In a brand new interview with Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. of Rock Interview Collection, BUCKCHERRY frontman Josh Todd spoke concerning the rising costs of live performance tickets. Based on current report by Pollstar, live performance tickets have seen an total 27.38% improve in value since 2019. This knowledge additionally showcases a worldwide improve 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 value 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 a whole lot of {dollars} for a typical live performance ticket, Todd responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “When folks 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 special stage. So I do not know what to say about that. However I do know that AC/DC needs to be compensated for what they’ve put into the sport and what they’ve delivered. And so they’re wonderful reside, they’ve an incredible historical past, and paying no matter to go see them, I believe, is a good suggestion, if we’re talking nearly AC/DC. However aside from that — I do not know — we’re at a special 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 trade. Bruce mentioned on the time: “Properly, two issues. One, it relies upon what the present is and form 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 obtained little interest in paying 1,200 {dollars} to go and see U2 within the sphere — none. 100 bucks, possibly. However for me, what’s necessary is to try to hold, on the one hand, the correct kind of tickets on the proper worth. So by that I imply the correct kind of tickets, I imply, the tickets which might be in entrance of the stage, which all people says needs to be the most costly tickets. Truly, no, they need to be probably the most moderately 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 children, individuals who cannot afford the loopy cash, however they’re the folks that want to be down the entrance; they’re the folks which might be gonna hold this music alive. And you then get the folks that they may be followers, however they wanna convey their spouse they usually 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 choose, 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 could be no exhibits. The promoters have in some way gotta make their a refund. So, it is a delicate steadiness, however typically, ticket costs have gone by means of the roof. And a number of the ticket costs that individuals pay, nicely, a number of the costs folks pay, for me, it is insane. I might by no means pay that worth, however then once more, I am in all probability not a fan of that exact artist. People who find themselves, possibly they assume it is value it. I imply, actually with my exhibits, we have all the time tried to maintain the ticket costs throughout the regular, regular boundaries. And the identical with MAIDEN.”
Based on Stay Nation, 151 million folks attended certainly one of its exhibits in 2024 — a 50% improve in live performance attendance in comparison with 2019.
In the meantime, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ client worth index knowledge confirmed that admission to films, theaters and concert events jumped 20% since 2021.
Among the elevated value in relation to live performance tickets is because of dynamic pricing — the tactic of elevating costs the extra folks 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 exhibits in 2024, and most deliberate to see extra in 2025.
The survey of greater than 1,000 music followers discovered that just about 36% mentioned they’d spend $100 to $499 on live performance tickets in 2025, whereas greater than 17% deliberate to spend as much as $1,000.
