Fans have been seeking comment on ticket prices
Bruce Springsteen has responded to fan complaints about the dynamic ticket prices for his forthcoming 2023 North American tour. His manager Jon Landau defends the premium pricing after many tickets soared beyond affordability for a singer who was thought to represent a man of the people.
“In pricing tickets for this tour, we looked carefully at what our peers have been doing. We chose prices that are lower than some and on par with others,” Landau tells the New York Times. “Regardless of the commentary about a modest number of tickets costing $1,000 or more, our true average ticket price has been in the mid-$200 range. I believe that in today’s environment, that is a fair price to see someone universally regarded as among the very greatest artists of his generation.”
Last week, fans shared their frustration with the ticketing company’s dynamic pricing system on social media after many first-sold tickets, which initially ranged from $60-$399 each, were fetching $4,000-5,000 each during the on sale. Dates for seven US shows went on sale last week with many fans complaining about the cost of tickets. Ticketmaster offers “platinum tickets” with “dynamic pricing” to curve supply and demand. The Live Nation-owned company says the process is “similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold.”
Over the weekend, Springsteen’s camp allowed Ticketmaster to release numbers about the sales. They state that 88.2% of the tickets sold so far have sold at fixed prices between $59.50 and $399 before taxes and fees. They also share that the average ticket price is $262 and 56% are being sold for less than $200 each.
The company doesn’t dispute that tickets were sold as high as $5,000. They claim only 11.2% of overall tickets on the first day of on-sales reached that high. Furthermore, they claim only 1.3% of total ticket sales so far have surpassed $1,000 each.
“Prices and formats are consistent with industry standards for top performers,” the company shared on Sunday (July 24th). “Promoters and artist representatives set pricing strategy and price range parameters on all tickets, including dynamic and fixed price points. When there are far more people who want to attend an event than there are tickets available, prices go up.”
The remaining dates are on sale this week. Despite the controversy, Ticketmaster confirms that 90,000 people were in the queue on Tuesday morning seeking seats for a show in Philadelphia. The trek is Springsteen’s first US outing since 2016.
Last week, US Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. of New Jersey, called on Ticketmaster to adjust its policies to be more fan friendly in response to the ticket prices. The Congressman calls the controversy “the latest scandal from the greedy ticket monopoly” after ticket prices were not revealed before going on sale last week.
Pascrell has been a leader in Congress calling for regulation of the opaque live events ticket market. Pascrell was an early critic of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger, and repeatedly urged the Obama administration to reject it, warning that the union would crush competition and harm consumers. In May 2018, Pascrell wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times on his attempts to impose greater positive regulation on the broken live events ticket market.
Ticketmaster’s practices have been under fire in the past resulting in class action suits over scalping and refunds of postponed shows, among others. In November, Harry Styles fans lashed out at Ticketmaster over high ticket prices, long queue times, and constant system errors.
