Imagine: you’ve just heard the news on the radio, seen it on TV, read it online—your favorite artist is coming to a city near you and you couldn’t be more excited that you finally have the chance to see them in concert!
After seeing that tickets go on sale the next day, you discuss going with your parents and then comes the dreaded question: “How much money will the tickets be?”
Living in the midst of a recession where the majority of today’s American families are just barely getting by financially with the nation’s unemployment rate at a high of 9.7% as of just June 6, 2010, going to a concert can seem undoable.
Even with pre-sales that usually start about a week before tickets actually go on sale to the general public, vendors for other ticket sites can be notorious for snatching up tickets and selling them for much more than they originally cost on the sites where they were originally sold.
“I think it’s unfair that you can’t really get a good enough seat for a fair amount of money because vendors are reselling tickets for higher prices,” said sophomore Ashley Garcia.
One major cause of what can determine a ticket price can be the demand for the artist’s concert and how many people are willing to go and see it.
According to Billboard.com, some top demand artists include Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, and John Mayer, who all attract many AHS students to their concert venue doors.
Even Swift herself has stated in a press release at the beginning of her tour in 2009 that she has affordable ticket prices awaiting fans for her concert: “I want to be sure that everyone has the opportunity to come see my show, so we have affordable tickets available for every date we do this year.”
But looking on a ticket website such as TicketMaster.com, would today’s middle class family really spend $99 for a ticket resold on a site such as StubHub that was originally supposed to be $25 for the highest seat in the venue? Some students agree that they would.
“If I wanted to see an artist who I really love and it was for a birthday or Christmas gift then I would want to go, even if I was far away because it would still be worth it,” said freshman Skye Lindberg.
Some sites can even be deceiving when they say that tickets sold in a pre-sale go for around $60 for a close, high demand seat, but are really even more expensive—$99 for the farthest away seat—when you actually access the pre-sale.
That price can even rise higher when about a week goes by and the general public finally has access to buying tickets as well.
So does the deception really allow for what can be very expensive ticket prices?
“I think ticket prices are high, but anything to make money right now people will do, and if you can get away with it then why not keep the prices high?” said freshman Jordan Martinez.
Others, however, like freshman Christina Uglietta, believe that concert prices are not too much to be able to afford in today’s world.
“I realize that all concerts are not as cheap, but I don’t think the prices are outrageous. You don’t have to go to them all the time but if you save up you can treat yourself to one really great concert,” Uglietta said. “After all, concerts aren’t a need, they’re a want.”
