Culture is a daily aspect of our lives. Everyone engages with it in some form, rich or poor, and no expression of it should be considered a "luxury". Yes that includes going to a concert. "Culture" isn't just rich people pontificating you know, despite what some American philistine would have you believe.

 

this is a very dumb thread unless OP works for TM and gets some share of that money too 

This tough love realism take literally ignores the real dynamics at play and shrugs off legitimate grievances though? 
 

'No one has to go to a show' this is a cop out. Yeah concerts aren't essential but dismissing them as a luxury oversimplifies their role in people's lives. Music isn't just entertainment, it's connection, catharsis and yes, culture whether you're at a pop show or not. Telling people to opt out because prices are insane is like saying 'don't like expensive health care? Then don't get sick'. It's not a solution, you're just avoiding the problem. Calling the culture argument weird doesn't make it invalid, fans don't need to justify their passions to you. A lot of shows carry cultural weight, pop or not and pretending otherwise is just posturing. 
 

Your whole supply and demand sermon is economics 101 dressed up as wisdom and it's only half the story. Ticketmaster isn't some neutral marketplace facilitator, it's a monopolistic beast with a chokehold on live events. They don't just reflect demand, they manipulate it. Look at what happened with Cowboy Carter tour and how the tickets spiked because of in demand pricing. Fans didn't choose that, they were gouged by a system designed to exploit hype. Supply is also artificially constrained. Ticketmaster control venues, locking out competition and keeping inventory tight. This isn't a free market, it's rigged as ****. 
 

Your point about charging the same without Ticketmaster is purely speculative. Without Ticketmaster's fee heavy middle man structure, artists could pocket more whilst also lowering costs for the fans. The idea that they'd keep the same amount ignores how much of that £900 seat is padding ticketmaster's bottom line, not the artist's. 
 

Going to see smaller artists is a nice sentiment but it's just a side step. Not everyone wants to see an intimate indie show when they've been saving up to see their faves. Smaller acts are fine and some may enjoy them more but they're not a solution for the systemic problem. Plus Ticketmaster's dominance trickles down, even lower tier venues often use them which hike fees on the more affordable shows. Telling people to abandon their faves because a corporate giant price gouged them still doesn't solve the problem! 

 

Fans aren't whining about a luxury they should skip, they're whining about Ticketmaster's unchecked power distorting the market and screwing over artists and fans. They hide behind supply and demand but they're the ones pulling the strings. If you wanna dunk on misplaced focus, aim at the execs raking it in while the fans get fleeced, not the people calling them out. 

If you believe that an artist and their record company don't control the prices at shows, and that it's only because of Ticketmaster that they are so expensive you are literally in a toxic parasocial relationship.
 

And I hate to be the one that breaks the news to you (because somehow you've gone through life not hearing it before), but these artists don't know you, don't care about your income level, don't care about your supposed need for culture, and aren't going to charge less than what people are willing to pay to spare your feelings. And I know it's easier to go after TM but if an artist wanted to they could lower the prices. I'm sure some of you will need a breather after hearing that so go ahead and take the time to protect your mental health. 

 

And I'll be at Gaga on 7/18 cause I chose to support the greedy ****** lol

Edited April 3, 20251 yr by JanStan

OP:

the OP is giving

 

Argue if you want but the only way Ticketmaster will change is if people stop paying those crazy prices for tickets 

it's very simple 

10 minutes ago, Pheromosa said:

Argue if you want but the only way Ticketmaster will change is if people stop paying those crazy prices for tickets 

it's very simple 

Omg thanks! It's insane how people don't get this. Don't go, the demand will drop, and prices decrease. 
 

But instead people go on and on about how supply and demand shouldn't matter and Ticketmaster is to blame, and that artists and the record companies will voluntarily choose to make less money on their own because theyre such good people. The absolute detachment from reality that some of these people have is CRAZY. 

OP this is how you sound: 

 

Monopolies are not bad ✨✨✨ They are our friends 🥰🥰🥰 It's our fault for existing 🎈🎈🎈 I love shareholders 🎀🎀🎀

I'm the problem actually cause I paid £2k for two Gaga tickets 

It has literally gone to congress.....they are the problem.  Exorbitant feeds, dynamic pricing, not having good measures to divert bots....and meanwhile, they have a monopoly on ticketing considering so many venues have exclusive agreements with them, so artists can't just not use them.  

 

Pre-Covid, it was nothing like this.  I don't know if bots have gotten worse, scalpers have multiplied or both, but something has to change. People have just accepted that it's normal to pay absurd amounts and go into credit card debt to see their favorite artists live from the nosebleeds.  And it's frustrating because if the demand is there....people will pay those prices, whether it's scalpers reselling or dynamic pricing or what.

13 minutes ago, getBusy said:

OP this is how you sound: 

 

Monopolies are not bad ✨✨✨ They are our friends 🥰🥰🥰 It's our fault for existing 🎈🎈🎈 I love shareholders 🎀🎀🎀

That's unfortunate that that's how I 'sound' to you when there is actual objective reality to what I said:

 

1. The artists you support are responsible for their prices, they are not your friends or a charitable organization. 
 

2. Even if Ticketmaster didn't exist the artists would charge the same amounts because people will pay it. 
 

3. There are plenty of artists that are amazing and creative and people should look into supporting them.

 

Is that wording easier for you to comprehend? Gurl bye.

Were you gifted a Rolex too? 

1 hour ago, JanStan said:

Omg thanks! It's insane how people don't get this. Don't go, the demand will drop, and prices decrease. 
 

But instead people go on and on about how supply and demand shouldn't matter and Ticketmaster is to blame, and that artists and the record companies will voluntarily choose to make less money on their own because theyre such good people. The absolute detachment from reality that some of these people have is CRAZY. 

The corporations are still out of line but the system only works if people if buy into concert tickets being a luxury item, and they do 

they ARE the problem, and so are the artists (especially the ones that leave dynamic pricing on). The artists just use the big bad "Ticketmaster" to hide the fact they LOVE the increased revenue 

Of course there's a lot of money that goes into touring—with staff, promoters and artists needing to be properly compensated for the work and sacrifice that goes into setting up and carrying out a tour. The issue, though, is that ticket prices are horribly inflated to where they're just making obscene amounts of money. And a lot of that money isn't even funneled to the workers. It's easy to bring up the concept of supply and demand, but because someone can charge a certain amount for something doesn't mean that they should. It's just price gouging, which is why there's so much controversy around it nowadays. The price of concert tickets could be drastically reduced and they'd still be making an overwhelming amount of money—a lot more than you think, whenever you think about the millions and millions of tickets that are being sold.

 

I, even still, don't understand why people are so quick to defend million/billion dollar businesses, executives, etc. Ticketmaster, for example, in recent years was recently valued at $18.23 billion dollars. People should not be charged thousands of dollars to take their families out to see a concert, whether it's Taylor Swift, Coldplay or otherwise.

Y'all LOVE caping for people that wouldn't spit on you if you were on fire. You in an abusive relationship with the wealthy

 

 

 

wbk the people are the problem 

Ticketmaster is still better than tickettek at least I can get on and buy tickets I even manage to get close to stage stray kids tickets 1 week before the show (could of got closer but couldn't do afterpay) 

 

Tickettek I nearly missed out on bmth ticket 10 minutes in as soon as tickets went on sale and could only get back seat ones 

Both yes and no.

 

Ticketmaster + Artists are price gouging their own tickets, stop buying them. Not because "it's a luxury, too bad if you cannot afford it", but because stop giving money to these people and services, you vote with your wallet. They're only that expensive because somebody pays for it. Some of you are putting $500+ of your hard earned money in your faves pockets, sorry, but some of you are so h0rny for giving wealthy pop stars even more money, and then act like you have no choice  Literal insanity.

 

You can fight over if it's Ticketmaster, or the artists, that are to blame for those insane prices, but both of them benefit from the fact that some of you are so desperate to feel apart of something that you give away your whole monthly salary away to someone that wouldn't even piss if your mouth if you were dying of thirst. Is Taylor Swift and Beyoncé really the only meaningful culture you got in your life ? It's a cult at this point. 

A necessity like gasoline to drive to your job is only regulated because the government (sort of) holds them accountable. Just because a concert is deemed a "luxury" doesn't mean Ticketmaster has the right to monopolize an entire industry.

 

As long as someone, regardless if they are huge fans or not, is willing to purchase tickets they will continue to up the prices and fees until the government steps in and stops it. 

And it's not only first-hand purchases that are out of hand. The secondary market has been KEY in Ticketmasters greed. They have been outed in the past to encourage and train people into purchasing as many tickets as they can to put up for resale at a higher price. That way, Ticketmaster gains the profits from two separate transactions/fees and is off the hook for tickets that end up having to be resold at a lower price or not resold at all.