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Gig Ticket Prices


st dan
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Now that gigs/tours etc are back on the horizon, how is everybody feeling in regards to the pricing of some of these shows? Not necessarily the face value of the ticket itself, more the sum total of all fees and delivery etc.

Now I fully appreciate the artists, promoters, venues etc need the revenue after a torrid 18 months, but blimey they are getting a bit steep aren’t they! They were already on the up pre pandemic, but seems like there has been an understandable rise. 

This isn’t a thread to complain as such, as I’m delighted live music is back and want to get to see as much as you can. But I’ve just paid the best part of £100 for 2 x The War on Drugs tickets and £90 for 2 x The Kooks (mainly for mrs st dan’s nostalgia). So almost £200 is a hefty sum of money and that’s hardly touched the surface of those we want to see in the coming months.

Will a lot of us now have to be more selective with who we choose to pay to see in future? Especially when you add travel, food, drink etc in to the cost - its an sizeable expense.  
Also - it just goes to show how good value for money festivals are too!

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7 minutes ago, FakeEmpire said:

It's been going this way for a long time. It's the extortionate booking fees that are particularly annoying, especially when you try and get them back after things are cancelled.

You lot dont have booking fees like we do across the pond. I never wanna hear that complaint. You’re not getting charged 40% of the ticket cost in fees like we are.

 

costs are up cause covid insurance is the problem. And international acts are going to cost a bit more too cause of everything at the moment.

Edited by Suprefan
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3 minutes ago, dotdash79 said:


 

I am selective about who I book, but it shows the amazing value of Glastonbury when you compare it to gigs. 

This is exactly the point I make to non-Glastonbury people I know.  It really is great value.

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Prices were getting out of control well before the pandemic. Stadium gigs are now firmly in the 80-100 quid bracket, wish I can live with if it’s an act I really wanna see and there are one of two decent supports too.

It’s the acts with one album charging 40 notes to see them in an Academy that get my goat.

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My gigs tend to max out at £30 so have to be honest it's not massively a problem for me!  Mostly in the £15 - £20 bracket I would say.

Kind of a cheapskate I guess, but I'd rather do 4 or 5 smaller gigs (still with bands I like, obvs) than one big one.  And the number of bands I'm willing to pay those amounts for are really limited.

The only ones I've paid out for like that in recent times have been ones bought as pressies or a joint night out with Mrs Q.

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1 hour ago, Quark said:

My gigs tend to max out at £30 so have to be honest it's not massively a problem for me!  Mostly in the £15 - £20 bracket I would say.

Kind of a cheapskate I guess, but I'd rather do 4 or 5 smaller gigs (still with bands I like, obvs) than one big one.  And the number of bands I'm willing to pay those amounts for are really limited.

The only ones I've paid out for like that in recent times have been ones bought as pressies or a joint night out with Mrs Q.

I'm with you. Not to say I never spend more but I am quite selective about the 'big acts' that I see. There are tons of bands/artists that you can see for under £20 and even more for under £30. I expect they will go up in price but I have so many re-scheduled that I probably won't have to worry too much about it until next year unless there's someone that I have to see and I have the date free. 

I also feel that the smaller artists need the support more. It's the same with my vinyl collection. During lockdown I saw a lot of posts on Twitter about what classic vinyl people could buy with money they were saving from commuting etc and my answer was always the same David Bowie has no need for your money any more, invest it in the up and coming artists who won't survive this pandemic without our support. 

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2 hours ago, fred quimby said:

*Eyes pop out on stalks Emoji *

The 40% looks worse on lower priced gigs. I got a ticket to see Squid at a 300 cap venue and the face was $16 then they added $6.50 in service fees. It should be maybe $3 in fees if they followed the correct percentages.

Here is how it is for a large gig. The Killers and Johnny Marr are touring here next year. The order processing fee and facility fee are the hidden things on buy a ticket to something like this, especially if youre buying a single. Its close to the 40% on this.

kil.jpg

Edited by Suprefan
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3 minutes ago, Suprefan said:

The 40% happens more on lower priced gigs. I got a ticket to see Squid at a 300 cap venue and the face was $16 then they added $6.50 in service fees. It should be maybe $3 in fees if they followed the correct percentages.

Here is how it is for a large gig. The Killers and Johnny Marr are touring here next year. 

kil.jpg

😱 

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10 minutes ago, Suprefan said:

The 40% looks worse on lower priced gigs. I got a ticket to see Squid at a 300 cap venue and the face was $16 then they added $6.50 in service fees. It should be maybe $3 in fees if they followed the correct percentages.

Here is how it is for a large gig. The Killers and Johnny Marr are touring here next year. The order processing fee and facility fee are the hidden things on buy a ticket to something like this, especially if youre buying a single. Its close to the 40% on this.

kil.jpg

I mean you get free delivery so you know

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11 minutes ago, Suprefan said:

The 40% looks worse on lower priced gigs. I got a ticket to see Squid at a 300 cap venue and the face was $16 then they added $6.50 in service fees. It should be maybe $3 in fees if they followed the correct percentages.

Here is how it is for a large gig. The Killers and Johnny Marr are touring here next year. The order processing fee and facility fee are the hidden things on buy a ticket to something like this, especially if youre buying a single. Its close to the 40% on this.

kil.jpg

Wowsers!! Is this in the US? 

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14 minutes ago, gigpusher said:

Wowsers!! Is this in the US? 

Yep, thats our ticket reality for most gigs here. The only thing that can save you on fees is depending which ticket service the venue uses. So if you can use Dice or See for example then fees are much lower. But if its AXS or Ticketmaster youre at the mercy of them.

Regarding delivery, almost everyone is digital now or will be turning to that in the U.S. which is a shame. Some ticketmaster gigs are still offering tickets by mail which is nice and its usually a $2 charge. AXS is THE WORST when it comes to that. If you want a ticket via mail they will charge you $25. I dont know why they do but apparently its to remind you to save trees. Fortunately gigs put on by Goldenvoice in Los Angeles offer will call pick up for everything which is $5 so I go for that whenever I get a ticket for something they put on. 

 

I can post more examples if you like to see the disparity of ticket buying here. The one thing in the UK that is nice is theres laws in place to prevent that sort of thing. Although the hidden thing is that the promoter just makes a ticket a few quid more expensive to offset not being able to charge higher fees so you think youre saving a bit but not really.

Edited by Suprefan
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Without getting all Grampa Simpson, in my day (90’s and 00’s) you’d see up and coming bands in the second room of academies for under a tenner and then once they’ve gotten bigger and graduated to the main academy for about 15-20 quid.

Went to so many gigs in those days because they were so cheap. My mate and I would to go a couple of gigs a week - “under a tenner? Yeah on then.” Paid six quid to see Arctic Monkeys at Academy 2 in Brum, eight for the Killers pre-Hot Fuss. Even Coldplay and Muse I paid 12 quid each for at Manchester Academy in 2000/01.

You don’t seem to get that anymore and I can’t see it getting any better anytime soon as everyone tries to make up for lost earnings.

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21 minutes ago, Quark said:

That's nuts.

Luckily I have to go through Ticketmaster or AXS very rarely just because of the gigs I go to, mostly tends to be See.

Yeah but TM and AXS cant do that to you over there. They have to keep the fees low regardless of provider. I just looked up a ticket for Blackpool Rocks with Fatboy Slim and a bunch of other dj's and face value was 35 quid plus 3 in service fees. If that was here its $35 plus $15 in fees and $5 for processing easily. 

Here are some more. BTW, See has just started to gain market share in the u.s. they have never been anything significant here til a couple years ago. Examples are form  Eventbrite AXS, See and Ticketweb respectively.

event.jpg

gv.jpg

see.jpg

tw.jpg

Edited by Suprefan
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i actually stopped going to loads of gigs some years ago now. (with the exception of Springsteen).

i absolutely refuse to pay the price of tickets these days.

oh for the days you could walk into the Astoria, pay with cash and pay ZERO fees and walk out with enough change from a tenner to enjoy a snakebite n' black in the Intrepid Fox.

used to follow bands around for tours (NMA, Levellers, Mission) but these days i could barely afford the cost of a single show...

but the thing about being a Bruce fan is that i don't really mind - in comparison everyone else is shit live. 😀

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41 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Without getting all Grampa Simpson, in my day (90’s and 00’s) you’d see up and coming bands in the second room of academies for under a tenner and then once they’ve gotten bigger and graduated to the main academy for about 15-20 quid.

Went to so many gigs in those days because they were so cheap. My mate and I would to go a couple of gigs a week - “under a tenner? Yeah on then.” Paid six quid to see Arctic Monkeys at Academy 2 in Brum, eight for the Killers pre-Hot Fuss. Even Coldplay and Muse I paid 12 quid each for at Manchester Academy in 2000/01.

You don’t seem to get that anymore and I can’t see it getting any better anytime soon as everyone tries to make up for lost earnings.

There's a clip from 1970s . Jethro tull talking about ticket prices. Ian anderson says - well we try to price it like a nice meal out for people (jethro tull were huge st the time). I guess the disparity isnt so different now. (Decent meal 40- 50 quid) . We were spoilt in the 1980s/90s even early 2000s cos cds were selling shit loads so people were rich without rinsing fans. Now i guess most people in that situation think - i want the lifestyle i was promised. How can i make cash. 

Maybe not quite as cynical as that but you know if people jeep paying why would you stop charging. 

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49 minutes ago, Chubby Dude in a Tiny Car said:

i actually stopped going to loads of gigs some years ago now. (with the exception of Springsteen).

i absolutely refuse to pay the price of tickets these days.

oh for the days you could walk into the Astoria, pay with cash and pay ZERO fees and walk out with enough change from a tenner to enjoy a snakebite n' black in the Intrepid Fox.

used to follow bands around for tours (NMA, Levellers, Mission) but these days i could barely afford the cost of a single show...

but the thing about being a Bruce fan is that i don't really mind - in comparison everyone else is shit live. 😀

I suppose a Springsteen ticket is cheaper than many of the other insomnia cures on the market…

<Runs off>

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Not sure I’d go to The Kooks if they were paying me the £90!


By and large I focus on smaller gigs these days, usually paying £15 to £30 per gig. I’d rather be at the front of a small gig than in a big arena.

Admittedly I do have two expensive gigs scheduled later in the year, Elton John and Genesis, both I’d expect would be the last (of many) times I will see them. There’s only a handful I’d go see now irrespective of the cost (Springsteen, Stones, errm can’t think of any more).

 

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