The magic of live music can be described as a special and unparalleled experience. Seeing an artist or band perform a song you hold close to your heart can be extremely fulfilling and memorable.
With concert season approaching, prominent artists have begun selling tickets for their upcoming tours. Artists like The Weeknd, SZA & Kendrick Lamar, Katy Perry, Post Malone, Billie Eilish and more are preparing the summer legs of their tours for audiences to enjoy.
In the past few years, the conversation regarding purchasing a ticket online for a highly anticipated tour has changed. Economics professor, Dr. Kathryn Wilson, explains why the public has seen such a shift towards concert culture.
“It does seem to be the reason prices are so high is that a lot more people want to go to concerts,” Wilson said. “It really comes down to demand.”
She also discussed how a post COVID-19 world could be a factor as to why people are more inclined to attend costly concerts.
“We had that time when you couldn’t do that [attend concerts] and this is kind of a boomerang effect,” Wilson said. “What COVID may have done is change our views on things a little bit, where we are more willing to spend money on experiences because we went through a period where we didn’t have those.”
Expense breakdown
To start understanding the economics of concerts in simple terms, we have to think about the supply aspect, which refers to the restricted amount of tickets and seats that are available. The demand standpoint refers to the vast amount of fans wanting to attend these shows.
With popular artists that have millions of fans and concert venues that can only hold so many people, and depending on the tour may only put on a certain number of shows, leaves only a select amount of tickets available.
According to Wilson, another component as to why prices have become more costly are resellers.
In recent years purchasing concert tickets secondhand or from a third party online has become more common, changing how people can buy tickets.
“It used to be if you had to buy them from somebody on the secondhand market it was really expensive, now just getting them firsthand is expensive,” Wilson said.
She also explained that the ticketing websites fees are oftentimes what causes the price to be high. The original price of the ticket is just one expense, while the ticket’s fees are another.
“But people are willing to pay those prices,” Wilson said.
The question on everybody’s mind is whether or not ticket prices will continue to increase, or if they will eventually go back down. “We might see some other kind of substitute come along,” Wilson said, referring to artists like Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Olivia Rodrigo and Beyoncé who have done movies of their concerts.
“But I don’t know if sitting in the theater watching it is the same experience of being there in person watching it,” Wilson said.
Financial advice for students
Wilson also encourages students who want to attend expensive concerts to implement budgeting tactics and expense compromising to ensure they experience the events they want in a financially responsible way.
