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Higher ticket prices a ‘huge opportunity’ for Live Nation

Increasing ticket prices represents a “huge opportunity” for the bottom line of Live Nation, the company’s CEO Michael Rapino said recently, according to Market Watch.

Rapino’s suggestion that concert tickets are “an incredible bargain” for consumers in comparison with other entertainment options was echoed by the Ticketmaster parent company’s president, Joe Berchtold, Market Watch added.

Rapino’s comments were reportedly made to Liberty Media Corp investors in November, but have only just come to light in recent days.

The average ticket price for a top-100 worldwide tour concert has increased by 23% over the past five years to $96.17 in 2019, according to Pollstar.

However, while Berchtold acknowledged that big-name artists charge higher prices, “the vast majority of shows are very reasonably priced for fans”. Live Nation said that ticket prices for its amphitheatre concerts average $48.

Berchtold added that the secondary market is proof that concert tickets are too cheap. According to Market Watch, he added that one reason tickets are listed for below-market prices is that artists do not always know quite how much money is being captured by resellers.

They are “now [being] confronted with the reality that it’s very often not the fans benefiting from that lower price,” Berchtold said.