Concert ticket resellers like StubHub, Vivid and SeatGeek make tens of millions of dollars each year at the expense of fans, artists and venues, according to a new study by the National Independent Talent Organization (NITO).
NITO and the organizations it joined to form the FixTheTix coalition are concerned that most consumers can only spend so much on concert tickets each year. So when tickets are bought and sold at a higher price by predatory resellers, consumers can afford to attend fewer concerts, which hurts fans, artists and venues.
Main findings
Ticket resellers averaged a cumulative profit of $41,000 per show across the 65 shows analyzed by NITO and charged fans an average of twice the original ticket price.
The study found that at an arena show in New York City, 1,053 tickets were sold at an average price 712% higher than the average face value. Collectively, resellers benefited and fans overpaid $936,351.00 in this unique program.
NITO also documented multiple cases of tickets being sold at ten times the original price. One ticket sold for $1,014.49 when the average face price was just $79.55.
Confused consumers
Consumers are so confused by the information they find online and the entire ticketing process that they often pay more for a ticket than they need. NITO found many tickets sold by secondary sellers at inflated prices for shows where they were still available from the primary ticket seller.
According to NITO, this confusion is amplified by resellers’ use of deceptive search engine optimization and paid placements within searches that prioritize secondary entry listings over the primary seller.
Is there a solution?
The study found that when the resale of concert tickets is regulated, fans can better understand who the primary ticket seller is and use face value ticket exchanges between fans to buy tickets at the price the artist intended
While NITO ultimately calls for federal regulations that put more control in the hands of the artist, some states are already taking steps to limit the resale of predatory concert tickets.
At a Cure show in California, where resale restrictions are allowed, the number of tickets sold and reseller profits were 92% to 99% lower than in New York, Illinois and Colorado, which did not allow restrictions on resale.
Bruce Houghton is the founder and publisher of Hypebot, a senior advisor to BandsintownPresident of the Skyline Artists Agencyalready Berklee College of Music teacher
Bruce Houghton on 07/13/2023 in Live & Touring | Permalink | Comments (0)
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