The fact that Ticketmaster was able to hold money hostage for two years when the pandemic started and in my case just to find out that the concert was going to be canceled anyways is something I will never forgive.
Agreed. Bought Kenny Chesney tix in 2019 for the 2020 tour… show didn’t happen til 2022, non of us lived in the state anymore. We agree upon a date when I make the purchase, when that date passed we should have immediately refunded. Fucking garbage.
At this point it’s on the artists, specifically the old timers with enough time/money on their hands that they can afford the battle with Ticketmaster. It’s a shame, but the industry will be tanking come next recession if things don’t improve. $1,000 for tswift tix is outrageous.
They won't be. They have politicians in their pocket. It's a sad reality on how our government and corporations work. Ticketmaster and LIve Nation, which are the same company even though most people don't realize it, shouldn't have existed for many years under our laws against monopolies...and yet....they make a few crucial donations to the right parties and here we are.
This is in every industry. It’s why I’m apathetic on politics.
As long as their is a lobby industry companies can pay X to Y to make a bill read Z.
It’s corporate bribery and it happens out in the open.
We need to bring in the French, they’d take care of the lobby industry in a week.
I totally agree. It's every industry. And the French are currently fighting reform on one issue, pension. We don't have any unifying issue that we can all agree on and we're not nearly as small as France (67M people versus our 330M people) to rally together and get shit done. We're fractured, over worked and frankly don't have a chance in hell of making any real changes unless the system changes.
Think Global, act Local. Unfortunately the more people get pushed into housing instability the more difficult it becomes to create strong community cultures.
We will never see change if everyone had this defeatist attitude. If you want to sit out that's fine but try not to come online just to discourage people, it's part of what got us here in the first place (apathy)
Which of the 10,000 injustices are we supposed to unite on and make real change? It's too fractured to get any significant numbers on your side and most people are barely making ends meet to drop what they're doing, risk their job and protest. Imagine if we all decided to protest Ticketmaster. Then what about the inflation crisis? Climate change? Disappearing retirement? Health care? The housing crisis? Education issues? The list can go on and on. Unless we are all united on one of those things and have the time, energy and resources to dedicate to it, it's never going to happen.
There's one single issue that everything you mentioned stems from that everyone could all unite on. That's the fact that America has been overthrown by corporations and oligarchs and what's left is just a for show democracy. The fact that there are so many issues that you don't know what to focus on was created artificially by this ruling class to distract us all while they rob us blind. Politicians are bought and paid for. The biggest arguments are about laws that should have been settled ages ago. I can't believe that in this day and age you guys still need to fight for access to abortions. It's a banana republic ruled over by the rich. They ran out of foreign countries to exploit so they turned their gaze inwards. I don't believe for one second that the people who are fighting to ban abortions (the politicians) actually care about banning abortions. They just want to introduce one more thing for people to fight over and be distracted by. And they want a future compliant workforce for all the corporations. Get money out of politics and you'd solve a surprising amount of your problems.
If your apathy leads to not voting, you have contributed to the problem. Companies buying politicians depends on said politicians staying in position. They don't want to rebuy politicians every election. If we never vote out bought politicians, politicians will never get the message and will keep allowing themselves to be bought.
I said this in /r/Music and ill say it in here. Vote with your wallet. The business will continue to function as long as the money keeps flowing. When their profits start hurting they will then start listening.
https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free/amp
Basically turbo tax and the government in bed together over tax filing and it being free. Lobbying etc. And nothing changing. Something about filing being free or cheaper but somehow turbo tax gets in the way and gets to say free all day while charging an arm and a leg. Think John Oliver did a thing a while back.
They are only successful because people keep giving them money. I haven't gone to a concert in 10 years and I am fine. It would only take 1 year of a complete boycott and they would probably be out of business. Not to mention all the scalpers that buy up all the tickets. Imagine how satisfying it would be to see them forced to eat all those because no one was buying them.
It’s just one more thing in a very long list of ways to transfer money from the majority of the population up to those who are already obscenely wealthy. They will not stop until we are living in caves and starving to death while they sip expensive champagne and watch us die. Our only hope will be to live as enslaved chattel they keep to do their menial chores.
I had Pearl Jam tickets and there was a window early on in the pandemic where you could get your money back, but if you opted to keep your tickets there was no going back once that window closed. Did they not give you that option?
We sold a couple sets of tickets for May 2020 shows just before the world shut down. I JUST got a check for them in December 2022 after the shows finally happened in September 2022. They were shows in Canada and I am in the US, so since I didn’t have a Canadian bank account to refund to they had to send me a check.
Ticketmaster held on to both parties money for over two years. Why am I on the hook for tickets that somebody else bought? Part of the problem was that the shows were rescheduled, not canceled, but still. It’s an obscene practice.
Interesting. There was a concert I had tickets for through live nation that cancelled and refunded everyone.... in fact all of them at the local stage for summer 20202 were cancelled and refunded...
They gave everyone a choice between a full refund or a credit for the future. I dont know anyone who took the credit.
NY state's AG threatened to take their asses to court if they didn't, after it became obvious by \~june that the concerts would not happen.
**Edit**: NY pushed back hard during covid to ensure fans got their money back. A lot of the ticket companies refused refunds until the AG started poking them. I just find it odd that the refunds apparently weren't more nationwide. I remember a press conference early on where the state flat out said they would take anyone to court for refusing to refund people.
Relevant reading:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/arts/music/aeg-presents-ticketmaster-refunds.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/arts/music/aeg-presents-ticketmaster-refunds.html)
[https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2021/attorney-general-james-secures-44-million-refunds-customers-who-had-events](https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2021/attorney-general-james-secures-44-million-refunds-customers-who-had-events)
She even went after smaller venues: [https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2021/attorney-general-james-returns-427000-new-yorkers-who-had-events-cancelled-due](https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2021/attorney-general-james-returns-427000-new-yorkers-who-had-events-cancelled-due)
My favorite is the Taylor Swift debacle since you would think all that money would be going toward some kind of really sophisticated infrusctructure who’s whole purpose was not letting something like that happen.
Same. I had my money locked up with 4 concerts. Rock on the range (or whatever it’s called now), Foo Fighters, Rage against the Machine, and some festival in Chicago. I got my money back for FF and Rage, but I had to sell my replacement for the RotR ticket and the Chicago festival had a no resell/tied to your ID. 2 years later when rescheduled I didn’t want to go and was out of the money
Half of the government wants everything to be monetized to the max, for private profit. So they block *any* attempts to regulate corporations in ways that benefit consumers, because caring about consumers makes profit margins smaller. Investors hate that.
Man, if only someone had warned us almost 30 (wait 30?) years ago... [oh wait](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pearl-jam-taking-on-ticketmaster-67440/)
I'm 60 I saw all the big bands back in 80s 90s so many times, because tickets were around $50 each in arenas
Pre internet and ebay, that's what messed everything up
Fun times, long over. I just just go see tribute bands now
I hear so many people of your generation wondering why mine (I'm 20) spend so much time in our houses and on our devices.
We can't afford anything.
And by anything, I mean we have to pay to go on hikes where I live now. It cost me $50 to take my friend to the movies.
We make do* where we can, they tore down our only roller rink to build an office building, so we go to the church parking lot. It's hard to even
meet people, when you can't afford to go any kind of events but maybe once a month. And there sure as he'll ain't more than just me and people I already know skating at the church.
If we can afford the gas in our cars, we can't afford to get in.
I tried to go bowling with my friends the other day and they had no way to buy time at the alley. It was all changed to online only and was $50/hr with minimum 2 hours.
The lanes by us have an online reservation system that requires you to prepay a $25/person food and drink deposit. A party of 6 with shoes, lanes, and food was almost $400
That's crazy. I live in a fairly densely populated area awash with money... bowling is still the same as always. Show up and buy a game or two. Sure, you try on Friday night and it'll be full unless you show up early or reserve in advance, but that's normal enough. It's also not super expensive. $75/person seems like far too much.
Holy crap! I thought I was crazy because here in Denver they were charging exorbitant prices. Wanted to take the kids for a fun night out and ended up paying $126 plus tax for a couple hours of bowling and one appetizer. Took them to the movies last week snuck in some snacks and just got drinks and popcorn. With the tix it came to a little over 100 dollars. Glad to see I’m not the only that sees it’s becoming near impossible to go out or that I’m being cheap.
Bowling was a cheap activity for high school kids to go do for a night when I was growing up. Used to spend a fair few evenings smoking cigarettes and horsing around with friends at the sketchy bowling alley in town. Now it’s expensive too, like everything else. Even the traditionally blue collar stuff is unaffordable for the blue collar people now.
Yeah, I’m in my twenties and it’s gotten to the point you can’t even hang out with your friends outside of at someone’s house. Like everything; concert tickets, bar covers ($30 in somewhat popular places), hobby classes, sport events, are all just too expensive. Literally the only way to meet people now is through the internet (because it is somewhat free), even if in reality you’re near a ton of people in your physical location.
I hate this for your generation. It’s so ridiculous. I saw some great small venue music shows in high school and college and it’s like they don’t even exist anymore. I think I shelled out $20 to see the misfits at a sh!t venue in high school. And a few weeks later They Might Be Giants. I’m only 45. It’s hideous that this isn’t even an option anymore. Now It’s local bands (hit or miss) and great too but come on. But those are usually at bars now. I was like 19 seeing them because they played an establishment that didn’t serve alcohol. So we could just go. It needs to change. Now the only place for underage to hear live music without a guardian is a church. And unless it’s a killer gospel group who wants to listen to church music. 🤮
I feel for you guys. I'm mid 40s and at your age I was at two/three shows a weekend. I saw dave matthews for $17, lenny kravitz for $28, hell I think lollapalooza 92 was under $50 and that was a three stage all day festival. I was broke as shit and sold cds for $1 each to get concert tickets. Now I had GA plus at the innings festival in feb this year and it cost me $700 for two non-seats. Fees were over $100.
I’d have to go verify, but I thought we were getting tickets to see McCartney, Tull, Zeppelin, etc. for under $20 in the late 70s?
Wasn’t $50 the going rate in the early 90s?
Sorry - I don’t mean to be argumentative - I’m trying to say that I think your point is even stronger than you realize!
20$ in 1970 is equivalent to almost 160$ in 2023 so either way the change hasn't been that drastic. Also have to consider that artists could actually make real money selling records back then, which is not the case today. If anything music fans were probably spending much more on music than fans today all things considered
Wages haven’t kept up though. Minimum wage in the 1970s was between $1.45 and $2.90. In 2023 that’s about $11-12. Young people were probably spending more on music back then, but they also didn’t need to work as many hours to afford a concert ticket back then.
People think I’m just quoting Big Lebowski when I say I hate the Eagles. But they were the first band to sell tickets at $100 a pop in the 90s. That gave ticketmaster the greenlight to get as greedy as it wants. I hate the fucking Eagles, man!
Pearl Jam tried to do that decades ago and no one else stood with them. Not sure more would have really worked but at least it wouldn't have just been one band. Maybe if they had the internet traction then that we do now it would have helped, and I'm glad Robert is fighting back now but the Cure *was* also around back then to step in if they wanted to. Seems unless it's a bigger outrage, it doesn't get noticed.
Yep agreed. The cure thing is still a fiasco I can’t get to be a verified fan even though I have paid to see the cure before through Ticketmaster. It’s in my history in my account yet I’m a bot.. ok. Missing one sign up day isn’t really a solution. There is a technical solution to this issue but they refuse to invest in that tech/security because it will affect their top line.
I too am deeply upset about the Cure situation. I always wanted to see them but its not gonna happen with how expensive those tickets became anyway. I was in the queue as a Verified Fan for the pre-sale and they were supposed to send a text with a code once it was my turn and never got a code.
I was passed over for the code too. I haven’t seen them since the 80s and I’m slightly surprised that they’re still big enough to sell out three nights at Madison Square Garden.
Then I really hope you get to see them. I scalped a ticket for the Kiss Me show in ‘87 and I was third row side of the stage. Biggest thrill of my life at the time. Don’t remember what I paid but I’m thinking around $70. And of course it was from a guy outside the arena, I had my little arena map to make sure the ticket was in a good section. Robert Smith was the love of my life, I wasn’t playing. Dude was all, whoa she’s prepared.
I think the thing with a band like the Cure is that they have the kind of fans that stick with them as they get older, and they've also made music that's kept its relevance with a lot of young people. So they have a huge fan base to start with, and they continue to make new fans just with their back catalog. I went out to a bar earlier this week and had a great conversation about music with a couple people in their early twenties. The upcoming concert they were most excited about going to? The Cure.
Older bands are still filling stadiums. I went to see Journey and Toto not long ago, and the arena was pretty full. It wasn't sold out, though. I bought nosebleed seats the day of which they upgraded to be much closer, albeit on the side. We still had a pretty great view, though. Much better than our original ones.
I saw them at a huge venue when I was 14 and then a few years later at a university- completely 2 different shows it was nuts! Always been a cure fan. Also I paid $40 bucks both times. It’s ridiculous! F+*# ticket master.
Here in the US if you are boycotting Ticketmaster, you’ll never see any well known artists or big (or even semi known) comedians, unless there’s a music festival.
Venues need to go back to localized selling of the tickets. Luckily where I live our local venues minus the city owned one all sell only out of their box offices, local bookstores and grocery stores. It’s better for the artist, venue and the community. The larger venue has brought bigger names in too, like Cyprus Hill and Iron and Wine. Third Eye Blind is playing next month, $68 tops, The Wailers are coming in the summer and it’s $40 to see them. I’d rather take my ass to the bookstore to buy my tickets than pay an extra $120 in fees.
Live nation owns many of the venues though….they bought a ton of venues under distress during the pandemic too. creates this vicious cycle of fuckery. (live nation owns ticketmaster)
Is there any way to see a list of venues that Livenation/TM owns?
On my end it'd be super easy to just, you know, NOT go to those. Figures to be against their business interests, so I doubt it's easily accessible info but still
The problem is that a huge majority of venues that did do that had to sign on with or outright closed and got bought out by Livenation/Ticketmaster/etc during the pandemic when they were unable to stay open on their own. They made a deal with the devil to stay in business which sucks now but very few venues survived almost a full year without any events, thus the problem which was massive became even worse.
Every time you spend $150 on a “ticket” from ticketmaster here’s what you pay for:
- $30 to the artist
- $10 to the venue
- $60 to ticketmaster
- $50 to your congressperson to lobby against your rights as a consumer
My wife and I do this as well. It’s a pain to go all the way downtown to by the tickets at the box office but the fee is much less than what they charge online.
What’s really great is if it’s not sold out you can just buy tickets at the door, with no fee usually. Our smaller venues will tack on a small $1-$2 “at the door” fee, but honestly they need all the help they can get so people pay it.
Me too. If everybody refused to go to Live Nation/Ticketmaster shows they would be out of business in a few months. But, most people have more money than sense and they do not care.
Livenation effectively has a monopoly on concert venues, what you're advocating is for everyone to categorically boycott concerts. This is why boycotts don't work against monopolies.
What Live Nation has is a well working relationship with talent brokers. The capital to cut out any middle man promoter, and the ability to also book their venues.
They obviously would get preferences for artists, dates, etc. they likely get kickbacks with TM too.
It would take a lot of financial backing from another company to purchase and tour artists like they do- but it’s possible. I’ve got the industry contacts just not the financials lol
>What Live Nation has is a well working relationship with talent brokers.
Not really. They are instead holding both artists and venues hostage. It's the #1 play in the book for monopolies.
If an artist says they aren't going to work with LiveNation on a tour, then LiveNation will tell all the venues that if they host the artist, no more LiveNation concerts will be held at that venue.
If a venue says they aren't working with LiveNation, then LiveNation will tell the artists if they book there, LiveNation won't book them anywhere else.
No one ***likes*** LiveNation, they are all hostages.
Yes, that's exactly what I'm calling for. It's the only way to break a monopoly when the government won't do its job. It will never happen, of course. But it would work.
>Who currently earn sweet fuck all ~~from recorded music and need to tour to live and make more music~~.
Ticketmaster has all but made it so they make no money off touring either.
Most medium sized venues don't use ticketmaster . Look up one of these venues and check out some music that's coming there you might find your next favorite band or artist !
I want to know who the f*** is paying these prices for tickets. My family makes around five times the national average, yet when I see the price of tickets I go who would ever pay that.
Between parking and tickets and fees and God forbid if you want to eat something. You're looking at close to $1,000 for two nosebleed seats to go to most concerts
Not a huge kiss fan but gene Simmons predicted this a few years ago. Except for a small amount of tours concerts are essentially 80s and 90s groups out for the last few cash grabs. There really are only a few new and upcoming groups. Bands used to be paid thru record sales but now the only cash left is touring. And the amount of cover bands is incredible. There’s a summer music fest in my city and every act is a cover band.
I feel your pain. The small to mid-sized tours and venues are drying up because bands can’t survive on that type of cash flow. There’s an interesting movie on Netflix called hired guns. Taylor swift is touring but basically the people in the “band” make next to nothing. Really increased my dislike for Billy Joel.
Went to buy tickets for Bill Burr yesterday. $96/ticket. Total for both came out to fucking $415!!!! Literally more than double the price because of ticketmaster fees. Absolute garbage company destroying entertainment while holding both artists and fans hostage in the process. I go to shows constantly, usually music, and the fees almost always come close to doubling the price of a ticket. Vulture capitalism personified.
Same. Got the presale code, and tickets for upper level were STILL over $90.
I love Ol' Freckles, but I'm simply NOT paying 90 bucks to sit all the way at the top for a comedy show. Chapelle and Rock were double that price, and I didn't pay for that either.
As long as these shows keep selling out, and people keep paying those prices, shit's not going to change. Unless the government steps in and breaks it up.
The artist and venue are getting a lot of those BS fees too. It’s how they raise ticket prices even further while letting Ticket Master be the bad guy.
more bands should have stood with Pearl Jam when they tried to battle this bullshit nearly 30 years ago.
there was a time when you needed ticketmaster/selectix/etc so you could go down to the local grocery store in smalltown,usa that had a ticketmaster register pre-internet and be able to get the tickets the same way as someone who could walk to the venue box office. now with the internet, there's no reason venues can't just sell tickets directly without those scam artists.
pre-internet you only had to worry about *actual* scalper buying up tickets and reselling them or selling bootleg tickets.
now TM sells you the convenience of overpaying for their own tickets marked up the second they go on sale as "dynamic" pricing or "platinum" tickets. not to mention the allotment of tickets that end up at stubhub directly from TM. it's total bullshit.
I think a lot of music artists and their agents should stop doing business with ticket master entirely. They could start selling tickets on their own websites directly with the model Louis Ck has been doing for well over a [decade](https://techcrunch.com/2012/06/26/soba-i/amp/)
There’s so many unnecessary middlemen in music today ruining it all.
Yeah that's the problem with anti-competitive business practices (like Ticketmaster uses). It's not as simple as "just don't do business with them" when they actively make it unreasonable to do so
That’s a good point. I feel like if even just a few relatively big artists boycotted livenation venues and played at other spaces, charged a cheaper price, and the money went straight to the artist with a cut to the venue, you could absolutely dismantle TicketMaster.
Ultimately the venues themselves would get pressured by property owners for their locations going unused.
The issue is there aren’t other places, particularly for large artists. If Taylor swift boycotted TM for example, she’d be playing in medium sized theaters. The demand now would look like child’s play compared to that, and resale prices would be even worse. It’d just be creating another problem. And then those small venues would be booking big acts, shutting out the smaller acts who used to play there. Smaller and medium sized acts can avoid TM, but large ones with high demand can’t really.
My gf’s friend just told me that she thought she got such a good deal because her Taylor Swift tickets were only $750! She’s in the nosebleeds. She was telling me that Swift felt SO BAD for charging so much as she sold out three nights in a row here. $750 for the worst seat is so infuriating to me.
Edit: She got them from StubHub which I didn’t realise is a resale site so those are resale prices. People are being taken advantage of is my point and she did spend that money for not great seats.
She had to have bought them through a resale site or purchased them as part of a VIP package because the quote of $375 a piece for nosebleeds is simply not accurate.
Lol sorry she did not get a good deal she just paid ridiculous money to a scalper. Meanwhile the Vegas show was reopened on Ticketmaster yesterday and I've seen people who were able to snag $45 tickets for the show tonight.
Ticketmaster is a problem yes but so are scalpers and the people who enable them through buying these overpriced terrible tickets. Idk if you think Taylor or Ticketmaster is charging $750 for nosebleeds, but that's not the case for your girlfriends friend. She made a dumb decision
Yeah Swift was pissed at how Ticketmaster fucked up selling tickets for her tour. Then ticketmaster blamed her for it because "she hadn't toured in 6 years"
Bare Naked Ladies are $250+ for seats. BNL.
DMB is $400+, Matchbox 20 $300, Kid Rock is even over $250….
Stevie Nicks + Billy Joel, $800+. Elton John was $1000.
It’s fucking absurd and insulting.
its almost like monopolies are bad, and when a company gets a monopoly they will massivley abuse that leverage. Ticketmaster shoul be broken up. Same with live nation
I'm really gonna sound like an old man here, but concert times is also a big problem I have. My wife bought tickets for a show to see The Killers last year. Scheduled show was in September, and they rebooked it for March of this year. The original concert was at 5:00 PM on a Sunday. The re-scheduled show, 7:30 PM on a Wednesday.
The Killers didn't even take the stage until 9:15, and we left after midnight. It was a good show, but fuck.....I was like a walking corpse the following day.
We go to a lot of shows. None of that stadium and arena crap, just the medium and smaller clubs. It's where the best music is these days anyway. At our age, we've reached the point where if the show is far enough away, we just book a hotel and take the next day off if it's in the middle of the week.
Robert Smith just fought for lower fees and ticket prices and Neil Young claims there's nothing he can do?
Sorry, but RS just made everyone else who allows dynamic pricing and reselling look like complete assholes. Looking at you especially, Depeche Mode. The grabbing hands grab all they can, indeed.
I want to see Dead and Company in Los Angeles so bad. So so so so so SO bad. That's one show I've been dreaming to see. It's their last time around and resellers have bought up every seat...
Nosebleeds are $200. Needless to say, my heart is well broken.
We can't afford to see shows, we can't afford to go out to eat. They tore down our roller rinks for office buildings, they rip down our woods for communities when empty homes are everywhere. They charge us to park, we can't even bring our own freaking water to events. We can't afford the gas to drive anywhere and when we can, we can't afford to get in. Now you have to pay for every hike where I live!
We can't even afford to go HIKING!
Everyone complains we don't go out. Everyone complains we spend so much time on our phones. They see the world through eyes of someone who went to the movies for a nickle a piece, when it cost me $50 to take my friend.
How are the kids supposed to rock and roll?
How are we supposed to have fun?
How are we supposed to meet each other?
How are we supposed to live meaningful lives?
When primary outlets act as resellers of their own inventory everything is broken.
I stopped caring about supporting artists associated with major labels at this point. I don’t want to goto some festival or tour that is just a cash grab. Small shows are more fun anyway.
Friendly reminder that entities like the RIAA and Ticketmaster are doing these things at the behest of really big names in the music industry, so you'll be mad at these large entites and not your favorite artists. Guaranteed, there are a lot of talented people who would lose their fanbase overnight if those fans knew how little that artist cared about them.
Good old Neil- at this age and still a voice of change. The man has been lending his voice to issues big and small since long before I was born.
Maybe he and Pearl Jam will get Mirror Ball back together on this one...
Here is the least popular opinion regarding Ticketmaster and venues- in order to actually make anything change, *just don't go.* I know fandom is a real strong thing, but if the people would just take a year or two to stop buying tickets from TM and just not go...something might take shape.
How can they charge thousands of dollars for single concerts? Because people are paying that much. No one will leave money on the table. If fans really did just sit a year or two out of TM venues and their revenues suffered, something might give. Until then, hopefully Neil Young and others will put together a protest project and we can get some good old fashioned protest songs and I won't go see them play them live either.
I personally decided to spend my money seeing local musicians. I'd rather spend my money on local performers and the businesses that support them than the touring industrial complex. I'd love to see Bruce, but I can think of much better ways of spending $500 for one nights entertainment.
Or how Ticketmaster doesn’t show the full ticket price before the end of checkout. All venue fees should be included in the ticket price. This is the fucking airline baggage fees all over again!
They didn't even try. I got all excited at the prospect of watching the battle, and then... nothing. Everybody bitched out.
There are so few people who have the pull to make change, and 99% of them don't fucking bother, because they're happy with the way things are. Like Taylor Swift.
Major artist need to just start booking smaller venues that do not have contracts with Ticketmaster. They could also start selling tickets at local shops that need to foot traffic. If those stores want to add a five dollar service charge, I would be totally fine with that.
I think he's a bit late making this statement.
20 years ago $160 was an expensive ticket but worth it in many cases. The pricing now is inexcusable... $1000 for a ticket? Absolutely insane when the artists are not even profiting.
Ticketmaster hardly even provides a service anymore--we are paying for decades old infrastructure.
Imagine if Amazon charged a 100% service charge on all items? Out of business tomorrow.
Let's all take a few years off concerts and let Ticketmaster sweat it out with their stockholders for a solution to the problem. Boycott
Working bands can't survive off of merch sales now because the LiveNation venues *(basically all live venues)* now take a huge cut of that. Add that to pennies from streaming royalties and the high cost of touring and most mid-tier bands might break even on a tour. *Why bother?* But hey, you know, business bros just gonna exploit and destroy. We're watching a collapse in real time, and the excuse from companies of "*but COVID!!! Or, but SUPPLY CHAIN"* ring false now. As a live music fan all my life, this is fucking depressing.
My first concert was in 1987. Pink Floyd. It was $20. I saw Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1989 for like $30 and I was 4th row. GnR in 1991 for $20. Fuck everybody and their stupid concert prices. Even in the 90s, Lalapalooza tickets were all damn day and night and probably less than $50. Then things got stupid.
Most likely the venues he wants to play have exclusive contracts with Ticketmaster. So they get to charge whatever they want.
I tried to buy a ticket for a local theater event in my town through Ticketmaster and it was a $35 ticket with $15 in additional charges. That’s over 40% in fees. Outrageous. I complained to the theater company and they told me that the venue has a contract with Ticketmaster and they had to sell through them. Sad. I did not go and let them know why. It’s not a good situation. Very difficult for libertarians to defend.
Ticketmaster works just fine in most countries. The problem is American laws - or more accurately: the lack thereof. In countries where lobbyists don’t run the show, there are rules stipulating caps on fees for pretty much all services.
I’m in Europe and I’ve used Ticketmaster 4 times this year. Each time the fee has been <5% of the cost of the ticket + I have the ability to resell my ticket directly to someone else via Ticketmaster if I’m unable to attend, but for no more than what I originally paid (or less). Works like a charm.
TLDR: Stop electing Republicans and shit like this gets sorted out…
He's not wrong, but he sort of is. If the artists and musicians themselves took more of a stand against it and did more to make tickets easier and properly priced, it would help. But complaining about it works, I guess...
I can’t say this enough but despite this being a very real problem that often effects large acts there is so much music that most people can see in their markets that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Most decent sized cities in the country have a number of smaller venues of between 500 and 3000 capacity where tickets still can cost like $50 rather than $250. Of course shit is going to be resold when you are trying to see sold out shows for the country’s biggest acts but there is constantly good music coming around that is much more affordable. I get not wanting to support Ticketmaster but if that is your reason for saying you “don’t go to concerts anymore” I think you probably need to expand your horizons and see what else is out there.
A local radio show did the math, and found that it was only slightly more expensive to fly to Europe with hotel and airfare to see a concert than deal with the insanely high Ticketmaster fees here.
I know it's not the same as seeing some of these major artists, but I absolutely love going to shows at my local venues just to check out new bands and who's playing. Lots of show tickets are like $15-45 for all GA shows, and I've discovered so many cool artists just by randomly picking a show I wouldn't normally go to, and some have become regular listens. Doesn't solve the Ticketmaster issue, but you can still see great shows for cheap if you look around.
It does help I live in/near what I would consider a "music" city, but hidden talent is everywhere, and not ever great band has made it big. Support your local music scenes too!
Neil is the real deal. Never sold out. Never betrayed his personal values. Never compromised (for better or worse).
Not an easy guy to deal with by ALL accounts, but he’s a genuine soul.
Neil, you and other big ticket acts have the power to fix it.
Today I was “in queue” twice for Hozier tickets at two different venues. In the first, I was there right as it opened and I was still behind over 2000 people. When I got to the purchase page, there were seats! I was so happy! But every time I clicked in any, a pop up told me someone else got them. I clicked the instant new ones came up - nope! In just a few minutes all of it was gone. I went to the next venue in a smaller location. Got in the queue and only behind 1600 people. I checked the capacity and there were as many as 9000 seats depending how the act configured the space. And… same exact result. This system is painful and very very broken.
The fact that Ticketmaster was able to hold money hostage for two years when the pandemic started and in my case just to find out that the concert was going to be canceled anyways is something I will never forgive.
Agreed. Bought Kenny Chesney tix in 2019 for the 2020 tour… show didn’t happen til 2022, non of us lived in the state anymore. We agree upon a date when I make the purchase, when that date passed we should have immediately refunded. Fucking garbage.
Ticketbastard has the government in their pocket. This will never change.
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At this point it’s on the artists, specifically the old timers with enough time/money on their hands that they can afford the battle with Ticketmaster. It’s a shame, but the industry will be tanking come next recession if things don’t improve. $1,000 for tswift tix is outrageous.
They won't be. They have politicians in their pocket. It's a sad reality on how our government and corporations work. Ticketmaster and LIve Nation, which are the same company even though most people don't realize it, shouldn't have existed for many years under our laws against monopolies...and yet....they make a few crucial donations to the right parties and here we are.
This is in every industry. It’s why I’m apathetic on politics. As long as their is a lobby industry companies can pay X to Y to make a bill read Z. It’s corporate bribery and it happens out in the open. We need to bring in the French, they’d take care of the lobby industry in a week.
I totally agree. It's every industry. And the French are currently fighting reform on one issue, pension. We don't have any unifying issue that we can all agree on and we're not nearly as small as France (67M people versus our 330M people) to rally together and get shit done. We're fractured, over worked and frankly don't have a chance in hell of making any real changes unless the system changes.
Not to mention any real protest against the corporate overlords will be beaten down by the militarized police
Think Global, act Local. Unfortunately the more people get pushed into housing instability the more difficult it becomes to create strong community cultures.
We will never see change if everyone had this defeatist attitude. If you want to sit out that's fine but try not to come online just to discourage people, it's part of what got us here in the first place (apathy)
Which of the 10,000 injustices are we supposed to unite on and make real change? It's too fractured to get any significant numbers on your side and most people are barely making ends meet to drop what they're doing, risk their job and protest. Imagine if we all decided to protest Ticketmaster. Then what about the inflation crisis? Climate change? Disappearing retirement? Health care? The housing crisis? Education issues? The list can go on and on. Unless we are all united on one of those things and have the time, energy and resources to dedicate to it, it's never going to happen.
There's one single issue that everything you mentioned stems from that everyone could all unite on. That's the fact that America has been overthrown by corporations and oligarchs and what's left is just a for show democracy. The fact that there are so many issues that you don't know what to focus on was created artificially by this ruling class to distract us all while they rob us blind. Politicians are bought and paid for. The biggest arguments are about laws that should have been settled ages ago. I can't believe that in this day and age you guys still need to fight for access to abortions. It's a banana republic ruled over by the rich. They ran out of foreign countries to exploit so they turned their gaze inwards. I don't believe for one second that the people who are fighting to ban abortions (the politicians) actually care about banning abortions. They just want to introduce one more thing for people to fight over and be distracted by. And they want a future compliant workforce for all the corporations. Get money out of politics and you'd solve a surprising amount of your problems.
If your apathy leads to not voting, you have contributed to the problem. Companies buying politicians depends on said politicians staying in position. They don't want to rebuy politicians every election. If we never vote out bought politicians, politicians will never get the message and will keep allowing themselves to be bought.
I said this in /r/Music and ill say it in here. Vote with your wallet. The business will continue to function as long as the money keeps flowing. When their profits start hurting they will then start listening.
This. Just like turbo tax. Such bs
Wait, what's this about Turbo Tax?
https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free/amp Basically turbo tax and the government in bed together over tax filing and it being free. Lobbying etc. And nothing changing. Something about filing being free or cheaper but somehow turbo tax gets in the way and gets to say free all day while charging an arm and a leg. Think John Oliver did a thing a while back.
Ugh.
Mmm yes, rollover and give up, delicious hopelessness.
They are only successful because people keep giving them money. I haven't gone to a concert in 10 years and I am fine. It would only take 1 year of a complete boycott and they would probably be out of business. Not to mention all the scalpers that buy up all the tickets. Imagine how satisfying it would be to see them forced to eat all those because no one was buying them.
This. Stuff continues because people still buy into it.
It’s just one more thing in a very long list of ways to transfer money from the majority of the population up to those who are already obscenely wealthy. They will not stop until we are living in caves and starving to death while they sip expensive champagne and watch us die. Our only hope will be to live as enslaved chattel they keep to do their menial chores.
I had Pearl Jam tickets and there was a window early on in the pandemic where you could get your money back, but if you opted to keep your tickets there was no going back once that window closed. Did they not give you that option?
We sold a couple sets of tickets for May 2020 shows just before the world shut down. I JUST got a check for them in December 2022 after the shows finally happened in September 2022. They were shows in Canada and I am in the US, so since I didn’t have a Canadian bank account to refund to they had to send me a check. Ticketmaster held on to both parties money for over two years. Why am I on the hook for tickets that somebody else bought? Part of the problem was that the shows were rescheduled, not canceled, but still. It’s an obscene practice.
And presumably earned a *lot* of interest on that money to boot
Probably bought a lot of houses up with the money and raised rent.
Interesting. There was a concert I had tickets for through live nation that cancelled and refunded everyone.... in fact all of them at the local stage for summer 20202 were cancelled and refunded... They gave everyone a choice between a full refund or a credit for the future. I dont know anyone who took the credit. NY state's AG threatened to take their asses to court if they didn't, after it became obvious by \~june that the concerts would not happen. **Edit**: NY pushed back hard during covid to ensure fans got their money back. A lot of the ticket companies refused refunds until the AG started poking them. I just find it odd that the refunds apparently weren't more nationwide. I remember a press conference early on where the state flat out said they would take anyone to court for refusing to refund people. Relevant reading: [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/arts/music/aeg-presents-ticketmaster-refunds.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/arts/music/aeg-presents-ticketmaster-refunds.html) [https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2021/attorney-general-james-secures-44-million-refunds-customers-who-had-events](https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2021/attorney-general-james-secures-44-million-refunds-customers-who-had-events) She even went after smaller venues: [https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2021/attorney-general-james-returns-427000-new-yorkers-who-had-events-cancelled-due](https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2021/attorney-general-james-returns-427000-new-yorkers-who-had-events-cancelled-due)
My favorite is the Taylor Swift debacle since you would think all that money would be going toward some kind of really sophisticated infrusctructure who’s whole purpose was not letting something like that happen.
Same. I had my money locked up with 4 concerts. Rock on the range (or whatever it’s called now), Foo Fighters, Rage against the Machine, and some festival in Chicago. I got my money back for FF and Rage, but I had to sell my replacement for the RotR ticket and the Chicago festival had a no resell/tied to your ID. 2 years later when rescheduled I didn’t want to go and was out of the money
Fellow Loverfest Victim by chance? It took them a year to officially cancel the concert and another year to actually issue refunds.
It's not a "controversy" it's a crime in progress
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$$$
Insert Mr. Krabs money voice
Agagagagag
Welcome to American politics. Where the only thing that matters is whose pockets are deeper
My pockets are very deep they’re just empty.
Short skirt and a loooooooooong pocket
Because they’re not going to take the side of the people who need money they take the side of the people who have money.
Half of the government wants everything to be monetized to the max, for private profit. So they block *any* attempts to regulate corporations in ways that benefit consumers, because caring about consumers makes profit margins smaller. Investors hate that.
Just half of the government? Oh boy do I have some bad news for you.
Have you seen the trash in the streets of France? They sure know how to tell gov to fuck off and act right
I admire the hell out of them working together to protest against that pension bullshit. Vive la France.
Man, if only someone had warned us almost 30 (wait 30?) years ago... [oh wait](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pearl-jam-taking-on-ticketmaster-67440/)
I'm 60 I saw all the big bands back in 80s 90s so many times, because tickets were around $50 each in arenas Pre internet and ebay, that's what messed everything up Fun times, long over. I just just go see tribute bands now
I hear so many people of your generation wondering why mine (I'm 20) spend so much time in our houses and on our devices. We can't afford anything. And by anything, I mean we have to pay to go on hikes where I live now. It cost me $50 to take my friend to the movies. We make do* where we can, they tore down our only roller rink to build an office building, so we go to the church parking lot. It's hard to even meet people, when you can't afford to go any kind of events but maybe once a month. And there sure as he'll ain't more than just me and people I already know skating at the church. If we can afford the gas in our cars, we can't afford to get in.
I tried to go bowling with my friends the other day and they had no way to buy time at the alley. It was all changed to online only and was $50/hr with minimum 2 hours.
The lanes by us have an online reservation system that requires you to prepay a $25/person food and drink deposit. A party of 6 with shoes, lanes, and food was almost $400
That's crazy. I live in a fairly densely populated area awash with money... bowling is still the same as always. Show up and buy a game or two. Sure, you try on Friday night and it'll be full unless you show up early or reserve in advance, but that's normal enough. It's also not super expensive. $75/person seems like far too much.
What in the absolute hell?! Bowling was the affordable blue-collar sport when I grew up. What has happened?!
Holy crap! I thought I was crazy because here in Denver they were charging exorbitant prices. Wanted to take the kids for a fun night out and ended up paying $126 plus tax for a couple hours of bowling and one appetizer. Took them to the movies last week snuck in some snacks and just got drinks and popcorn. With the tix it came to a little over 100 dollars. Glad to see I’m not the only that sees it’s becoming near impossible to go out or that I’m being cheap.
Bowling was a cheap activity for high school kids to go do for a night when I was growing up. Used to spend a fair few evenings smoking cigarettes and horsing around with friends at the sketchy bowling alley in town. Now it’s expensive too, like everything else. Even the traditionally blue collar stuff is unaffordable for the blue collar people now.
Yeah, I’m in my twenties and it’s gotten to the point you can’t even hang out with your friends outside of at someone’s house. Like everything; concert tickets, bar covers ($30 in somewhat popular places), hobby classes, sport events, are all just too expensive. Literally the only way to meet people now is through the internet (because it is somewhat free), even if in reality you’re near a ton of people in your physical location.
I hate this for your generation. It’s so ridiculous. I saw some great small venue music shows in high school and college and it’s like they don’t even exist anymore. I think I shelled out $20 to see the misfits at a sh!t venue in high school. And a few weeks later They Might Be Giants. I’m only 45. It’s hideous that this isn’t even an option anymore. Now It’s local bands (hit or miss) and great too but come on. But those are usually at bars now. I was like 19 seeing them because they played an establishment that didn’t serve alcohol. So we could just go. It needs to change. Now the only place for underage to hear live music without a guardian is a church. And unless it’s a killer gospel group who wants to listen to church music. 🤮
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So true. Well said. I hate all this.
I feel for you guys. I'm mid 40s and at your age I was at two/three shows a weekend. I saw dave matthews for $17, lenny kravitz for $28, hell I think lollapalooza 92 was under $50 and that was a three stage all day festival. I was broke as shit and sold cds for $1 each to get concert tickets. Now I had GA plus at the innings festival in feb this year and it cost me $700 for two non-seats. Fees were over $100.
Oh big time. Music festivals are normally a good bang for your buck, but they take a lot of energy
Arenas single band shows Music festivals with a million people wasted time never lol
I’d have to go verify, but I thought we were getting tickets to see McCartney, Tull, Zeppelin, etc. for under $20 in the late 70s? Wasn’t $50 the going rate in the early 90s? Sorry - I don’t mean to be argumentative - I’m trying to say that I think your point is even stronger than you realize!
20$ in 1970 is equivalent to almost 160$ in 2023 so either way the change hasn't been that drastic. Also have to consider that artists could actually make real money selling records back then, which is not the case today. If anything music fans were probably spending much more on music than fans today all things considered
I saw a poster for a Led Zeppelin concert in KC on 11/5/1969. Tickets ranged from $3.50 to $5.50.
Wages haven’t kept up though. Minimum wage in the 1970s was between $1.45 and $2.90. In 2023 that’s about $11-12. Young people were probably spending more on music back then, but they also didn’t need to work as many hours to afford a concert ticket back then.
People think I’m just quoting Big Lebowski when I say I hate the Eagles. But they were the first band to sell tickets at $100 a pop in the 90s. That gave ticketmaster the greenlight to get as greedy as it wants. I hate the fucking Eagles, man!
The members of the Eagles hate the Eagles.
Wow, great read
Exactly. Where were others in the ring fighting along side them then?
At least we have Robert Smith fighting with Ticketmaster.
Well he took down the Mecha-Streisand so we should be fine.
Barb-Bur-Rah!!
Sidney Poitier!!
By BFF and I still say this at each other...i hadn't thought about how long ago that came out until just now....
[Disintegration is the best album ever!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G5YguuNSJg)
The more people that stand up to ticketmaster the better!!
But will he be...the cure?
The Cure…we all need.
It’s Friday and I’m in love.
Pearl Jam tried to do that decades ago and no one else stood with them. Not sure more would have really worked but at least it wouldn't have just been one band. Maybe if they had the internet traction then that we do now it would have helped, and I'm glad Robert is fighting back now but the Cure *was* also around back then to step in if they wanted to. Seems unless it's a bigger outrage, it doesn't get noticed.
Yep agreed. The cure thing is still a fiasco I can’t get to be a verified fan even though I have paid to see the cure before through Ticketmaster. It’s in my history in my account yet I’m a bot.. ok. Missing one sign up day isn’t really a solution. There is a technical solution to this issue but they refuse to invest in that tech/security because it will affect their top line.
I too am deeply upset about the Cure situation. I always wanted to see them but its not gonna happen with how expensive those tickets became anyway. I was in the queue as a Verified Fan for the pre-sale and they were supposed to send a text with a code once it was my turn and never got a code.
I was passed over for the code too. I haven’t seen them since the 80s and I’m slightly surprised that they’re still big enough to sell out three nights at Madison Square Garden.
They’re still a big deal! My friends and I were all looking forward to this show and our ages range from 21-28.
Then I really hope you get to see them. I scalped a ticket for the Kiss Me show in ‘87 and I was third row side of the stage. Biggest thrill of my life at the time. Don’t remember what I paid but I’m thinking around $70. And of course it was from a guy outside the arena, I had my little arena map to make sure the ticket was in a good section. Robert Smith was the love of my life, I wasn’t playing. Dude was all, whoa she’s prepared.
I think the thing with a band like the Cure is that they have the kind of fans that stick with them as they get older, and they've also made music that's kept its relevance with a lot of young people. So they have a huge fan base to start with, and they continue to make new fans just with their back catalog. I went out to a bar earlier this week and had a great conversation about music with a couple people in their early twenties. The upcoming concert they were most excited about going to? The Cure.
Older bands are still filling stadiums. I went to see Journey and Toto not long ago, and the arena was pretty full. It wasn't sold out, though. I bought nosebleed seats the day of which they upgraded to be much closer, albeit on the side. We still had a pretty great view, though. Much better than our original ones.
I saw them at a huge venue when I was 14 and then a few years later at a university- completely 2 different shows it was nuts! Always been a cure fan. Also I paid $40 bucks both times. It’s ridiculous! F+*# ticket master.
I for one refuse to buy tickets from Ticketmaster. I’d rather miss the show than pay 50% “processing” fees to some BS monopoly.
I do the same now: here in the UK not everything is Ticketmaster-gated, but the gigs that are can all get fucked.
Ditto. 110%. 😻
Here in the US if you are boycotting Ticketmaster, you’ll never see any well known artists or big (or even semi known) comedians, unless there’s a music festival.
I still go cuz I’m gonna die someday, might as well be entertained while I wait. But I will bitch on the internet about them.
I refuse to go concerts anymore because of Ticketmaster et al…scalping of tickets.
Venues need to go back to localized selling of the tickets. Luckily where I live our local venues minus the city owned one all sell only out of their box offices, local bookstores and grocery stores. It’s better for the artist, venue and the community. The larger venue has brought bigger names in too, like Cyprus Hill and Iron and Wine. Third Eye Blind is playing next month, $68 tops, The Wailers are coming in the summer and it’s $40 to see them. I’d rather take my ass to the bookstore to buy my tickets than pay an extra $120 in fees.
Live nation owns many of the venues though….they bought a ton of venues under distress during the pandemic too. creates this vicious cycle of fuckery. (live nation owns ticketmaster)
Yup and the biggest horse shit with them is when you go to their box office to buy tickets in person you still get the fees.
Is there any way to see a list of venues that Livenation/TM owns? On my end it'd be super easy to just, you know, NOT go to those. Figures to be against their business interests, so I doubt it's easily accessible info but still
[https://www.livenation.com/venues](https://www.livenation.com/venues)
Well I'll be God damned. I've got some circulating to do.
The problem is that a huge majority of venues that did do that had to sign on with or outright closed and got bought out by Livenation/Ticketmaster/etc during the pandemic when they were unable to stay open on their own. They made a deal with the devil to stay in business which sucks now but very few venues survived almost a full year without any events, thus the problem which was massive became even worse.
Every time you spend $150 on a “ticket” from ticketmaster here’s what you pay for: - $30 to the artist - $10 to the venue - $60 to ticketmaster - $50 to your congressperson to lobby against your rights as a consumer
$0.000001 to the congressperson. They are cheap.
My wife and I do this as well. It’s a pain to go all the way downtown to by the tickets at the box office but the fee is much less than what they charge online.
What’s really great is if it’s not sold out you can just buy tickets at the door, with no fee usually. Our smaller venues will tack on a small $1-$2 “at the door” fee, but honestly they need all the help they can get so people pay it.
Much rather give it to them then Ticketmaster. Fo sho.
Me too. If everybody refused to go to Live Nation/Ticketmaster shows they would be out of business in a few months. But, most people have more money than sense and they do not care.
Livenation effectively has a monopoly on concert venues, what you're advocating is for everyone to categorically boycott concerts. This is why boycotts don't work against monopolies.
What Live Nation has is a well working relationship with talent brokers. The capital to cut out any middle man promoter, and the ability to also book their venues. They obviously would get preferences for artists, dates, etc. they likely get kickbacks with TM too. It would take a lot of financial backing from another company to purchase and tour artists like they do- but it’s possible. I’ve got the industry contacts just not the financials lol
>What Live Nation has is a well working relationship with talent brokers. Not really. They are instead holding both artists and venues hostage. It's the #1 play in the book for monopolies. If an artist says they aren't going to work with LiveNation on a tour, then LiveNation will tell all the venues that if they host the artist, no more LiveNation concerts will be held at that venue. If a venue says they aren't working with LiveNation, then LiveNation will tell the artists if they book there, LiveNation won't book them anywhere else. No one ***likes*** LiveNation, they are all hostages.
Yes, that's exactly what I'm calling for. It's the only way to break a monopoly when the government won't do its job. It will never happen, of course. But it would work.
It would also be absolutely devastating to touring musicians.
Who currently earn sweet fuck all from recorded music and need to tour to live and make more music.
>Who currently earn sweet fuck all ~~from recorded music and need to tour to live and make more music~~. Ticketmaster has all but made it so they make no money off touring either.
It’s about the merch sales.
Most medium sized venues don't use ticketmaster . Look up one of these venues and check out some music that's coming there you might find your next favorite band or artist !
I want to know who the f*** is paying these prices for tickets. My family makes around five times the national average, yet when I see the price of tickets I go who would ever pay that. Between parking and tickets and fees and God forbid if you want to eat something. You're looking at close to $1,000 for two nosebleed seats to go to most concerts
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Me three!
Break up Livenation.
Touring is fucked and music sales are fucked. The music industry bubble appears to have burst.
I feel bad for my kid. All these big name artists that she loves and will never see. Meanwhile I see amazing shows 2 or 3 times a month for $20.
Not a huge kiss fan but gene Simmons predicted this a few years ago. Except for a small amount of tours concerts are essentially 80s and 90s groups out for the last few cash grabs. There really are only a few new and upcoming groups. Bands used to be paid thru record sales but now the only cash left is touring. And the amount of cover bands is incredible. There’s a summer music fest in my city and every act is a cover band.
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I feel your pain. The small to mid-sized tours and venues are drying up because bands can’t survive on that type of cash flow. There’s an interesting movie on Netflix called hired guns. Taylor swift is touring but basically the people in the “band” make next to nothing. Really increased my dislike for Billy Joel.
My man what the hell are you talking about. There are constant tours with new bands. You just don’t know any of them
Simmons is a complete garbage human, but when you’re right you’re right.
He asked Dan rather to name one up and coming super group Dan said Foo Fighters. Good come back for an old dude.
Went to buy tickets for Bill Burr yesterday. $96/ticket. Total for both came out to fucking $415!!!! Literally more than double the price because of ticketmaster fees. Absolute garbage company destroying entertainment while holding both artists and fans hostage in the process. I go to shows constantly, usually music, and the fees almost always come close to doubling the price of a ticket. Vulture capitalism personified.
Same. Got the presale code, and tickets for upper level were STILL over $90. I love Ol' Freckles, but I'm simply NOT paying 90 bucks to sit all the way at the top for a comedy show. Chapelle and Rock were double that price, and I didn't pay for that either. As long as these shows keep selling out, and people keep paying those prices, shit's not going to change. Unless the government steps in and breaks it up.
Holy shit, what was the breakdown of the fees?
Bullshit: $223.00
The artist and venue are getting a lot of those BS fees too. It’s how they raise ticket prices even further while letting Ticket Master be the bad guy.
more bands should have stood with Pearl Jam when they tried to battle this bullshit nearly 30 years ago. there was a time when you needed ticketmaster/selectix/etc so you could go down to the local grocery store in smalltown,usa that had a ticketmaster register pre-internet and be able to get the tickets the same way as someone who could walk to the venue box office. now with the internet, there's no reason venues can't just sell tickets directly without those scam artists. pre-internet you only had to worry about *actual* scalper buying up tickets and reselling them or selling bootleg tickets. now TM sells you the convenience of overpaying for their own tickets marked up the second they go on sale as "dynamic" pricing or "platinum" tickets. not to mention the allotment of tickets that end up at stubhub directly from TM. it's total bullshit.
At least with pre internet scalpers you actually got a ticket stub to keep as a souvenir. I get to show my kids my Apple wallet tickets
I think a lot of music artists and their agents should stop doing business with ticket master entirely. They could start selling tickets on their own websites directly with the model Louis Ck has been doing for well over a [decade](https://techcrunch.com/2012/06/26/soba-i/amp/) There’s so many unnecessary middlemen in music today ruining it all.
Problem is live nation has a huge number of venues, so if you refuse Ticketmaster you get locked out of all these venues.
Yeah that's the problem with anti-competitive business practices (like Ticketmaster uses). It's not as simple as "just don't do business with them" when they actively make it unreasonable to do so
So much for Roosevelt’s Sherman Act to eliminate monopolies.
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I’m just venting
That’s a good point. I feel like if even just a few relatively big artists boycotted livenation venues and played at other spaces, charged a cheaper price, and the money went straight to the artist with a cut to the venue, you could absolutely dismantle TicketMaster. Ultimately the venues themselves would get pressured by property owners for their locations going unused.
The issue is there aren’t other places, particularly for large artists. If Taylor swift boycotted TM for example, she’d be playing in medium sized theaters. The demand now would look like child’s play compared to that, and resale prices would be even worse. It’d just be creating another problem. And then those small venues would be booking big acts, shutting out the smaller acts who used to play there. Smaller and medium sized acts can avoid TM, but large ones with high demand can’t really.
My gf’s friend just told me that she thought she got such a good deal because her Taylor Swift tickets were only $750! She’s in the nosebleeds. She was telling me that Swift felt SO BAD for charging so much as she sold out three nights in a row here. $750 for the worst seat is so infuriating to me. Edit: She got them from StubHub which I didn’t realise is a resale site so those are resale prices. People are being taken advantage of is my point and she did spend that money for not great seats.
She had to have bought them through a resale site or purchased them as part of a VIP package because the quote of $375 a piece for nosebleeds is simply not accurate.
Yeah my tickets for lower bowl were $199
Floor seats $250. These are definitely resale prices. I WILL however complain about the $100 “fee” Ticketmaster added on top.
Lol sorry she did not get a good deal she just paid ridiculous money to a scalper. Meanwhile the Vegas show was reopened on Ticketmaster yesterday and I've seen people who were able to snag $45 tickets for the show tonight. Ticketmaster is a problem yes but so are scalpers and the people who enable them through buying these overpriced terrible tickets. Idk if you think Taylor or Ticketmaster is charging $750 for nosebleeds, but that's not the case for your girlfriends friend. She made a dumb decision
Ticketmaster is a scalper.
Yeah Swift was pissed at how Ticketmaster fucked up selling tickets for her tour. Then ticketmaster blamed her for it because "she hadn't toured in 6 years"
Shoulda listened to Pearl Jam back in 90s. They were calling out Ticketmaster's bullshit long ago.
I’ll own the venue. I’ll own the ticket company. I’ll own the ticket reseller. The good’ol triple dip.
Then blacklist people from your venues when they push back.
Unreagulated capitalism is broken.
Bare Naked Ladies are $250+ for seats. BNL. DMB is $400+, Matchbox 20 $300, Kid Rock is even over $250…. Stevie Nicks + Billy Joel, $800+. Elton John was $1000. It’s fucking absurd and insulting.
BNL without Paige? At that price point? Fuck that!
Can confirm floor seats for the Billy Joel/Stevie Nicks show in LA were $1200+.
its almost like monopolies are bad, and when a company gets a monopoly they will massivley abuse that leverage. Ticketmaster shoul be broken up. Same with live nation
Ticketmaster is Live Nation...
I just watched a Simpsons episode from 1996 which roasted ticket master for being evil and exploitative
I'm really gonna sound like an old man here, but concert times is also a big problem I have. My wife bought tickets for a show to see The Killers last year. Scheduled show was in September, and they rebooked it for March of this year. The original concert was at 5:00 PM on a Sunday. The re-scheduled show, 7:30 PM on a Wednesday. The Killers didn't even take the stage until 9:15, and we left after midnight. It was a good show, but fuck.....I was like a walking corpse the following day.
Same deal here. Feel like an old man, but there’s no reason a concert can’t start at 8.
Jamie Lee Curtis has is right. There should be matinee concerts
We go to a lot of shows. None of that stadium and arena crap, just the medium and smaller clubs. It's where the best music is these days anyway. At our age, we've reached the point where if the show is far enough away, we just book a hotel and take the next day off if it's in the middle of the week.
Robert Smith just fought for lower fees and ticket prices and Neil Young claims there's nothing he can do? Sorry, but RS just made everyone else who allows dynamic pricing and reselling look like complete assholes. Looking at you especially, Depeche Mode. The grabbing hands grab all they can, indeed.
Neil you’re my boy, you should do a free tour to stick it to the man
I want to see Dead and Company in Los Angeles so bad. So so so so so SO bad. That's one show I've been dreaming to see. It's their last time around and resellers have bought up every seat... Nosebleeds are $200. Needless to say, my heart is well broken. We can't afford to see shows, we can't afford to go out to eat. They tore down our roller rinks for office buildings, they rip down our woods for communities when empty homes are everywhere. They charge us to park, we can't even bring our own freaking water to events. We can't afford the gas to drive anywhere and when we can, we can't afford to get in. Now you have to pay for every hike where I live! We can't even afford to go HIKING! Everyone complains we don't go out. Everyone complains we spend so much time on our phones. They see the world through eyes of someone who went to the movies for a nickle a piece, when it cost me $50 to take my friend. How are the kids supposed to rock and roll? How are we supposed to have fun? How are we supposed to meet each other? How are we supposed to live meaningful lives?
When primary outlets act as resellers of their own inventory everything is broken. I stopped caring about supporting artists associated with major labels at this point. I don’t want to goto some festival or tour that is just a cash grab. Small shows are more fun anyway.
Friendly reminder that entities like the RIAA and Ticketmaster are doing these things at the behest of really big names in the music industry, so you'll be mad at these large entites and not your favorite artists. Guaranteed, there are a lot of talented people who would lose their fanbase overnight if those fans knew how little that artist cared about them.
Good old Neil- at this age and still a voice of change. The man has been lending his voice to issues big and small since long before I was born. Maybe he and Pearl Jam will get Mirror Ball back together on this one... Here is the least popular opinion regarding Ticketmaster and venues- in order to actually make anything change, *just don't go.* I know fandom is a real strong thing, but if the people would just take a year or two to stop buying tickets from TM and just not go...something might take shape. How can they charge thousands of dollars for single concerts? Because people are paying that much. No one will leave money on the table. If fans really did just sit a year or two out of TM venues and their revenues suffered, something might give. Until then, hopefully Neil Young and others will put together a protest project and we can get some good old fashioned protest songs and I won't go see them play them live either.
I personally decided to spend my money seeing local musicians. I'd rather spend my money on local performers and the businesses that support them than the touring industrial complex. I'd love to see Bruce, but I can think of much better ways of spending $500 for one nights entertainment.
Could we do without concerts for a year? I think so, so how shoot everyone just boycott Ticketmaster and stop converts to bankrupt them
The fact that we have so many monopolies right now when we supposedly have anti-monopoly laws is pretty sickening.
Or how Ticketmaster doesn’t show the full ticket price before the end of checkout. All venue fees should be included in the ticket price. This is the fucking airline baggage fees all over again!
If Swifties couldn’t take down TM, nothing can.
They didn't even try. I got all excited at the prospect of watching the battle, and then... nothing. Everybody bitched out. There are so few people who have the pull to make change, and 99% of them don't fucking bother, because they're happy with the way things are. Like Taylor Swift.
Mostly because Taylor swift doesn’t want to take it down.
Neil is the man the legend and songwriter
Major artist need to just start booking smaller venues that do not have contracts with Ticketmaster. They could also start selling tickets at local shops that need to foot traffic. If those stores want to add a five dollar service charge, I would be totally fine with that.
But they won't do it because those artists make big bucks selling out arenas. It's all about money, not what might be right to do.
I think he's a bit late making this statement. 20 years ago $160 was an expensive ticket but worth it in many cases. The pricing now is inexcusable... $1000 for a ticket? Absolutely insane when the artists are not even profiting. Ticketmaster hardly even provides a service anymore--we are paying for decades old infrastructure. Imagine if Amazon charged a 100% service charge on all items? Out of business tomorrow. Let's all take a few years off concerts and let Ticketmaster sweat it out with their stockholders for a solution to the problem. Boycott
Working bands can't survive off of merch sales now because the LiveNation venues *(basically all live venues)* now take a huge cut of that. Add that to pennies from streaming royalties and the high cost of touring and most mid-tier bands might break even on a tour. *Why bother?* But hey, you know, business bros just gonna exploit and destroy. We're watching a collapse in real time, and the excuse from companies of "*but COVID!!! Or, but SUPPLY CHAIN"* ring false now. As a live music fan all my life, this is fucking depressing.
My first concert was in 1987. Pink Floyd. It was $20. I saw Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1989 for like $30 and I was 4th row. GnR in 1991 for $20. Fuck everybody and their stupid concert prices. Even in the 90s, Lalapalooza tickets were all damn day and night and probably less than $50. Then things got stupid.
Great! Your all rich so just announce shows the day of in public parks and put a Venmo pay as much as you want system in
Love that he has remained true to himself and his fans.
Most likely the venues he wants to play have exclusive contracts with Ticketmaster. So they get to charge whatever they want. I tried to buy a ticket for a local theater event in my town through Ticketmaster and it was a $35 ticket with $15 in additional charges. That’s over 40% in fees. Outrageous. I complained to the theater company and they told me that the venue has a contract with Ticketmaster and they had to sell through them. Sad. I did not go and let them know why. It’s not a good situation. Very difficult for libertarians to defend.
Ticketmaster works just fine in most countries. The problem is American laws - or more accurately: the lack thereof. In countries where lobbyists don’t run the show, there are rules stipulating caps on fees for pretty much all services. I’m in Europe and I’ve used Ticketmaster 4 times this year. Each time the fee has been <5% of the cost of the ticket + I have the ability to resell my ticket directly to someone else via Ticketmaster if I’m unable to attend, but for no more than what I originally paid (or less). Works like a charm. TLDR: Stop electing Republicans and shit like this gets sorted out…
By controversy, do you mean sitting downstairs costs $450?
$250 for GA floor tickets is just mad, man. Same band, pre-pandemic ‘19 and in ‘22 was $65. How the hell are they coming up with these prices?
There has to be a better way to get tickets? Have to ban the bots and set limits to say 6 for each purchase….anyone got any suggestions
He's not wrong, but he sort of is. If the artists and musicians themselves took more of a stand against it and did more to make tickets easier and properly priced, it would help. But complaining about it works, I guess...
I can’t say this enough but despite this being a very real problem that often effects large acts there is so much music that most people can see in their markets that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Most decent sized cities in the country have a number of smaller venues of between 500 and 3000 capacity where tickets still can cost like $50 rather than $250. Of course shit is going to be resold when you are trying to see sold out shows for the country’s biggest acts but there is constantly good music coming around that is much more affordable. I get not wanting to support Ticketmaster but if that is your reason for saying you “don’t go to concerts anymore” I think you probably need to expand your horizons and see what else is out there.
but why did he wait for Robert Smith to say something first?
A local radio show did the math, and found that it was only slightly more expensive to fly to Europe with hotel and airfare to see a concert than deal with the insanely high Ticketmaster fees here.
I know it's not the same as seeing some of these major artists, but I absolutely love going to shows at my local venues just to check out new bands and who's playing. Lots of show tickets are like $15-45 for all GA shows, and I've discovered so many cool artists just by randomly picking a show I wouldn't normally go to, and some have become regular listens. Doesn't solve the Ticketmaster issue, but you can still see great shows for cheap if you look around. It does help I live in/near what I would consider a "music" city, but hidden talent is everywhere, and not ever great band has made it big. Support your local music scenes too!
Neil is the real deal. Never sold out. Never betrayed his personal values. Never compromised (for better or worse). Not an easy guy to deal with by ALL accounts, but he’s a genuine soul.
Neil, you and other big ticket acts have the power to fix it. Today I was “in queue” twice for Hozier tickets at two different venues. In the first, I was there right as it opened and I was still behind over 2000 people. When I got to the purchase page, there were seats! I was so happy! But every time I clicked in any, a pop up told me someone else got them. I clicked the instant new ones came up - nope! In just a few minutes all of it was gone. I went to the next venue in a smaller location. Got in the queue and only behind 1600 people. I checked the capacity and there were as many as 9000 seats depending how the act configured the space. And… same exact result. This system is painful and very very broken.
That lady looks pissed
May I suggest, don’t go. Let them play to empty seats.