The Taylor Swift economy is unstoppable | Hacker News Reader

The Taylor Swift economy is unstoppable

bbc.com

31 pointshaunter9 comments

> The average ticket cost is $254 (£207)

Is this normal? That’s seems extortionate for a concert. Is this the new normal? I get that she is a superstar but a concert at this price must put it out of reach for so many young fans and fans on low incomes.

think it's become the new normal for these over the top mainstream artists. It's ridiculous. But those young fans ARE PAYING IT.

She's raking in the maximum money, like obscenely, before probably retiring and disappearing other than the odd ten year reunion or something. What she needs the money for who knows

It’s funny because her fans probably see her as a heroine but all I see is greed.

If you’re a fan of a popular artist you should probably expect to pay this. Not sure if that’s the case here but tickets are usually more affordable at first but then they get scalped instantly. It’s most of the reason I haven’t gone to a concert in recent years

TS recently caused Ticketmaster to crash because so many people were ordering and Ticketmaster couldn’t handle it. TS is huge

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2022/11/taylor-s...

Depends. Is that the actual ticket price or after scalping?

But, yes, that does seem to be where tickets now land. A quick look shows most bands I would want to see are all in the $150 range. And that's why I simply don't go to big concerts like these.

The issue is that music artists basically make zero money except touring and merch. I presume this is why people like Siouxsie Sioux are doing touring gigs with on the festival circuit. So, while I find the prices extortionate, I also don't fault the artists very much.

If scalpers can get that money, why shouldn't the artists just charge more?

Apparently there is some reason for them not to?

Taylor Swift and entourage seem to be freakin' marketing geniuses. I mean, she re-recorded and re-released a bunch of her early catalogue just so she could cut off the earlier record deal at the knees.

T-Swift and Co. don't leave money on the table. If they're letting scalpers pop the prices, they think that's the right thing to do.

The re-release felt more like a "screw you" to the record label that didn't want to negotiate, than a money grab. (But who knows what she really thought)

I really hope that TicketMaster and others annoy her as well - she's got the power to both work around them and is important enough to play at the arenas they have exclusive rights to. If there's any path to TicketMaster breaking down, apart from anti-monopoly regulation, it's someone like Swift getting pissed off.

Not that uncommon. I payed 180 euro for Metallica like 15 years ago. All the sport events seem to be at least $300 for a decent seat these days too.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com