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Hundreds of thousands of Taylor Swift fans scrutinized their phones on Monday night, selected by Ticketmaster’s verified fan system to purchase tickets for the pop star and singer-songwriter’s upcoming stadium tour. We’re waiting to see if it goes on sale. When these tickets go on sale later in the week, it could be minutes before they sell out.
Live music is booming again in the US as the pandemic subsides, and high ticket demand and low inventory are now a common theme among music fans. And tickets from Paramore to Bruce Springsteen and Chris Stapleton sell out almost instantly when they become available.
Fans are spending more money than ever to go to concerts, creating that extreme demand. live nation entertainmentParent company of Ticketmaster.
According to the company, ticket sales for concerts through the third quarter of 2022 are up 37% compared to 2019, and ticket sales for concerts scheduled for 2023 are growing at a double-digit pace compared to the previous year. I’m here. On average, fans said he spent over 20% more at venues compared to 2019.
Live Nation president and chief financial officer Joe Berchtold said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call with analysts on Nov. 4, “This is structurally the current level of consumer spending. ‘ said.
“More VIP, more platinum tickets bring in that money for artists, and we see a relatively strong inelasticity in demand for those top tickets,” he said. “People tend to want a little bit higher quality when it comes to some alcohol, and some of our products have more deals for people to buy higher priced products. ”
“All these are continuations of the trends we have seen over the last few years and there is no reason to expect them to change in the future,” he added.
Past summer stadium shows such as Coldplay and Red Hot Chili Peppers are among the most in-demand. Across multiple tours, he has sold over 500,000 tickets and Live Nation has set record quarterly attendance figures. 11,000 events.
Berchtold said Live Nation’s prospects for next year’s stadium tour, boosted by Swift, would be “the biggest stadium ever.”
But with high-profile acts like Swift and Springsteen already booking stadiums for next spring and summer, and others like Beyoncé and Rihanna likely touring as well. , other acts are likely to be pushed in the following years.
“The good news is that 22 is probably going to be a record year, but there are so many Fridays and Saturdays and how artists route their tours and how they see the world and get the right positioning. We are very smart about what we find,” said Live. Nation CEO Michael Rapino told analysts. “You’re never going to have a lot of tours piled up in the same weekend, which means more inventory spread out in ’22, ’23, and we’re talking ’24. So I would say There’s still a backlog that the system needs to handle in 2022, 23, and it’s going to be an incredibly strong year.”
Criticism of ticket prices
As more people try to buy tickets to tour their favorite musicians, so does the criticism of ticket prices and associated charges.
Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden announced, as part of a plan to cut costs for U.S. citizens, thathidden junk fee,” one of which he said was associated with concert tickets.
“Like concert ticket processing fees, I know hidden junk fees are painful. They are unfair, deceptive and add up,” Mr. Biden said. murmured.
Live Nation issued a press release following Biden’s comments, praising Biden for “advocating for transparency of fees in all industries, including ticket sales for live events,” citing face value and fees in advance. It added that it supports the FTC’s order requiring it to be presented to the public. Because it is needed in other parts of the world.
However, Ticketmaster has faced other complaints about rising ticket prices and the inclusion of premium seating for concerts in its “Official Platinum” feature, which fluctuates in price depending on demand. Tickets in these categories have seen prices skyrocket amid high demand, with reports that some seats for Springsteen’s upcoming tour were listed as high as $5,000 each on the first day of sale.
Ticketmaster said only 11.2% of the seats were included in its program and the average ticket price sold for its tour was $262, but US Congressman Bill Paskrel said: says so. wrote a letter In August, it called for Live Nation to “give much-needed transparency into the sale, pricing and distribution of live event tickets.”
Pasquerel said, “I noticed that the tickets disappeared from the major marketplace websites as if they had been purchased, only to reappear again at a higher price, so it was confirmed that the tickets were pre-sold every morning. caused high levels of stress and frustration among voters.”
Ticketmaster has distanced itself from ticket prices. own statement“Promoter and artist representatives set the pricing strategy and price range parameters for all tickets, including fixed and market-based prices.
“As the resale ticket market has grown into a $10 billion+ industry over the past few years, artists and teams are losing their revenue to resellers and people working behind the scenes who are not invested in making the event successful. As a result, event organizers are turning to market-based pricing to recoup lost revenue,” the company said.
“Over the past year, the live entertainment segment has experienced double-digit growth,” Lapino told analysts. I expect it will continue,” he said.