lockdowns lifted and bands could tour again bands and touring related companies needed to recover what the lost during the lockdowns. And I can hear you now “But Nolan, that was yeas ago already!” in which case, you’re right. But once prices go up, they seldom come down for most things as people get used to the new prices.
Gas Prices:
During a tour, everything the band uses on stage needs to go with them from city to city. Some bands have tried to reduce the cost of this by shipping their merch to drop off locations where they later pick up the packages prior to each show, but that comes with its own challenges with customs, shipping delays and so on. The bigger the show, the more trucks are needed to ship everything from the instruments to the entire stage depending on the show!
Vehicles:
Speaking of Gas prices, the vehicles themselves. Vehicles are expensive enough these days, could you imagine owning a fleet of them? Well most bands and labels actually don’t. When a band graduates from their “rusted white van” stage, they need a lot more to get around. Depending on the size of the band and tour, this could start anywhere from a single tour bus, to as many trucks as you could imagine! But even if it’s just a tour bus and trailer, that still has a steep price that isn’t getting any cheaper!
I remember a story I was told once of someone who rented out tour busses for a living. He started with one that he rented out, eventually earning enough that he owned a fleet of 43 tour busses before retiring. At that point he sold off his fleet to the tune of 60 million dollars in the 1990’s!
Venue Costs:
The Venue needs to make money too! They have their own bills to pay like anyone else. They need to pay for their staff, security, liquor licenses, etc. Most of this is made back with food and liquor sales, but they also get their own slice of the pie for hosting the concerts.
Tariffs:
It’s uncertain exactly how this will affect concert prices in the future, specifically for American bands coming north of the border, but we can expect to see a jump in concert prices as a result. How big that jump is has yet to bee seen. Although when a band crosses ANY border they already have to to adjust their prices for tariffs, as well as dollar conversion rates and so on.
The Band and Co:
Okay, so obviously the band needs to be paid, but there are a lot of people who need to get paid ahead of them. A band from London isn’t going to know the venues, rules and regulations, and so on. For that they hire a local promoter, who often aids in booking the venues, and obviously promoting the shows. Still ahead of the band is their Management, record company, Ticket hosting sites and so on. So realistically the last people to see a slice of the pie, and often times the smallest slice, is the band themselves!
Ultimately the band is the one that signs off on the final prices of the tickets, but remember they have lots of people to pay before they pay themselves. Knowing this, I’m fine paying $100-$200 for a concert ticket if it’s a band I really like, but anything above that Requires more than a few days of consideration.
What’s the most you’re willing to part with to see a band?
