We all love going to gigs, right? For me there's nothing quite like the fun of going to see a band I love play a show. Enjoying a night out with friends, having a dance and appreciating some good live music. But since when did it get so expensive?!
The answer? Live Nation.
Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in 2009 and it's estimated that they now hold somewhere in the region of 70-80% of ticket sales in the US. That gives them almost free range over what they charge and what additional fees they whack on top of your purchase.
A single ticket for the current Honda Civic tour (with Paramore, New Found Glory and Tegan & Sara) at the UCF Arena in Orlando, FL from Ticketmaster currently breaks down like this:
To check out the almighty Muse in Newark NJ in October, Ticketmaster is gonna charge you another $10.20 (a quarter of the ticket price) on top just for 'convenience'.
Ok, ok. I know over in England we don't get it quite so bad as the Americans but still... on top of a £23.50 ticket to see 30 Seconds to Mars at the 02 Arena in London you're looking at £3.35 in extra fees.
I don't know about you, but i'm not that flush. I'm also pretty sure most of these bands that we like to go and see aren't all that flush either. I think I can probably speak on everyone's behalf when I say that whenever I buy a ticket to see a band, I want that money to go to them. So where does all that extra money go when we hand over our hard earned cash?
It's pretty evident that the pockets of these guys are being lined by our 'conveniences', but what about the other impacts that's having on a music industry with the live entertainment business at it's heart?
The problem is five-fold: Live Nation not only control ticketing but umbrella 4 other aspects of the live event industry - concert promotion, sponsorship, e-commerce and artist management. They own a plethora of concert venues both in the States (like House of Blues) and in Europe (for example Academy Music Group in the UK). On their website they boast that last year they sold 140 million tickets last year.
Before the explosion of the internet a key part of making it as a band was to hit the road and tour to get your name out there and build a solid fanbase. Loads of new bands today still rely on it, yet with Live Nation owning an increasing amount of venues and having a strong grip on the artist management sector, what will become of the small, independent artist? How is an industry expected the thrive when such a blatent monopoly exists? So, long as Live Nation have their fingers in all the pies, they're going to want to push their own artists and create even more profit for themselves leaving the struggling unsigned acts for dust.
To make a stand against this, or to find out more head on over to Ticket Disaster.
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Hey Kiki,
ReplyDeleteI found your blog via Google alerts. I work for Brown Paper Tickets in Seattle, WA. We're the largest independently owned ticket provider, well, anywhere. I hear your pain. Live music suffers because people don't realize the choices available to them and most have a visceral wretch when they have to cow to 'the man.'
The arguments you bring up in your post were the same reasons we got into the ticketing business in the first place.
check us out: www.BrownPaperTickets.com
We sell tickets differently. Our underlying philosophy is: provide the service people want, treat everyone fairly (ticket buyers, event producers, ourselves), and don't force anyone into anything. The result is a lot of the acts you talk about use us. And, yes we do sell tickets in the UK.
Keep up the good work!
Cheers.
Thanks Ty, I had a look at your site and it's so refreshing to see that there are other alternatives out there for fans, venues and bands alike. I'd like to get a little feature up on your company - drop me an email and we can sort something out!
ReplyDeleteKiki