Live Nation has published a blog post hitting out at the allegation that the market dominance of the live music giant and its ticketing division Ticketmaster is responsible for high ticket prices. Promoters and ticketing companies are not responsible for ticket pricing, it insists. It's all the fault of venues, artists and secondary ticketing platforms. Though not the Live Nation-managed venues, artists and secondary ticketing platforms presumably.
The ticketing business remains in the political spotlight in the US. Various grievances have been raised about the way ticketing works, some of which results in specific criticism of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, and the 2010 merger that brought the two companies into one business.
"In the ongoing antitrust attacks on Live Nation and Ticketmaster, a constant theme is that their alleged 'monopolies' are responsible for high ticket prices", writes Live Nation's EVP Corporate And Regulatory Affairs Dan Wall. "Rhetorically, that’s understandable, because if you want to rile up fans against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, there is no better way than to blame them for something you know fans dislike".
However, "statements to the effect that Live Nation and Ticketmaster 'keep ticket prices high' are just flat wrong", he reckons. "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".
The intention of Wall's blog post is clear in the context of the ongoing political debate around ticketing in the US, and Live Nation's efforts to steer that debate to the specific issues which, if addressed, will have the least impact on its business.
Although it is also true that some of the criticism of the ticketing business in general - or Live Nation and Ticketmaster in particular - is based on a misunderstanding of how the live music sector works. To that end, Wall sets out the respective roles of artists, management, promoters, venues and ticket agents in the planning and delivery of tours.
Among other things, he insists that it is unfair to describe the fees added to a ticket purchase as "junk fees", that being a term favoured by US President Joe Biden. "Service charges are added to the face value of concert tickets", he explains, "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".
Of course, some criticism of the service fees actually relates to the industry practice of listing them separately to the ticket price, especially if the extra costs are only declared late in the transaction. Live Nation does support all-in pricing, so that the full cost of the ticket is declared upfront in marketing and on ticketing websites.
Wall's point, though, is - even if the industry was to fully hide the extra service fees from the customer, bundling everything into one ticket price - those fees would still need to be charged, because that's how the venues and ticketing companies get paid.
As for who dictates pricing, Wall insists that - while promoters and ticketing companies obviously have to cover their costs and secure a profit margin - artists and venues have more influence when setting ticket prices and service fees respectively.
"Tickets are actually priced by artists and [their] teams”, he says. “It’s their show, they get to decide what it costs to get in”. And "the venue decides on the service fees". Not only that, the artist gets most of the ticket money and the venue most of the fees.
Perhaps remembering that the Live Nation group also includes artist and venue management divisions, Wall is also keen to stress that any increase in ticket prices in the live sector, especially around the biggest tours and shows, isn't the fault of artists and venues either. Other economic factors are the cause.
Concerts have become premiere “experience goods", which increases production costs. And for the biggest acts who sell out every show, it's mainly the result of supply and demand. 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.
Hang on a second though, doesn't Ticketmaster still run its own secondary ticketing sites in the US? Yes, it does. Although, in the recent political debates around ticketing, Live Nation does seem generally willing to accept more regulation of ticket resale if it means its core business avoids the interference of lawmakers. Though, in the ideal world, it would be helpful if everyone could just blame the labels and the streaming services for all this. As usual.
"Artists have also become more dependent on touring income over the last 25 years - the factor that Alan Krueger, who served as the Chairman of President Barack Obama’s Council Of Economic Advisers, cited as 'the primary reason why concert prices have risen so much since the late 1990s'", Wall states.
"This is the direct result of a precipitous decline in the value of recorded music when streaming - and unauthorised duplication - led to drastically lower record sales, which in turn led record companies to withdraw from their traditional role [of] bankrolling touring", he goes on. "In that environment, concerts could no longer be loss leaders to sell albums. They became the artist’s principal source of income and priced accordingly".
If you want a quick summary of how the US live business works - or maybe just some insight into Live Nation's currently lobbying position - you can read Wall's blog post at the link below.
Hannah Rubin