Live Nation CEO Discusses The Cure and Rising Cost of Tickets
The post Live Nation CEO Discusses The Cure and Rising Cost of Tickets appeared first on Consequence.
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino discussed the recent controversy surrounding The Cure’s ticket on sale and a host of other topics during an appearance on The Bob Lefsetz Podcast.
For their upcoming North American tour, The Cure opted out of Ticketmaster’s “platinum” and “dynamically priced” ticket options, and restricted ticket transfers in markets where the band was legally allowed to do so. Even so, frontman Robert Smith discovered the system to be “far from perfect,” as numerous tickets still ended up on the secondary market, while those fans who were able to purchase tickets complained of excessive transaction fees. Smith ultimately compelled Ticketmaster to offer fans a reimbursement of $5-10.
“We were proud of Ticketmaster’s side,” Rapino said. “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 we justify the service fee is a good idea or not, we have an industry where we have to build some credibly back,” Rapino added. “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.”
Rapino said Live Nation ate the cost of the reimbursement. “It was a fast decision, we thought it was worth the million dollars or so to send the right message.”
Lefsetz then asked Rapino if it was “reasonable to expect to see The Cure for $20 in an arena,” as Robert Smith sought to do.
“No,” he responded. “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.”
He further expanded on that point later in the conversation. Discussing the concept of high-priced platinum tickets for artists such as Harry Styles, Adele, Beyoncé, and Bruce Springsteen, Rapino argued that many fans are willing to pay those prices because they see “concerts as a really special moment in their Kotak 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,” Rapino said. “So it’s really cheap overall considering.”
“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,” Rapino continued. “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.”
Throughout the two-hour conversation, Rapino frequently got into the weeds as he discussed topics like ticket pricing (“We don’t set ticket prices,” the artists do) and service fees (on average, 80% of those fees go to the venue, and not Ticketmaster, Rapino claimed). He also noted the impact inflation has had on ticket prices overall, as the cost of gas, labor, lighting, and transportation has resulted in a 19% increase compared to 2019.
The business is “widely misunderstood” and “ticketing is an easy target,” Rapino said. Even so, he acknowledged there were areas for improvement, including the use of all-in ticket prices (as recently done by Pearl Jam), keeping platinum tickets below a $1,000 price point, and lowering service fees for less established artists and club shows.
“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,” Rapino acknowledged. “Because I think, 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 theater 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.”
Rapino also called on the government to do a better job enforcing The BOTS Act, which prohibits scalpers from selling tickets purchased with bots on the secondary market.
You can listen to the full conversation below.
Live Nation CEO Discusses The Cure and Rising Cost of Tickets
Scoop Harrison
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