Why are concert tickets so expensive now?

Although money is flooding into the live music industry, that wealth isn’t evenly distributed. The cost-of-living crisis is making touring expensive and legacy acts are thriving, while grassroots venues and artists are struggling 

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, live music will generate a record £1.63 billion this year in the UK alone. It isn’t slowing either, with the number expected to reach £1.95 billion by 2027. 

Record-breaking sums paint a picture of a flourishing live music industry, but that’s just one side of the story. On the flip side, there are tales of soaring ticket prices discrediting the figures and smaller venues battling to keep their doors open.

In October this year, Bruce Springsteen announced his 2024 World Tour. A “front pitch standing” ticket costs £174, while a “rear pitch standing” ticket costs £131.15.

It isn’t just The Boss demanding inflated sums. Take That’s 2024 This Life On Tour will set you back £82.50 for a standing ticket and you should expect to pay more for the privilege of a seat.

When Glastonbury 2024 tickets sold out in under an hour on November 19, the £355 plus a £5 booking fee didn't deter music lovers.

Truth be told, it's amiss to single out any event, because the price of gig tickets has skyrocketed on the whole.

So what has happened to ticket prices? We spoke to Dave Lewis, managing director of DJL Events. For over 35 years, he’s masterminded the logistics of the country's biggest shows.

Whether you're watching a legend make their swan song on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, or you have the hottest tickets in town next year for Taylor Swift at Anfield, he'll have had a significant hand in setting the stage.

When asked how long it takes to set up such shows, he says, "It differs from gig to gig. Glastonbury is a couple of months on site. Taylor Swift at Anfield will take two weeks on site, then two to three days' stage load in and the same for production."

“For a festival, you're building a small town.” When pressed on what that entails, he cites an extensive checklist, including everything from paying for planning permission to plumbing and “miles and miles of steel shield fence.”

He concludes: “That’s before you even get to the performances. Then you have maybe a couple of hundred artic lorries with light, sound, TV, stage, etc."

A live set is just the tip of the iceberg in the grand scheme of putting on a concert. Understanding the time frame and workload behind the scenes helps to explain ticket prices, especially in the current climate.

The rising fuel costs for the artic lorries, the soaring price of electricity for lights, paying the hardworking crew in line with inflation—it adds up, and ticket sales subsidise the ever-growing outgoings.

There's no denying that ticket prices are high, but evidence suggests this price rise is more of a reflection of the cost of living as opposed to greedy artists.

With streaming decimating music sales, live music is now a leading source of income for performers. So, on top of adapting to the higher cost of putting on a show, artists also look to profit from the tried-and-true source.

Reports by Bloomberg in October 2023 declared that Taylor Swift had reached billionaire status. The breakdown showed that $370 million came from concert tickets and merchandise, while $80 million came from music sales. It’s not all bad for household name artists then.

While established artists thrive, there’s a stark disparity for smaller acts. The Music Venue Trust revealed that 127 grassroots venues have closed down since last summer—a very troubling figure.

In further research, they conceded that 68 per cent of the British public said the cost of living had reduced the number of gigs they had gone to in 2023—an observation shared by Ian Forster, technical manager of Hare & Hounds and Castle & Falcon in Birmingham.

"We have a cost-of-living crisis that is forcing people to choose between leisure and necessities," he says. "It has a massive knock-on effect; venues need bands, bands need crowds, and it costs money to be a part of that crowd, which is currently in very short supply.”

Households face tighter finances, meaning music lovers can’t attend gigs in the same frequency as before. As people opt for the home comforts of legacy acts, it’s the lesser-known acts that feel the brunt. 

But the music ecosystem relies on growth. Traditionally, grassroots venues are the breeding ground for the next stadium acts. If we keep losing smaller venues at the same rate, there will be no acts to fill the stadiums once legacy acts hang up their microphones.

The stadium-filling acts need to leave the door open for new artists to carry the baton. Helping raise their profile through support slots at their big shows could hold the key.

Meanwhile for cash-strapped fans, a simple share on social media for an unsigned act's gig could help the artist more than you think.

Over and above that, change needs to come from the top, even further up than the influence of The Boss or Swiftie.

As Sir Paul McCartney, Ellie Rowsell of Wolf Alice and more famous names become patrons of the Music Venue Trust, there are acknowledgements that things need to change.

Nonetheless, high ticket costs are a sign of the times. As the world faces crippling costs, we can only speculate what comes next.

But from the delta blues to punk, today's dominant musical movements often have roots in hard times.

As disenchanted music lovers question whether to turn the heating on or go to a show, such angst has power. Maybe the power to create an unstoppable musical movement that will pack out venues of all capacities.