Over the weekend, Blink-182 fans who were excited to purchase a ticket to the band’s upcoming world tour were met with shock when they encountered surprisingly expensive prices. Depending on the seating, tickets were ranging from $100 to upwards of $600 for one ticket.
Understandably, fans took to Twitter to voice their frustration, but they’re not alone. For months, fans of countless artists like Bad Bunny, Harry Styles and more have been venting out their confusion and anger about rising ticket prices online. It’s not just one artist who seems to be asking fans for more money; it’s all of them.
What’s behind this recent rise? Billboard recently broke down the myriad factors leading to the larger issue. Inflation is a simple part of it, supply and demand is another. But another major factor is that production costs have risen dramatically to make up for the nearly two-year loss during the pandemic. When artists stopped touring, that meant their crews and venues were also ceasing their source of income. As life has slowly returned to normal, production costs have risen to help adjust for the loss.
Additionally, artists now take a larger cut out ticket prices than before due to the rise of streaming. Ten years ago, artists made a large profit off of album sales. But, thanks to Spotify and other streaming services, artists are only seeing a fraction of that cost. They now rely on tour sales to supplement their income. To ensure that, many of them take home 85 percent of ticket sales, leaving only 15 percent for promoters. But promoters want their cut too, so they’ve upped the fees and charges.
It’s not a complete surprise that the fun things in life are getting more expensive. The problem lies in the fact that Americans’ paychecks aren’t going up at the same rate at those costs. Enjoying life and art is part of what makes the human experience so unique. When that enjoyment is overshadowed by financial stress and burdens, it takes all the fun away.
