The Pop Corporation

Remember we wrote about the price of tickets and the wrath of pop fans? Well, seeing as “ticketmaster” has been trending on Twitter for around 4 months solidly this year, it’s obviously not a topic that is likely to cool any time soon. And we’re chucking some more kindling on the fire, because it’s worth talking about.

So, to Michael Rapino, the CEO of Live Nation.

He was on some podcast talking about the kerfuffle with the price of a ticket for The Cure. There was a whole spat and the band were trying to keep prices down, but booking fees and whatnot ramped the prices back up, and it all kicked off with Robert Smith taking to social media to lambast the whole sorry thing.

Smith said he was ‘sickened’ by everything and added that the whole thing was ‘a bit of a scam’. Ticketmaster responded to the hike in fees, but this whole situation is not going away because there’s been other bands touring since, and a lot of fans want someone to justify these prices because the ticketing companies are looking like crooks in their eyes.

Rapino said: “We were proud of Ticketmaster’s side – we did a ton of work with Robert, making sure [tickets] were non-transferable, that it would be a face value [ticket] exchange and verified, doing all we could to put all the roadblocks to deliver his ticket prices to the fans. There was a screenshot of a venue, which wasn’t even a Live Nation venue… that showed a ticket service fee of $20 on $20. It doesn’t matter whether justifying the service fee is a good idea or not, we have an industry where we have to build some credibility back.”

“I couldn’t defend in any version that we were going to add a $20 service fee to a $20 ticket. We made a decision that we would spend some money, give back the $10, and get it to a reasonable place for those fans.”

Blah blah, so far, so whatever. We know giant companies want to make a buck. That’s not news. The thing that needs answering is do these companies want to justify these prices by the work they do unseen, or do they just think it’s worth it and fans should suck it up?

Rapino continued, when asked if he thought it was reasonable to pay $20 to watch The Cure in an arena: “No – I think the pricing of concerts in general – there’s this fine line between, yes, we want it accessible, and it’s a fine art and there’s a price to it.” Prices should be higher in his eyes, because it’s a special occasion, and that fans are in fact willing to pay such prices, because they’re “a really special moment in their life.”

“It’s a magic moment, maybe twice a year – way cheaper than Disneyland, or the Super Bowl, or the NFL or the NBA playoffs, or an expensive night out,” he added. “This is a great, great product that people will buy, as they’re gonna buy the Gucci bag. They’re gonna buy moments in life where they will step up, and spoil themselves – the big screen TV and or whatever it may be.”

“This is a business where we can charge a bit more. I’m not saying excessively, but it’s a great two-hour performance of a lifetime, that happens once every three, four years in that market. You don’t have to underprice yourself — low to middle income [people] will make their way to that arena for that special night.”

It’s interesting that the notion of price is likened to something being special. A special night can be a £5 gig upstairs at a pub and a bag of shrooms, right? No need to gouge it for the occasion.

It’s natural to want to solely blame the big bad companies who act as pricey middle men, but obviously, the bands themselves have some questions that need to be answered. Rapino noted that the artists are those that actually set the prices. Add to this, that energy bills for venues and everything else is higher – everyone’s trying to make their money back and pay the staff and have a little on top, right?

This is where transparency would be incredibly useful. Just exactly where does all that money go? Fans will be more understanding if there’s a whole picture to look at, rather than gasping at seemingly arbitrary numbers added onto a ticket price which they thought would cover these costs, right?

Rapino adds: “I do think as an industry, we probably do have to absorb a bit better and think a little smarter at what is the add-on fee. I think, although it’s justified, I don’t think it’s justified probably at every ticket price point. At Live Nation, we’ll look at the lower end ticket prices in the theatre and clubs and say, can we also scale them back and make sure [there’s] a defendable fee on a service, on a ticket price. It’s been too easy to add a dollar to the service fee.”

Clearly, this is a complicated issue. Fans want a big spectacle, but want to know that their money is going on the things that make the show better, not simply lining an already wealthy person’s pockets. £10 might not seem like a lot to Michael Rapino, but then, he’s worth ‘at least’ $397 million.

Capitalism and rock music have always been uneasy bedfellows, and your local independent scene isn’t even playing the same sport as the likes of Kendrick, GaGa, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Eurovision, BTS, or whatever. However, it’s clear that the consumer is not happy and things need to change. Will people vote with their feet?

We’re going to have to wait and see.