“Uneven cash flows – fans of big rock band furious after stadium tickets are slashed by 50% due to poor sales” https://t.ly/hCCx2
The music industry has historically been opaque. They tell you things that are not true. They say they’re adding more shows because the previous ones sold out, and you buy more tickets to resell, only to find out they lied, the previous ones didn’t sell out, and you can’t sell the tickets at anywhere near face value, or at all.
But things are changing, because of information.
Let’s start with the blue dots. Ticketmaster has a ton of information on their site. You can see which tickets are still available for sale, which tickets are available for resale, and when J.Lo canceled her tour, Ticketmaster had a sea of blue dots all over it and no one believed them.
But that’s not all. There are now Twitter sites that provide this information and more. We recommend following @underfacevalue and Ticket_Help2022. Insiders X will provide you with this information.
All we hear is that Ticketmaster is making tickets artificially expensive, and no one in government talks about supply and demand, but when it comes to restaurants…
You may not know about this controversy: People in New York City are reselling restaurant reservations, so much so that a law was passed to put a stop to the practice.
“Why it’s hard to get a reservation at New York’s most popular restaurants – a bill targeting bots and scalpers who prey on wealthy, desperate restaurant fans won’t necessarily make it easier to get a popular table.”
Free Link: https://t.ly/dCZaA
I love this headline from Bloomberg because it tells us exactly what insiders know about concert tickets that no one in government seems to know: Ticketmaster isn’t the problem, it’s supply and demand!
If you read this article, you’ll find that the average spend for dinner at these restaurants is between $100 and $150. But when musicians charge the same amount, people get infuriated. The same baby boomers who complain about Springsteen ticket prices have no qualms about paying this amount for dinner. What’s going on? Each is a fleeting experience, the concert may be a once-in-a-lifetime event, or the band may never come back to your town and you’ll never see them again.
But no one is policing concert-ticket scalping because scalpers are well organized and have powerful lobbying power, while restaurant reservations are just starting out.
Rising Brown University junior Alex Eisler made $100,000 selling restaurant reservations by working just 30 minutes to 2 hours a day. Nature abhors a vacuum. That’s why we have restaurant reservation scalpers and concert ticket scalpers. You’d think artists would charge what the tickets are worth, but they don’t. They’re afraid of being criticized. Why?
Speaking of Pearl Jam… this band broke out in the 90s. Their biggest fans are Gen Xers who are now in their 50s. They have the money, but ironically, they are the ones who are hesitant to pay for it.
But you could argue that Pearl Jam is more of an American band.
But it could also be said that promoters misjudged the market, as happened with The Black Keys and Jennifer Lopez. What happened yesterday doesn’t apply today.
All the shows were sold out yesterday. Demand has skyrocketed. Why not raise the price even more? Otherwise scalpers will be able to profit from the price difference.
But it turns out customers are saying no — these are the same customers who are finding food and other costs are much higher, despite endlessly hearing that the economy is thriving.
They are clutching the dollars.
So what we’re seeing is a price correction happening right before our eyes. And the public is noticing this. And no one wants to know they paid less for something the person right next to them bought. We’ve learned to accept this with airlines, but eventually we all hate the airlines that rigged the system with consolidation and lack of route competition. This is like Napster waiting to happen. And actually, airline prices are going down too. The post-COVID mania is over.
So what sells?
Noah Khan is a breakthrough artist. But how many people actually recognize him for who he is? He’s not an 80s MTV artist. Most people don’t even know his name. And in fact, despite being on the market for years, he’s still considered a new artist, leaving people to wonder if it’s worth spending all this money on him.
And if you run out of fuel and run out of your greatest hits…
Well, hopefully you’re playing in a shed with a cheap lawn space where the promoter has a source of income other than tickets. If you’re playing in an arena, good luck!
But since Taylor Swift’s show was sold out and parents couldn’t buy tickets for their kids, someone must be to blame.
The truth is, Swift was a genius. She sold out all of her US tickets in one go, creating a frenzy to ensure she stayed clean. Yes, the dirty secret of her last tour is that she didn’t sell out all of them. But when it comes to chaos… you don’t want to be left behind. And never underestimate the power of parents. They can be brutal when it comes to giving their kids what they want.
So what happens next?
That’s an interesting question.
As for the Universal Boomer Bands… they’re coming to an end and everyone is wondering if this is really the last time. But people have been speculating for years that this is the last. But these bands have been selling for astronomical prices for so long that the public is used to it and they are real superstars.
How many artists have reached the status of having the entire American public know their songs in the last 15 years? Absolutely not one. Period. But there are more people in America than ever before, and in a world where we all own the same devices, music is a uniquely visceral experience. So there are more passionate fans, and… no one is going to these shows on a whim. It’s too expensive.
And why do festivals keep getting cancelled? Are they too expensive, the lineups too uninspiring, or both?
Sometimes you lower the price and people still don’t want to come.
So, if you’re planning a tour right now… the data is just coming in. You may find that you play shows and don’t make as much money, or you play shows and they sell out and you wish you’d played bigger buildings and charged more.
What does the government think about this? It’s nowhere to be found.
A correction is happening. The good old days are gone. Will new good days come?
Well, I thought that after classical music was over, everyone would go to smaller venues, but stadiums are happening more than ever before. The audiences are smaller, but they’re incredibly diverse.
Herein lies the essence of concert promotion: nothing is guaranteed, it’s a gamble. AI can’t tell you. Data only means so much. It’s a gut decision. And great music is just as instinctive.
But at the end of the day, people just don’t want to pay as much as they have for the past two years to see most artists. How much of this is down to the performance of the artists? How much of it is down to the economy? How much of it is down to the status of the music?
Let’s ask the government. Ha!
