Habits when buying concert tickets have undergone rapid change in recent years. No more queuing in stores to purchase a paper ticket designed for the occasion, which in many cases ended up hanging on the cork in the room. The long queues of fans who wait for hours at the entrance to the stage to rush it and get a place in the front row of the track are also disappearing. Internet sales and the consolidation of VIP areas and golden circles have put an end to these traditions and have replaced them with others, to which dynamic ticket payment and sales between individuals have now been added.
This new way of pricing tickets is responsible for the few tickets available in the week of February 20 to 26 for the concerts that Beyoncé and Madonna will give in Barcelona (in June and November, respectively) had prices higher than those announced. when they were put up for sale. In the case of Madonna, 793 euros were requested for a ticket that originally cost 226.50 euros. In the case of Beyoncé, a ticket of 63.50 euros was sold for 426 on Tuesday, February 21, and rose to 601.50 on Friday on the concert’s official website. In other recitals such as Björk’s (September 4 in Madrid), the differences are minor, although unusual situations occur, such as the coexistence in the same stands of the 141.50 euros of the original price and the 215.50 euros of a Platinum ticket, located just five rows ahead. The same thing happens at the Who concert in Barcelona (June 14), where this past Wednesday you could buy a stand ticket for 181.50 euros while two seats ahead there was a Platinum for 266.50 euros.
The implementation of the dynamic pricing system comes from the distributor Ticketmaster, the most important in the sector, although the decision to apply it corresponds to the artist. Although the format has been working for years, it had its first major controversy last summer when tickets for Bruce Springsteen’s tour that starts this Saturday in Portland (USA) went on sale. The application of dynamic prices shot up its price to over 4,000 euros, which caused a revolt among The Boss fans to the point of causing the closure of Backstreets, the fanzine that covered everything related to Springsteen. The publication thus expressed its disappointment at prices that it considered contrary to the ethical principles that its idol represents. “These are amounts that we can hardly pay,” they stated in their farewell editorial.
The protest did not serve, however, to modify the prices of the tickets, which this Wednesday reached 6,132 dollars for the concert in Denver, on March 2, or 5,624 for the one in Boston, on March 20. Of course, Springsteen offered his fans the possibility of returning the tickets already purchased.
“In the live music market, dynamic pricing began to be valued when resale and bots entered the scene,” explains Ana Valdovinos, general director of Ticketmaster Spain. With this method it is sought “that it be the promoter or the artist who controls the prices according to the demand, and not the speculators in the resale.” Its application, on the other hand, does not depend on an algorithm, “decisions are made by artists and promoters”, while the sales platform “is controlled by a team of professionals”. In this way, it is the promoter or the artist who determines variables such as the minimum or maximum price that this type of ticket can have.
The spread of the dynamic price has also had something to do with the impact of the covid in the live music industry, “one of the biggest victims”, as Ana Valdovinos recalls. “Many promoters have not yet been able to recover from the crisis, and it is true that the dynamic price, applied to some tickets, is a strategy that many are studying to face so many months without income.”
In practice, dynamic pricing is applied “especially when the demand for tickets greatly exceeds the available supply”. This happens “only in events with very high demand and between 5% and 7% of the venue”, explains Ana Valdovinos. Some scales that “from our experience” are similar in Spain to those of other European countries.
“This format has always existed, it has come to stay”, they affirm from the promoter Live Nation, and they remember that it is about the same logic that is applied in the sale of plane tickets or the reservation of hotel rooms. From the company they remember that the more expensive tickets as an event approaches is nothing new. They give the example of Cirque du Soleil, the well-known circus company, which has always used dynamic prices in the sale of its tickets. The dynamic payment modifies the price of certain tickets, the “most requested of an event”, adapting it to the demand, which generally means an increase in price as they disappear from the market. In addition to increasing revenue, this new payment model seeks to combat the resale that is practiced on websites such as Viagogo, “with which legally nothing can be done,” they lament from Live Nation.
In addition to Platinum tickets, Ticketmaster has long offered a verified resale option in the US, so fans who already have a seat can safely resell their seat. It is precisely this last option that is responsible for the highest prices at concerts, such as the $5,331 that they ask to attend Madonna’s show in Seattle on July 19, a figure that is significantly different from the $1,855 that is asked for a seat. Platinum in the same location. This format of sale between individuals is already present in Spain through the Fan to Fan option of Ticketmaster itself, which allows tickets already purchased for a concert to be put on sale at a new price, freely chosen by the ticket owner.
The implementation of this model has not yet been generalized in Spain, and some developers have ruled out applying it. For now, the last word rests with the artists, as explained in Dr. Music: “It is always the artist’s management who decides that this option is available for their concerts,” they affirm, and they point out that, “in the cases in which it is available , it is always a very low percentage of entries”.
Case apart are the vip passes, old acquaintances of regulars at concerts. This type of ticket does not have a variable price, and is characterized by adding new products or offers to the usual concert ticket. As they remember from Dr. Music, it is also “a very small percentage” of the tickets put up for sale, and its management always depends on the artist, “so each tour is treated individually, so much can be managed the artist from his own website and the promoter from his sales channel at the request of the artist”, they detail; “Each case may be different.”
In recent years, VIP proposals have multiplied and have gone from the classic preferential pass or the open bar to offering exclusive merchandising or photographs with the artists. Such is the case of the Nothing else matters snake pit experience offered by Metallica for their two concerts on July 12 and 14 at the WiZink Center in Madrid. For the modest price of 3,198 euros, the Californian band offers a meeting with two members of the quartet that includes a “group conversation” and a group photo on stage. In addition, the ticket entitles you to drinks and snacks, as well as a merchandising package that includes posters and commemorative tickets. All this, in addition to enjoying the concert in the Snake pit, a pit located in the center of the stage to which the Moth into flame experience also gives access for 579 euros, although only for one day and without meeting the band.
Of similar depth is Beyoncé’s offer for her concert in Barcelona. Of the nine VIP packs it offers, the most complete is the Pure/Honey on stage rivers front row experience. Behind such a contrived name is an entrance on the raised platforms located immediately in front of the main stage with private bathroom and bar service, yes, for a fee. An offer that is accompanied by an exclusive merchandising package, all for 2,943.50 euros, taxes and management fees included. And if the figure seems too expensive, you can always save almost 600 euros with the Pure/Honey on stage risers, which offers the same as the first pack, but remaining standing for 2,373 euros. Who doesn’t save is because they don’t want to.
