This week, the large story within the music world is the best way that Ticketmaster hellaciously bungled the pre-sales for Taylor Swift’s coming Eras tour. In releasing tickets early to “verified fans” and Capital One cardholders, Ticketmaster left patrons ready for hours in glitchy on-line cues after which, when their numbers got here up, gave them mere seconds to purchase their tickets. When followers did get an opportunity to purchase these tickets, they had been usually astronomically costly — within the hundreds, because of Ticketmaster’s out-of-control “dynamic pricing” mannequin. That complete boondoggle has led to lawmakers calling to interrupt up Ticketmaster’s efficient monopoly and to Ticketmaster itself cancelling the general-public sale of these Taylor tickets. It’s an infuriating mess.
Taylor Swift isn’t the one large star who might be hitting North American stadiums this summer season, and he or she’s not the one one who has come underneath fireplace for permitting Ticketmaster to go loopy with dynamic pricing. Just a few months in the past, tickets went on sale for Bruce Springsteen’s 2023 tour with the E Street Band, and a few of these tickets price upwards of $5,000. Ticketmaster has defended these costs, arguing that “prices and formats are consistent with industry standards for top performers.” Now, Springsteen himself has responded.
In a latest Rolling Stone interview, Springsteen mainly mentioned that he thinks it’s time for him and his band to receives a commission — or, at the least, to keep away from undercutting themselves by charging much less for tickets than their contemporaries. Here’s what he mentioned:
What I do is a quite simple factor. I inform my guys, “Go out and see what everybody else is doing. Let’s charge a little less.” That’s usually the instructions. They exit and set it up. For the previous 49 years or nonetheless lengthy we’ve been taking part in, we’ve just about been on the market underneath market worth. I’ve loved that. It’s been nice for the followers.
This time I instructed them, “Hey, we’re 73 years old. The guys are there. I want to do what everybody else is doing, my peers.” So that’s what occurred. That’s what they did [laughs].
But ticket shopping for has gotten very complicated, not only for the followers, however for the artists additionally. And the underside line is that almost all of our tickets are completely reasonably priced. They’re in that reasonably priced vary. We have these tickets which are going to go for that [higher] value someplace anyway. The ticket dealer or somebody goes to be taking that cash. I’m going, “Hey, why shouldn’t that money go to the guys that are going to be up there sweating three hours a night for it?”
It created a possibility for that to happen. And so at that time, we went for it. I do know it was unpopular with some followers. But if there’s any complaints on the best way out, you may have your a refund.
When the author Andy Greene asks Springsteen whether or not he’ll keep away from dynamic pricing sooner or later, Springsteen had this to say:
I don’t know. I feel sooner or later, we’ll be speaking about it, after all [laughs]. It modifications from tour to tour. We might be coming again. I’m positive we’ll be taking part in outdoors considerably. That’ll be a complete different dialogue when that comes round. I don’t need to say something now, however we’ll see what occurs.
Taylor Swift has but to handle her personal ticket brouhaha. UPDATE: OK, now she’s addressed it.