Music industry selling out by overpricing concert tickets

[Refugee]

The day the music died has come and gone.

It was Saturday night when I decided to log onto my computer and purchase tickets to a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers concert only to discover that ticket prices started at $96. I quickly logged off the Internet, quietly cursing the wind under my breath. There was no way I could justify spending so much on a concert while I still had school books to pay for.

After I calmed down I was reminded of a song Tom Petty wrote on the moral digression of the record industry. In the song, titled "Money Becomes King," Tom chronicles the life of a rock 'n' roll singer named Johnny who is caught in a corrupt system of injustices. The singer's agents overprice tickets to his concert and make him sing songs about light beer. I couldn't help but wonder why the very person who wrote such a stinging rebuke of the modern record industry would allow himself to be subject to the same corruption that led to Johnny's demise.

While the public can now buy tickets to Tom Petty's concert for less, overpriced concert tickets remain a problem in the record industry.

In 2007, Pollstar (http://www.pollstar.com/) released a list of the 20 top-grossing concert tours in North America. The list included artists such as Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Barry Manilow and Dave Matthews Band. The concert Web site determined that among the artists on the list, an average single ticket cost as much as $140.

The rise in concert ticket prices has squeezed the regular music listener out of the picture, allowing only those who have enough money to enjoy their favorite bands live. If someone were so lucky as to be able to afford concert tickets, there is no guarantee that they would be able to buy them. The Internet has made it easier for scalpers to buy out concerts and resell the purchased tickets for double, even triple their original prices.

According to USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/), efforts to deregulate the resale of concert tickets are currently being made by 47 out of 50 states. There is only one recourse for a fan who wants to fight having to pay triple the price of their original ticket: They must join the artist's fan club and buy their tickets pre-sale. To join the Highway Companion Club and buy pre-sale tickets to Tom Petty's current tour, fans have to pay an additional $40. Couple this with the cost of the actual tickets and they might as well be buying their seats from an Internet scalper.

Rock 'n' roll, a genre of music that has its roots in subverting the administration, has sold out.

It used to be that rock was about the people, about the average listener. If music has become just another product to sell to the masses, you would think that record companies would at least be sure that people could afford to buy it.




http://media.www.tcudailyskiff.com/media/storage/paper792/news/2008/02/12/Opinion/Music.Industry.Selling.Out.By.Overpricing.Concert. Tickets-3201887.shtml

[Lazlow]

The day the music died has come and gone.

It was Saturday night when I decided to log onto my computer and purchase tickets to a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers concert only to discover that ticket prices started at $96.
That's not true, is it? I thought $96 is the price of the best available seating.

[KansasPettyFan]

Not true here. Seats in the upper level of the arena are $55.00.

[Starfish]

Yeah, $96 must have been the "good" seats - even the most expensive venue had $40 lawn tickets.

[Echosoftom]

Couple this with the cost of the actual tickets and they might as well be buying their seats from an Internet scalper.
What scalper is this guy buying from? Scalper tickets are not that cheap. As a matter of fact, just check out eBay and see what you'll pay for a front row ticket. Warning, better take those cardiac meds before you go over there. Even if you purchase the Dream packages, you still come out ahead of the game considering the quality of seat. Let's face it, before the fanclub it was hit and miss whether you got great seats.

And another thing, I'd much rather know my bucks are going to the artist rather than some scalper. I mean I get this guys whole point about what Tom Petty has said all these years, but the reality is the cost of everything has gone up, so why should concert tickets be any different?

[Refugee]

Why does everyone take what Tom has said in interviews or sings about so literally?

[emmie]

I guess they haven't tried buying Paul McCartney, Eagles, Springsteen tickets and many others huh? People need to move with the times. You can't buy a decent car for $25,000 either anymore, nor can you buy a house even worthwhile living in for under $300,000. God why do people think prices are are going to stand still?

[Athena]

^^Especially things that he said a long time ago. Prices go up. We pay more for everything. At $96 for the highest price tickets, his are still a bargain compared to the other big acts.

edit: Darn it Emmie, you beat me to it!

[Starfish]

Springsteen tickets are comparable in price to Tom Petty this year - but his shows are longer and he mixes up his setlists. I don't believe he has started selling anything like "dream packages." To be front row for a Springsteen show this year, you buy a GA floor ticket and stand in line.

McCartney and The Eagles are another story - and Bon Jovi! His dream packages are over $1000.

[Ladywiz]

Lawn seating in Charlotte was $45 or so, the most expensive tix other than dream packages were $96. Hope this poor soul didn't just cheat himself out of a good show just because he can't READ!

[PumpkinBumpkin]

I also saw that lawn seats were only about $45. I also don't why people use "Money Becomes King" against Tom all of the time.

[nurktwin]

some people just don't get it, costs of everything go up every year. putting on a tour like tom, paul and bruce do is very expensive. chartering a jet to get around the country to hiring drivers and semi's to haul massive amounts of equipment around (paul used 26 semi's on his last tour and had 480 workers). these people don't work for minimum wage. so $95 for the best seats is not out of line to see tom. when i tell my mom i'm going to see tom, i always use the lowest good seat price ($95 this time) and she says "you're crazy, i'd never pay that to see anyone. i used to pay 25 to 75 cents a ticket to see frank sinatra or dean martin". so then i have to remind her that it's not the 1940's, that was 60 years ago and bread was a nickle a loaf too.....lol. god forbid if i ever told her i buy dream packages for almost $300 a seat and what the flights and rooms cost, she'd disown me and put me in a nut house! all in all, tom's prices aren't bad ($40 to $97). i just hope that everyone here at the farm will get to see tom this year. good luck and i'll see you at the shows.

[Marion]

Sorry, but I think the writer has a point and I think that Tom intended to make a point and ruffle some feathers with the last DJ. He's just not standing behind it now. He's hiding from it.

It's true. I can afford these concerts because I'm in a different place in my life but your average 30 year old can't.

Don't get me wrong....I appreciate the opportunity to buy the dream packages and fan club seating but I don't think it's so easy for a lot of fans.

[Pettylicious81]

Well at least it's still cheaper then most tickets nowadays...Crap Paul McCartney charges 250 bucks; I heard the Stones charge even more. People aren't perfect; sometimes things raise. You gotta do what you gotta do

[surfnburn]

There was no way I could justify spending so much on a concert while I still had school books to pay for.

I take it he's in college. You want to know how much science books cost? $180.00 for one book! Sorry for getting off the subject, but I couldn't help noticing that there's another issue of making education affordable....lol

[Marion]

You are so right Ames! $180?!! Jeez!

[Lazlow]

Of course our opinions are going to reflect where we happen to be right now. And right now there is only one band I will travel to see. And since that band tends to play the same setlist night after night, I am content to see only one show per tour. Plus, they don't usually play too many shows in my area.

It's not like I'm spending a lot of money buying TPATH CDs, since their output has really diminished since She's The One.

So I can easily absorb these new prices. And I do feel a lot of goodwill over the very low price of the RDAD DVD.

But that's just me.

[tplover2]

The last time I saw the Stones the "good" tickets were $300. I settled for $95 seats at the back of the stadium field. That was 3 years ago. I think Tom tries really hard to keep the prices down, but he is limited by what he can do. There are so many people involved in putting on a tour, from set crews to promoters, that have to be paid, plus the venues and ticket companies ie ticketmaster, etix getting their cut, I am sure they couldn't go much below the current price. I'm not saying Tom is losing money, but he probably doesn't have a lot of say concerning ticket prices.

[Marion]

At $96 a ticket, say there are 10,000 premium seats....that's $960,000 taken in per show and that's not even counting t-shirt sales. Does it really cost that much to put on ONE show and pay everyone involved? There is a lot of greed in this industry. :017:

[tplover2]

Very true, there is a lot of greed. It would be interesting to see the breakdown of where the money goes.

[Nylle]

I wonder if Tom regrets The Last DJ now that it keeps coming up again and again and again. Concerts are expensive and famous musicians are millionaires. It's very unfortunate for people that can't afford the ticket prices but as long as we all keep on shelling out the bucks the prices will continue to rise.

[PettyFanNick]

I wonder if Tom regrets The Last DJ now that it keeps coming up again and again and again. Concerts are expensive and famous musicians are millionaires. It's very unfortunate for people that can't afford the ticket prices but as long as we all keep on shelling out the bucks the prices will continue to rise.

It seems things have changed. It is interesting to examine The Last DJ in retrospect just 6-7 short years later.

There's no doubt that the price of tickets have increased ahead of general inflation(at least since 02). That's the time at which Tom admitted to Rolling Stone (http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5933643/tom_petty_is_pissed/) that he was turning a healthy profit on a $65 top ticket.

Compare that to the lyrics of When Money Becomes King:

And they raised the cost of living
And how could we have known
They'd double the price of tickets
To go see Johnny's show?
...
We arrived there early
In time to see rehearsal
And John came out and lip-synched
His new lite-beer commercial
And as the crowd arrived
As far as I could see
The faces were all different
There was no one there like me
...
Johnny, rock that golden circle
And all those VIPs
And that music that had freed us
Became a tired routine
And I saw his face in close-up
Tryin' to give it all he had
And sometimes his eyes betrayed him
You could see that he was sad

It seems in one way Tom has come closer to becoming what he railed against in the The Last DJ album. Of course Tom is an artist and an entertainer, so he doesn't have to live by anything that he writes.

It's interesting what he suggests in this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-8iu31eVoA):

"I don't want to wind up playing for the wealthy exclusively.
I'm not Robin Hood either, if they audience puts up with it, that's what's going to happen."

Maybe he's suggesting we should all crash the gates if we feel we're being ripped off. Maybe we should be fighting back by not going at all. Or maybe I'm just bitter -- I logged on for the presale, and when I saw the final price for two mediocre floor seats(240), I just couldn't do it. I ended up with the nosebleeds.

[nurktwin]

i think it's basically the same for most things in life. we can't stop the rise in prices for anything, we don't have the power. we can't even get the country together and not buy gas for their cars on a tuesday, let alone control anything else. so if a few don't buy tix, the price isn't going to go down, cuz someone is still buying. if bread is $1 a loaf today and i shop tomorrow and it went up to $3 a loaf, do i buy it or starve? we're screwed! get used to it, because it's never gonna change.

[Nylle]

yes, Nurk, we are screwed, that's the goddamn truth

[surfnburn]

I thought these were interesting...

$3.00 to see the Beatles...

http://www.e-rockworld.com/images/tickets/66-08-15%20Beatles.jpg

$9.50 to see the Rolling Stones...

http://www.e-rockworld.com/images/tickets/75-07-01%20Rolling%20Stones.jpg

[troopert]

What Petty does with the Fan Club and presales have gotten me closer to the stage then ever before with out having to be ripped off by a scalper. I paid $120 per seat with the club and premiere parking at Burgettstown PA in '06 and sat 8th row dead center. I'm seeing him in OHIO this tour 3rd row center. I've been seeing rock-n-roll shows for 35 years and never had seats this close. I hate joinung the club especially at $40 up from $15 but TP came through with some choice seats.

Rock On!!!

[Refugee]

^ Welcome Troopert! :)

[WildflowerNJ]

Hey, Troopert, welcome to the Farm....:006: