5k to see a bootleg Tom Waits?
Ticketmaster have responded to complaints from gig-goers regarding their “dynamic pricing” model.
Last week, when tickets for Bruce Springsteen’s 2023 world tour dates went on sale, fans were asked to pay up to $5000 (£4152) for some tickets.
The model allows Ticketmaster to charge more for tickets when they first go on sale. The dynamic pricing system responds to demand and so increases or decreases prices in line with what “scalpers” – a person who re-sells a ticket for profit – would sell them for, keeping the money in-house for the seller and artist.
The system also sees increase with demand for certain “platinum tickets”, which are placed throughout each venue.
Ticketmaster defended the model saying that only 11.2 per cent of the Springsteen tickets sold were platinum, and only 1.3 per cent were $1000 (£830) or more. They also said the average price for a Springsteen ticket was $262 (£217).
As per Variety, it was reported that “Ticketmaster says [the most expensive tickets] represent only 11 per cent of the overall tickets sold. By the ticketing service’s calculations, that left the other 88.2 per cent of tickets sold at fixed prices that ranged from from $59.50 [£49.42] to $399 [£331] before added service fees.
“Ticketmaster further says that the average price of all tickets sold so far is $262 [£217.63], with 56 per cent being sold for under $200 [£166] face value…The service further broke down the percentages on the 56 per cent of tickets it says were sold for under $200 [£166]. It said that one per cent were sold under $99 [£82.23], 27 per cent went for between $100-150 [£83-124], and one per cent sold for between $150-200 [£124-166].”
In a statement, Ticketmaster added: “Prices and formats are consistent with industry standards for top performers”.
Earlier this month (July 14), Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band announced four UK tour dates in 2023.
The dates include shows at BT Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh on May 30 and Villa Park in Birmingham on June 16 along with two shows at BST Hyde Park in London on July 6 and 8.
Tickets went on sale last Thursday (July 21) and any remaining tickets can be purchased here.
The gigs, which will be The Boss’ first with the full E Street Band since 2017, are part of an extensive world tour that kicks off in the US between February 1 and April 14 before heading to Europe.
Tickets for the 2023 US arena gigs went on sale over the last two weeks and you can purchase tickets for the US dates here.
Springsteen has released two solo studio albums since he last toured with the group, ‘Western Stars’ (2019) and ‘Letter To You’ (2020).
In 2017 he began a lengthy concert residency at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York titled Springsteen On Broadway. That stint was turned into a Netflix special, and the singer-songwriter returned for an additional run at the St. James Theatre in 2021.
Last month saw Springsteen make a surprise appearance during Paul McCartney’s headline show at Glastonbury 2022. He played his own song ‘Glory Days’ and The Beatles‘ ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ alongside McCartney.
In the wake of an ongoing furor over “dynamic pricing” for Bruce Springsteen’s tour, Ticketmaster took the unusual step Sunday afternoon of releasing some statistics about costs and percentages for the dates that went on sale last week. Downplaying the number of controversial “platinum” tickets with variable prices that reached as high as $5,000 apiece on the first day of on-sales, Ticketmaster says those represent only 11.2% of the overall tickets sold.
By the ticketing service’s calculations, that left the other 88.2% of tickets sold at fixed prices that ranged from from $59.50 to $399 before added service fees.
Ticketmaster further says that the average price of all tickets sold so far is $262, with 56% being sold for under $200 face value.
Although the service does not dispute reports of tickets being priced through the platinum program for high as $4-5K, Ticketmaster is claiming that only 1.3% of total tickets so far have gone for more than $1,000.
Ticketmaster is releasing this information after five days’ worth of popular outrage over the priciest ducats, and in advance of a majority of cities on the tour going on sale later this week. On-sales for the 2023 U.S. tour are being staggered over 10 days, and the company has a big interest in making sure upset fans aren’t dissuaded by believing all the hundreds of thousands of tickets yet to go on sale will be sold for the amounts that have been making headlines.
The service further broke down the percentages on the 56% of tickets it says were sold for under $200. It said that 18% were sold under $99, 27% went for between $100-150, and 11% sold for between $150-200.
“Prices and formats are consistent with industry standards for top performers,” the company said in a statement.
Springsteen has not released any statements himself on the controversy. Both he and Ticketmaster have been under pressure to provide an explanation for the tickets that were priced in the four-figures, with the $5,000 figure being held up by some detractors as proof that the artist is not actually a “man of the people.”
Ticketmaster and the singer had previously not revealed any fixed costs for tickets, although fans quickly figured out that the first ones to get through the queue each day were able to buy in the $60-400 range… only to have those immediately snapped up, leaving the more exorbitantly priced ducats — with values inflated as much as 10 times the original value — as what most would-be buyers see when they log in.
Ticketmaster is highly unlikely to dump the “platinum” program that has proved so unpopular this week, designed as it is to devalue secondary ticketing sites like StubHub and put extra money in the hands of the artist and promoter. It did appear by the third day of on-sales Friday that caps were being put on the highest platinum values, as a survey of seating charts in different cities showed those tickets maxing out in the low-to-mid 2000s instead of $4,000-5000. But it’s also possible those seats were being priced lower in response to perceiving less heated demand after the huge surge of national interest the first day.
While there was speculation that the highest prices being disseminated were determined by an algorithm, sources say the dynamic pricing is not actually rooted in an algorithm but set by promoter pricing teams, which would explain some of the big differences in pricing for platinum tickets from city to city.
The majority of dates hit the market this Tuesday through Friday.
On Tuesday, shows go on sale for Washington, D.C., Baltimore, State College, Penn., Cleveland and Philadelphia, although the latter two are among the few shows on the tour not going through Ticketmaster. On Wednesday, Detroit goes on sale. On Thursday, tickets become available for Atlanta, Kansas City, Seattle, Milwaukee, Columbus and Buffalo.
On Friday, the two New York City dates — Madison Square Garden and Barclays Center — go on sale (with the latter Brooklyn show also not being handled by Ticketmaster). Also on sale Friday are the tour finale in Newark, NJ and a two-night stand in Belmont Park, NY.
You deserve to pay that much if you have shit taste in music.
Fuck everything about Bruce, and the turd street band, and Dicketmaster.
Yeah, this has nothing to do with leftist inflation, leftist policies(shutting down concerts for 2 yrs) and a commie leftist musician’s greedy ass!
Bruce Springsteen is a fucking bitch
Fuck them and fuck him.
“Dynamic Pricing” is basically Ticketmaster scalping their own tickets.
Springsteen goes along with it because he directly benefits.
All of his Beyond Meat eating fans are focusing their ire on the wrong party.
Springsteen and the E-Street geezers are all senior citizens. They’ll be dead sooner than later and are still very popular. Of course it is gonna take a mint to get them out of bed and on the road.
There is def. a bigger conversation to be had about how predatory the ticketing industry is, though. I have no problem with supply and demand. If Springsteen wants to charge $100,000 per ticket, go for it. Supply & Demand.
My issue with the industry is they make it very prohibitive for bands to go out on their own and sell their own tickets. So many venues are tied down with these ticket sellers that it is almost impossible to book your own independent tour.
Excellent video here breaking down what VTCO just said
TTTruth
Been going on forever. When I was young, Beck wanted out of the Ticketmaster scam, and to do one-rate general admission with first come, first serve seating. He couldn’t play the sparkling, brand new sports arena, and instead had the concert at a run-down basketball arena that once housed the local university team.
My ticket was $20, the place was sold out, and the concert was fucking amazing.
What sucks nowadays is even the smaller venues are controlled by a bunch of b-list ticket sellers like AXS and See Tickets.
So even acts not at the Springsteen level find it very hard to give their fans a break, because all these companies engage in their own shenanigans.
Like I said, I have no problem with Springsteen and Ticketmaster essentially going to war with resellers.
But a few companies that you can count on one hand having exclusive booking rights over almost all of the venues in the entire country is insane.
this
he sucks
Pearl Jam’s 10club might be the best option going right now. Granted its a lottery type system but it gives true fans the best possible shot at seeing the band without paying scalper prices.