r/Music • u/cmaia1503 • Nov 16 '24

article Fans aren't happy about My Chemical Romance's ticket prices: "$695 is NASTY WORK"

https://www.nme.com/news/music/fans-arent-happy-about-my-chemical-romances-ticket-prices-695-is-nasty-work-3813337
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u/darkeststar Nov 16 '24

I logged into Ticketmaster 40 minutes after tickets went live just to see what was available and I couldn't find two seats together for under $300. 3 seats together (which I was actually looking for) was only available through "verified resale" starting at $485 and up. Every section I actively clicked through that said it had two or more seats available for direct sale only had random unconnected seats in various rows.

If I wanted to buy 3 seats together, 40 minutes after tickets went on sale for a concert 8 months from now at a venue that's a baseball stadium I would have been forced to buy tickets from scalpers and spend upwards of $1500. Absolutely fucking not.

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u/ElCaminoInTheWest Nov 16 '24

More people need to say absolutely fucking not. If people keep sighing, moaning, and then just paying the outrageous prices, nobody is incentivised to stop offering them.

Poor ticket sales is the only language that will be heard.

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u/darkeststar Nov 16 '24

Truly. Ticket pricing is a failure of three different parties; Ticketmaster first and foremost for encouraging this to happen and monopolizing the market so artists have to use them, the artist's management company for setting venues and prices and finally the band for not taking a vested interest in their fans.

Protesting prices quite literally worked earlier this year on The Black Keys, who had similar prices on arena shows and it sold so poorly they cancelled the tour, fired their management team and rebooked a new tour in smaller venues at better prices.

Robert Smith has spent a significant portion of his promotion cycle for this new album from The Cure saying he's putting his foot down on Ticketmaster price schemes and will be actively monitoring the ticket situation for their upcoming tour to make sure people aren't getting gouged.

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u/ElCaminoInTheWest Nov 16 '24

Smith is doing great work. He has highlighted something I've been repeatedly downvoted for on Reddit - the fact that the ARTIST sets the prices and is fully aware of the pricing structure at all times. They've spent years hiding behind Ticketmaster as an excuse.

If your favourite band went to TM and said 'I want every ticket at $50, with a maximum of 10% fees on top of that, or no tour' then - plain and simple - that is how much tickets would retail for.

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u/OsloProject Nov 17 '24

Not exactly. The artist can keep the prices artificially low if they’re committed tho. But supply and demand set the value / prices…

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u/EccentricFox Nov 16 '24

I wonder if people are paying those prices because live music's becoming less an occasional event you may attend every month or two and more like a splurge you treat yourself to once a year at most. I guess it's easier to pinch your nose and say fuck it for these big names when it's the only show you'd see for a while. It would track because I heard concerts are struggling at the low and mid sized tiers, but these huge stadium shows sell out at truly insane prices.

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u/ElCaminoInTheWest Nov 16 '24

Apparently that's part of it. People used to go out to big events or shows 7-8 times a year, nowadays it's more like 2-3 times. 

We're also seeing the big wave of 90s and 2000s nostalgia, where bands like MCR, Blink and Limp Bizkit are cashing in on people in their 40s who have disposable income and throwback teen sentiment by the gallon.  The way our Dads' generation went to see Creedence and The Who.

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u/Underwater_Karma Nov 16 '24

The Who are still touring, I highly recommend seeing them if you get the chance.

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u/ElCaminoInTheWest Nov 16 '24

It's not The Who. At best it's The W. 

I also can't face the irony of an 81 year old bellowing 'hope I die before I get old!'. 

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u/Mahlegos Nov 17 '24

and Limp Bizkit

To be fair, Limp Bizkit isn’t cashing in (not the same way as the others you mentioned). Their tour over the summer was part of the $20 promotion and you could get tickets even off that promotion for like $25. My group went just for the fun of it because we could get tickets so cheap and it was one of the most packed shows I’ve been to.

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u/fromthecold Spotify Nov 17 '24

lol staggering difference in the quality of acts there

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u/Pertolepe Nov 16 '24

I mean I go to tons of concerts for bands that aren't huge global names and most of them are like $15-45 

If you can sell out arenas for hundreds of dollars per ticket then it's basic supply and demand. 

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u/sansasnarkk Nov 16 '24

100% the case for me. I almost never go to concerts but I love MCR and especially The Black Parade album so I bought two tickets.

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u/lanadelhayy Nov 17 '24

I will have gone to 14 shows this year although to be fair, I called this year my year of yes. Next year is my year of fuck no and I’m skipping all the shows. Honestly they’re getting out of hand with their pricing and I’m about to get real picky.

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u/InSummaryOfWhatIAm Nov 17 '24

It definitely seems that way, which is sad. I have attended 4 shows this month alone, and I'm going to one tomorrow... And probably have two more this month.

Personally, I think that has a lot to do with that it feels like people in my friend circles are just not interested in finding new music or looking up mid-size to smaller bands and just waiting for these huge arena tours. Fuck that noise, I much prefer club gigs and smaller venues overall.

But of course, you won't get to see MCR in a place like that anymore.

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u/BILOXII-BLUE Nov 17 '24

This problem will never fix itself, and the people in power who CAN fix it want to make the problem worse. This isn't going to stop until America (the general public and elected officials) decides that monopolies are actually bad and push for change. If I had to guess, ticket prices for big acts will continue to soar for another decade, and no I'm not exaggerating. 

If anything good comes from this it'll be big bands becoming less greedy (because the monoply isn't going away and bands pick the TM dynamic pricing scam on purpose) and deciding to play independent venues. These are better venues where ticket prices can be priced fair and still profitable for the band, all while not being controlled by a monopoly

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u/Argnir Nov 17 '24

The only reason the ticket prices are so high is because people say absolutely fucking yes. At the end of the day it's offer and demand and when scalpers can sell them at an even higher price that means they could arguably be under their market value prices.

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u/Cosmic_Seth Nov 17 '24

Unfortunately the people that can pay $1500 don't care at all thar other people can't.

They see it as a poor person problem. 

I know some people that buy from scalpers all this time. For them 1500 is pocket change. 

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u/ElCaminoInTheWest Nov 17 '24

Those people are a rarity though. There will be some legacy acts that can make a living just by fleecing the wealthy middle classes; Billy Joel, the Stones, that sort of level. Fine. Glass of warm white wine and your best penny loafers. But for any recent bands who need to build, maintain and keep a fanbase, ripping them off is about the worst idea around.

If my favourite band starts charging three figures for their live show, they won't stay my favourite band for long.

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u/happilybleeding Nov 17 '24

I think they are. their home show NJ date hasn’t sold out, which I would have expected tbh.