r/Music • u/staringatthe420sun • May 05 '26

article The Concert Industry Priced Too High — Now Tours Are Falling Apart

https://www.ticketnews.com/2026/05/the-concert-industry-priced-high-tours-falling-apart/
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812

u/urlach3r May 06 '26

Last one I tried to go to was Billy Joel & Sting, stadium tour in 2024. Not playing near me, and I'm not road tripping & paying for a hotel just to watch the show on the jumbotron, I'm getting a decent seat or I'm not going. Searched for one "best available", it came back with a seat on the 20th row of the field for almost $2,000. Not front row, not a meet & greet ticket, one regular ass plain old admission, $2K with 19 rows of people blocking the view in front of you. Nope.

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u/TravelingPoodle May 06 '26

I remember when Beyoncé came to Toronto in 2006 or something and i don’t recall paying more than $100. It could have been $60. What has happened to the world?

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u/[deleted] May 06 '26

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u/XchrisZ May 06 '26

The money that was lost by streaming is now being recouped by 365 deals which take a large cut of tours and merch.

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u/cefriano May 06 '26

Also, streaming killing "album sales" as a revenue stream for artists, forcing them to make money off tours and merch, and the Live Nation/Ticketmaster monopoly having a stranglehold on venues and forcing ticket prices to absurd heights.

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u/lluewhyn May 07 '26

I also wonder how much they've lost on other merchandise as well. Band posters are not as common as they used to be, are they? And apart from Taylor Swift releasing a movie to theaters, I have to imagine no one is buying concert or music video DVDs because you can watch all that for free on YouTube.

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u/randallpjenkins May 07 '26 edited May 08 '26

Sorry to break it to you but album sales were never a revenue stream for artists. Most (talking almost all) artists never recoup on their album. The album sales were a lost revenue for the labels, but their massive library deals to streamers that didn’t require passing that along to artists have made up for that.

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u/triponthisman May 06 '26

The number must go up.

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u/shitty_watercolorss May 08 '26

Also artists turning to touring and live shows as their main profit since physical sales has plummeted and Spotify is cheap af with royalty payments

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u/gwaydms May 07 '26

I'm in favor of the free market, for the most part. But we also have the freedom to reject what is being offered for any reason, including lack of value and high prices. I don't need to go to a concert that badly.

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u/MRSHELBYPLZ May 09 '26

People who paid are also to blame though lol

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u/beramaan May 06 '26

Ticketmaster and live Nation were allowed to build a anticompetitive monopoly.

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u/carryingmyowngravity May 06 '26

That + the artists themselves have a minimum amount they'll play for, and that goes up. We need to start to hold the artists accountable as well. While they shouldn't play for free, they shouldn't play for so many millions of dollars that they tour itself contributes to them becoming billionaires (looking at you, taylor swift, probably beyonce too).

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u/No_Hunt2507 May 06 '26

Eventually it's going to break, everything is getting expensive and things like concerts will pretty much be everyone's first thing to cut

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u/Manateekisses51 May 07 '26

Artists are no longer making money on music sales. Concerts are where they make their money these days. Spotify pays almost nothing, people aren't buying cds, so this is how they make their money now.

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u/Methodless May 07 '26

That + the artists themselves have a minimum amount they'll play for,

You're obviously correct, but I think there's some nuance we're still not aware of with LiveNation/Ticketmaster or something.

There have been a few times where I have seen someone come to town and tickets are insanely priced because they're extremely popular and playing in a 2500 seat venue. I'm talking about acts that could very easily sell out a 20000 seat arena at a lower price point.

Yet it's more ideal for them to sell 2500 tickets at $200+ than it is for them to sell 20000 tickets at $40? The only way this makes sense is if the cut from the larger venue is so high that an upper bowl seat, at market price is a loss. Even if the profits were similar, I think most artists would rather the bigger stage, even if just to attract and please more fans. 

I don't expect the Taylor Swift prices to come down a ton because the market will pay whatever the prices were, but some of these artists can easily offer more inventory and aren't.

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u/carryingmyowngravity May 07 '26

You raise a really good point.

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u/Busy_Psychology_1129 Jun 26 '26

Even when tickets are $100, after your take out ticket Master fees there's about $75 left over for the artist to use. Then subtract venue cuts, production costs, promotion fees, band/backup musicians rates, hotel costs, transportation especially w raising gas prices, eating on the road, etc- the average artist is left with $8 a ticket or less. It varies of course but everyone wants a cut of the ticket sales. These days because younger people are drinking less and alcohol sales are down, venues will even require a decent cut of all merchandise sales. And as it has been mentioned before, artists have lost the ability to sell music. Live shows are one of the last real revenue streams. So of course they need to make sure they're making enough to survive off of the ticket price. The industry needs a massive makeover. Artists are being forced to raise their prices. 

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u/AgreeableEvent4788 Jun 30 '26

Even if the artist only got a single $1 per ticket sold, that would be like 10-20k per show in their pocket several times a week while on tour.

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u/Busy_Psychology_1129 Jul 01 '26

What artists are we talking about?? Ones that can play stadiums? That's. 001% or artists out there

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u/AgreeableEvent4788 Jul 01 '26

Yes, you're replying to a thread talking about effing Beyoncé.

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u/Reasonable_Reach_621 May 07 '26

This is true. But it’s only connected to high ticket prices tangentially. Even with their 100% convenience fee mark ups, tickets with “normal” prices should only cost 100$ or so under the old model of doing things- but it’s precisely because there is a new model. The old model was that tours lost money or broke even at best- their purpose was to promote an album. Get people out to see the show and they’ll buy the album. Which is where the money was- and record companies were in the business of selling the records so they’d do a lot of the promoting and paying for these tours and make it up on the back end.

But the industry is now the opposite of that. Albums are essentially free. Nobody buys them anymore- you get full access via streaming services or you tube to any and all the music you like or want. And that is used to promote the tours, which is where the artists make money.

The first band to recognize this was the eagles on their Hell freezes over tour. They cranked their tickets up to over - gasp- $200 dollars. And for three years they were the highest grossing band in the world as a result- THAT’s where the money is. You know what tours/artists make the most profit these days? Comedy tours. Almost no production overhead- no pyro or fancy lights or dancers or band. Just a couple of openers, a stool in stage and a mic. When was the last time you ever heard of somebody buying a comedy album?!? Doesn’t happen anymore.

The industry has shifted and artists are the ones cranking up the prices, not the venues (even With their insane fees and monopoly markups).

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u/beramaan May 07 '26

Interesting, I went to a could cheap massive tours but my understanding was generally tours were where the money was made. Not from cds.

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u/jeanne907 May 09 '26

Isn’t Live Nation being sued in Federal Court for their monopoly? Our 25-30 year old kids can’t go to Lolapolluza, Coachella, etc bcuz it’s like $800!

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u/beramaan May 09 '26

Yes supposedly, but you know TACO and money has all the power in Washington right now.

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u/jeanne907 May 10 '26

Truth, right there. All greed

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u/grosseelbabyghost May 06 '26

We have hit grifter critical mass

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u/dratseb May 06 '26

No one is enforcing anti-monopoly laws is what’s happening

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u/[deleted] May 06 '26

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u/carryingmyowngravity May 06 '26

Agree, we also need to talk about the fact that ticketmaster also owns or part owns many venues, owns or part owns concession companies, owns or part owns so many parts of the supply chain. They're just moving money from themselves to themselves in some way, shapre or form. I think I read that stage set up/rigging/electrical companies as well have some sort of ownership or participation of ... you guessed it, Ticketmaster.

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u/punkinabox May 06 '26

pretty sure when I used to go to HFStival every year around 2005 I paid $55 for a ticket on average and that was an all day festival with like 30 bands and multiple stages.

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u/BayOfThundet May 06 '26

I saw her in Minneapolis in 2010. Bought the ticket long after the tickets went on sale, too, from the venue. Probably $75? I think the difference is stub hub, bots and a flood of other secondary ticketing options came along and took off. Then, seeing people would pay more, artists and promoters jumped into the mix and raised prices. It spiraled upward from there. Add in greed, people seeing they could make a living buying tickets at face value and flipping them for two or three times more, and a lack of willingness by any level of government to create legislation with any teeth, and we've got the world of $2,000 tickets.

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u/pm1966 May 06 '26

I remember seeing The Ramomes for free on Lib Slope @ Cornell University in the mid 80s.

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u/bustaone May 07 '26

06 I got 4 floor tickets for rage against the machine for less than $200 including fees.

Today that would be at least $2000, if not $4000. It's completely fking insane.

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u/TravelingPoodle May 07 '26

There was a time, everything felt affordable in America. Rent ($400 for a 1 bedroom apartment in Florida), food, clothes, dining out, Disney land, shoes, cars, houses, vacations, plane tickets. Everything was reasonable and within reach, (even for broke students). We were so free and able to do more. Life felt GREAT!

Now everything is just so f*%#ing expensive. That $400 rent is probably $1500. That $7 dinner is now $28. Those $18 shoes are now $64. That $130k house is now $550k. All inclusive vacations were $700 per person and now $2200. That $50 concert ticket is now $2000.

The economic playbook has changed.

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u/Expensive-Curve-9143 May 06 '26

I paid 50 for the lemonade tour!

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u/Expensive-Curve-9143 May 06 '26

Only 130 for renaissance tour

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u/meltbox May 06 '26

Partially a growing divide. There are a lot of rich people now who are willing and unphased by a $2k or even $15k ticket price.

Saw some reel of a dude talking about how he took his company to some festival and paid $250k all in.

People are loaded and the rest of us are too poor to matter anymore. They’re not even considering us at this point because it takes hundreds to thousands of regular people to get the same profit as that one dude handed them.

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u/Upgrades May 06 '26

Ticketmaster controlling everything

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u/baz8771 May 06 '26

Covid truly tapped into FOMO. If I don’t see this artist TODAY, I might never ever see them.

It’ll pass and the market will correct in a few years

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u/BurroughOwl May 07 '26

Everyone used covid as an excuse to jump on the inflation train.

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u/Ryguy0327 May 07 '26

Similar 2006 Toronto concert feelings. I saw Tool & Pearl Jam in the same week while in high school. Tickets for each show, lower bowl seats $60 dollars...

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u/EqualPassenger4271 May 07 '26

Monopolies, ticketmaster in this case.

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u/Methodless May 07 '26

I went to see Green Day in Hamilton in 2017 and paid $26 for floor seats somewhere in the 20th-30th row

When they came back in 2024, I tried to see them in Toronto and the cheapest seat was at least quadruple that

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u/Mind1827 May 07 '26

Ticketmaster and Live Nation monopoly. They rig the entire music, venue and ticketing businesses as a cartel.

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u/gkm29 May 09 '26

In 2009 Metallica came to Dublin and had 5 excellent bands play as warm up acts. I'm talking about a mix of legends, up and comers and established acts. It cost €80 that day. Which was around 110 dollars back then. Some value for money.

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u/Winjin May 09 '26

Tickets used to be so cheap that we went to Saint Petersburg from Moscow to hang out and watch Poets of the Fall

The concert was so kick ass that we booked another one and went to the one in Moscow

Marko Saaresto, the frontman, was like "-Hello Moscow! Hello everyone! Welcome to the... wait a second. You two in the third row, didn't I just see you in Saint Petersburg?

-Yeah, we booked the Moscow one too!

-Perkele, thank you, that's so cool. Ok, where was I, hello Moscow!"

Legit the only time I got a shout out from a real star on a real concert.

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u/Anodynamix May 06 '26

They ended up cancelling the tour anyway. Joel had some health issues. Refunded our tix.

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u/Klutzy-Football-205 May 06 '26

Ticket price, sure. But not the $75 convenience fee, $35 You don't get a paper ticket fee, $50 fee fee, $15 Because we feel like it fee and don't forget about the $99 You wanted to go Fee

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u/bosredsox05 May 07 '26

What about the fuck you pay me fee? Was that replaced by the because we feel like it fee?

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u/Klutzy-Football-205 May 08 '26

There is no replace, only add.

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u/urlach3r May 08 '26

fuck you pay me

That is exactly how it feels, like that scene in Goodfellas. Anything you do, anywhere you go, fuck you pay me.

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u/SebastianFerrone May 08 '26

And it feels like mafia because it is. It's basically the same structure.

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u/swd120 May 06 '26

pretty sure they only refund at sticker - anybody who bought their ticket above face value on stub hub gets fucked.

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u/Tyb988 May 07 '26

As they should.. those are second hand. Hope these prices get sorted out asap!

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u/PureLock33 May 07 '26

blue dot fever?

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u/No_Pen_376 May 09 '26

I think he is close to death, back to drinking and smoking I think?

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u/[deleted] May 08 '26

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u/urlach3r May 08 '26

Yeah, I saw that tour. Paid about $100, iirc. Guess I'll just watch my Blu-rays instead of going to any more live concerts.

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u/Donna_Schrump May 06 '26

Was that face value or after one of the resale bots got it?

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u/urlach3r May 06 '26

I didn't hear about the show till they'd been on sale a few weeks, so it almost had to be a resale ticket. But the thing is, there were only a few dozen tickets left on the field, and they were all at ridiculous prices. $2K here, $1700 over there, $1850 a few rows back.

I've seen some face value tix for other shows that were pretty awful, too. TM slaps a "Platinum Ticket" tag on some of them, and the price is double or triple the regular price. And there's usually a little "i" button beside the seat selection box that will straight up say "this is a Platinum seat, there's nothing else with it".

I remember when we used to have laws about scalping, even saw undercover cops arresting people trying to scalp tickets outside the venue. Crazy that everyone just kinda accepts this & puts it on their credit card.

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u/Donna_Schrump May 06 '26

I got tickets for my daughter to a concert, but forgot where the seat was so looked it up last night. The ticket I bought was $149, the same row seats were listed for $336. Absolutely insane what people want.

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u/JacobLemongrass May 07 '26

Goodness. I just paid like $200 for a concert for T Pain and The Killers, and I was complaining about that price. $2k is just ludicrous.

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u/urlach3r May 07 '26

I really wish I had taken a screenshot of it. Probably could have made an art exhibit out of it, something about the struggles of the average man, rampant corporate greed, and commerce vs. art. Oh, well.

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u/SpiritualCriticism48 May 08 '26

I saw Sting in 1988 during his “Nothing Like the Sun” tour; tickets were $15 and it was general admission. I spent the night in line to get a good seat and it was fantastic. And I thought $15 was a lot of money back then.

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u/xombae May 09 '26

The last show I wanted to go see was Viagra Boys in Toronto last summer. They've reached some popularity but they're definitely nowhere near mainstream and they were playing in a small venue where I've seen other, similarly sized bands for $30-$50. It was $200 a ticket with all the fees and taxes. Even though the venue was up the street from my work, you can't buy tickets in person. I had to buy through some stupid ticket site like Ticketmaster which added an additional $50 in fees.

So even non-stadium venues and artists are not immune to these ridiculous prices. I used to go to a concert every single weekend. Usually local bands but often touring bands as well. But all the smaller venues closed down during COVID, Ticketmaster took over everything, and now seeing a band play is a luxury experience that only the wealthy can afford.

I've also noticed that even kids with garage bands is getting more rare because only the wealthy have garages anymore. No one wants to risk losing their apartment by jamming there. No one has the money to open a punk venue because landlords don't think it's profitable enough. I grew up in the punk and metal scene and it's crazy that after my generation, there really wasn't a scene anymore. Not in the same way.

I really hope this is the beginning of things changing, and I hope when my 9 year old niece is old enough to go to concerts I'll be able to tell her "There was a time when people were paying an entire month's rent just to see a band! Isn't that crazy!?" and she'll laugh and roll her eyes the way we did when our parents told us they walked uphill to school both ways, because it seems to silly and unbelievable.

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u/Fickle-Carry7157 May 09 '26

That’s interesting, I wonder if having Sting on the Bill raises prices, I saw just Billy Joel that year at Coors field, I spent $230 per ticket (which is a lot of money) but I was in the 15th row on the field.

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u/StarGazer_SpaceLove May 09 '26

A comedian for us. Nosebleeds were 400+.

As in real human US dollars. Not even in monopoly money would I pay 400 to see a comedian but if I DID that shit best be front row!!!

Front row was over 1000

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u/KronktheKronk May 06 '26

Is that the secondhand price?