Joe GallopThe world’s largest concert promoter, Live Nation Entertainment (LNE), has claimed promoters and ticketing companies – including its Ticketmaster division – are not responsible for increasing ticket prices.
In response to US politicians discussing the ticketing sector, Live Nation’s EVP corporate and regulatory affairs Dan Wall insisted that “tickets are actually priced by artists and [their] teams”, and “the venue decides on the service fees”. Wall also blamed secondary ticketing platforms for the rise in prices.
In a recent blog post responding to the ongoing “antitrust attacks” on the company, Wall said, “Statements to the effect that Live Nation and Ticketmaster ‘keep ticket prices high’ are just flat wrong. Anyone with a basic understanding of the industry knows this. Those who perpetuate this falsehood are cynical at best. They do a disservice to consumers and to rational political discourse.”
Wall said it is unfair to describe the fees added to a ticket purchase as ‘junk fees’, a term used by US politicians such as President Joe Biden. “Service charges are added to the face value of concert tickets because two important players in the concert ecosystem – venues and primary ticketing companies – get little or nothing out of the revenues derived from the ticket’s face value”.
Wall pointed out that artists get most of the ticket money and the venue most of the fees. He added that increases in ticket prices are not the fault of artists and venues, and is instead caused by other economic factors.
Wall also blamed supply and demand when it comes to biggest shows and said concerts have become premiere “experience goods”, which increases production costs. “High demand will push up the price, especially when artists see tickets going for hiked up prices on secondary ticketing sites, so that some tout benefits if they under-price their tickets,” he said.