In a brand new interview with Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. of Rock Interview Sequence, BUCKCHERRY frontman Josh Todd spoke in regards to the rising costs of live performance tickets. Based on current report by Pollstar, live performance tickets have seen an general 27.38% enhance in price since 2019. This information additionally showcases a worldwide enhance in live performance ticket pricing, with the common ticket prices starting from $40.80 at membership venues to $124.47 at stadiums. In 2024, the common price to attend a live performance was $135.92, Pollstar reported. That is up from 1996 when the common ticket costed $25.81.
Requested what he thinks about artists like AC/DC charging tons of of {dollars} for a typical live performance ticket, Todd responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “When individuals discuss live performance tickets and the excessive worth of them, they’re speaking about artists which might be filling up arenas, just like the Taylor Swifts and the AC/DCs of the world. And we’re in a unique stage. So I do not know what to say about that. However I do know that AC/DC must be compensated for what they’ve put into the sport and what they’ve delivered. They usually’re superb dwell, they’ve a tremendous historical past, and paying no matter to go see them, I believe, is a good suggestion, if we’re talking nearly AC/DC. However apart from that — I do not know — we’re at a unique stage than that. So it hasn’t affected us like that.”
In a March 2024 interview with Mexico’s ATMósferas Journal, IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson was requested if he thought the skyrocketing live performance ticket costs had been having a destructive influence on the music business. Bruce stated on the time: “Properly, two issues. One, it relies upon what the present is and sort of who the viewers are. I imply, I am not gonna go round and say particular artists, as a result of a lot of the artists which might be charging, like, 1,200 {dollars} a ticket — like in Las Vegas, for those who wanna go and see the U2 present, I believe it was 1,200 {dollars} per seat within the sphere. I’ve acquired no real interest in paying 1,200 {dollars} to go and see U2 within the sphere — none. 100 bucks, perhaps. However for me, what’s essential is to try to hold, on the one hand, the fitting sort of tickets on the proper worth. So by that I imply the fitting sort of tickets, I imply, the tickets which might be in entrance of the stage, which everyone says must be the costliest tickets. Really, no, they need to be essentially the most fairly priced tickets, ‘trigger the people who find themselves gonna go there to the entrance of the stage are gonna be people who find themselves actual followers, people who find themselves youngsters, individuals who cannot afford the loopy cash, however they’re the folks that want to be down the entrance; they’re the individuals which might be gonna hold this music alive. And you then get the folks that they is perhaps followers, however they wanna carry their spouse and so they do not wanna get too sizzling and sweaty and all the remainder of it. So, there’s some seats on the prime or one thing else like that, what they’re gonna decide, and people get priced otherwise.”
Bruce continued: “I perceive how promoters try to do it to try to not lose cash, as a result of promoters are a part of the entire ecosystem. With out promoters, there can be no reveals. The promoters have one way or the other gotta make their a reimbursement. So, it is a delicate steadiness, however usually, ticket costs have gone by means of the roof. And a few of the ticket costs that folks pay, effectively, a few of the costs individuals pay, for me, it is insane. I’d by no means pay that worth, however then once more, I am in all probability not a fan of that individual artist. People who find themselves, perhaps they assume it is price it. I imply, actually with my reveals, we have at all times tried to maintain the ticket costs throughout the regular, regular boundaries. And the identical with MAIDEN.”
Based on Stay Nation, 151 million individuals attended one among its reveals in 2024 — a 50% enhance in live performance attendance in comparison with 2019.
In the meantime, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ shopper worth index information confirmed that admission to films, theaters and concert events jumped 20% since 2021.
Among the elevated price in the case of live performance tickets is because of dynamic pricing — the tactic of elevating costs the extra individuals buy tickets, after which reducing the costs as soon as the demand dies down.
A December 2024 report by CouponCabin discovered that concertgoers attended a median of seven reveals in 2024, and most deliberate to see extra in 2025.
The survey of greater than 1,000 music followers discovered that just about 36% stated they might spend $100 to $499 on live performance tickets in 2025, whereas greater than 17% deliberate to spend as much as $1,000.
