Imagine you’re in a massive crowd, tens of thousands of people, all screaming as your favorite band starts playing the song you’ve waited years to hear live. It’s a magical moment — unforgettable. But getting to that moment today has become incredibly difficult and expensive. Why are concert tickets so pricey? And why is it so hard to get your hands on them? Let’s break down the complex reasons behind the rising costs and ticket-buying nightmares that music fans face today.

The Rising Cost of Concert Tickets: A Steady Climb

Concert ticket prices have been climbing steadily over the last two decades. In 2000, the average ticket price for top music tours was just around $40. By 2019, it had jumped to about $92, and in 2023, it reached an average of nearly $123. For the biggest tours, like those of mega-stars such as Taylor Swift or Beyoncé, average prices can even exceed $150 per ticket.

This increase is much faster than inflation, meaning that tickets aren’t just getting more expensive because of rising costs in the economy, but for other reasons too. A big part of this is demand. More people than ever want to see their favorite artists live, and there simply aren’t enough shows or seats to meet that demand.

High Demand Meets Limited Supply

Millions of people want to attend concerts for popular artists, but venues only hold a limited number of people. For example, a venue might have a capacity of 13,000 seats, but only a fraction of those are ever available to the general public.

Why? Because many tickets are reserved for presales and special groups, such as:

• VIP guests
  
• Corporate sponsors
  
• Music industry insiders
  
• Credit card reward holders
  
• Fan clubs
  

Oftentimes, these presales will capture between 30 to 65 percent of all the tickets available for a show, so that when general sales become available, there is little to no tickets remaining. This severely restricts how many tickets you will be able to purchase at face value.

The Ticketing Companies’ Role and the Problem of Monopoly

One behemoth corporation, Live Nation, controls the largest concert promoter and the leading ticket platform, Ticketmaster. This grants them profound influence over ticket sales, who receives them, and how much they pay.

Live Nation has sole deals with most venues and performers, so any other ticket retailer can’t compete. The U.S. Department of Justice is getting ready to file an antitrust suit against them, charging the company with being a monopolist.

With one company holding so many tickets, there’s not much competition to drive prices down or make the buying process better.

Fees and Hidden Costs: The Extra Charges You Don’t Expect

Have you ever noticed that the ticket price you see at first isn’t the price you pay at checkout? That’s because ticketing platforms add service fees, processing fees, delivery fees, and more. According to a 2018 government report, these fees make up about 27 percent of the total cost of a ticket on average.

So, a $100 ticket might cost you $127 or more by the time you’re done paying. These fees are often not fully transparent until the final purchase steps, making the true price a surprise to many buyers.

The Nightmare of Buying Tickets: Bots, Scalpers, and Resellers

Even if you’re willing to pay high prices, getting tickets in the first place can be a frustrating experience.

When tickets go on sale, millions of fans rush to buy them at once. This floods ticketing websites like Ticketmaster, causing:

• Website crashes
• Virtual waiting rooms that last hours
• Error messages preventing purchase
  

At the same time, bots — automated software used by professional resellers — race to snap up large numbers of tickets before real fans can buy them. These scalpers then resell the tickets at enormous markups on secondary markets like StubHub or SeatGeek.

For example, tickets originally sold for $50 to $400 can resell for thousands of dollars. At Taylor Swift’s 2023 Eras Tour, some resale tickets went as high as $200,000 — enough to pay for a private college education!

The companies try to fight bots with systems like Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program, which requires pre-registration and tries to weed out bots. But scalpers are resourceful — they create thousands of fake accounts, use multiple devices, and buy presale access codes to beat the system.

Why Artists Don’t Just Raise Prices to Match Resale

You might think artists could solve this problem by simply raising ticket prices on the primary market to match what scalpers charge. That way, scalpers wouldn’t have much profit margin, and fans could buy directly without paying inflated resale prices.

However, many artists don’t want to upset their fans with sky-high prices, and there’s a natural limit to what people are willing or able to pay. Charging too much risks alienating their audience or creating backlash.

Moreover, some artists want to give as many fans as possible a chance to attend. So they often keep ticket prices “fair,” even if that means scalpers swoop in and make massive profits.

The Lottery System: Fair But Not Foolproof

To try and be fair, many big concerts use a lottery system where fans enter for a chance to buy tickets. But lotteries are tricky — scalpers can still enter with multiple accounts, and enforcing fair ticket distribution is hard, especially when sellers operate across different states or countries.

What Could Help Fix the Problem?

• More transparency: Fans rarely know how many tickets are held back or sold in presales. More openness would help identify where tickets go and prevent unfair withholding. 
• Better regulation: Stronger enforcement against scalpers using bots and limits on resale prices could protect fans. Some states have started capping resale markups, but nationwide laws are limited. 
• More shows and bigger venues: Increasing supply by adding more dates or expanding venues can help meet demand. However, this isn’t always feasible for artists or venues. 
• New technologies: Blockchain ticketing and other innovations aim to stop scalpers and improve fairness, but they are still emerging.
  

Why Fans Keep Paying

Despite the hassles and costs, fans keep buying tickets because live concerts offer a unique, shared experience. Seeing your favorite artist perform in person creates memories no streaming service can replace. For many, the magic of live music is worth the premium price.

| Also Read: Do Concert Tickets Get Cheaper Closer to the Date?

In Summary

Concert tickets are expensive because of a perfect storm of factors: soaring demand for popular artists, limited supply of seats, monopolistic control by ticket companies, hidden fees, and professional scalpers using advanced tools. Although attempts are made to protect genuine fans, the system is still stacked against them.

As fans, knowing why tickets cost so much and the challenges behind the scenes can help us understand the landscape, and push for changes that make live music more accessible and fair for everyone.