Bruce Springsteen fanzine to quit after 43 years due to ticket prices

A Bruce Springsteen fanzine is set to close after 43 years, naming ticket prices as one of the reasons for its demise.

Christopher Phillips, publisher and editor-in-chief of Backstreets magazine, which is dedicated to Springsteen and the E Street Band, said that the publication had “reached the end of the road”.

Phillips started at the magazine in 1993 at the age of 22 and thanked the editors that had gone before him since 1980, when the publication began. In a note, Phillips said: “As difficult as it is to call this the end, it’s even harder to imagine continuing without my whole heart in it.”

The editor was referring to the incident last summer which saw Springsteen tickets go for extortionate prices.

“If you read the editorial Backstreets published last summer in the aftermath of the US ticket sales, you have a sense of where our heads and hearts have been: dispirited, downhearted, and, yes, disillusioned,” the note continued.

“It’s not a feeling we’re at all accustomed to while anticipating a new Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band tour.”

Dynamic pricing was utilised for Springsteen’s 2023 tour, which saw even mid-floor tickets go for thousands of dollars. Dynamic pricing allows ticket prices to fluctuate in response to demand, and these tickets from Ticketmaster were called ‘platinum tickets’, and could be placed anywhere in the arena or venue.

Phillips added: “These are concerts that we can hardly afford; that many of our readers cannot afford; and that a good portion of our readership has lost interest in as a result.

“We hear and have every reason to believe that there will be changes to the pricing and ticket-buying experience when the next round of shows go on sale. We also know that enterprising fans may be able to take advantage of price drops when production holds are released in advance of a concert.

“Whatever the eventual asking price at showtime and whether an individual buyer finds it fair, we simply realised that we would not be able to cover this tour with the drive and sense of purpose with which we’ve operated continuously since 1980. That determination came with a quickening sense that we’d reached the end of an era.”