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Comment by asdasdsddd | Hacker News Reader

> Artists pretend their tickets are affordable, Ticketmaster pretends they're fighting scalpers while giving kickbacks to artists, and fans pretend they won't pay whatever it takes to get in.

this is very well put

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>fans pretend they won't pay whatever it takes to get in.

Uh, no, I've abandoned multiple carts after seeing the final ticket price with hidden fees is 175% the advertised price. Those shows didn't end up selling out, either, they just left revenue sitting on the table. Entire live entertainment industry would be double digit % larger if the ticketing experience wasn't uniquely dogshit

Never seen it in Europe, visited concerts in dozen countries. There are some platform fees, but let's say 5% or at most 10%.

That is why it was cheaper to buy a flight, hotel, and ticket to see Taylor Swift in Paris than to buy tickets to any show in the US.

It's generally like that for any vacation really: if you're an American, it's probably cheaper to book a flight and go to Europe for 2 weeks than to spend that time in America, unless you just spend your vacation time sitting at home. Hotels and restaurants are all absurdly overpriced in America these days, compared to Europe, so unless your vacation time is extremely short, the flight cost will be more than compensated for after a few days.

Apparently 20% in the U.K.: https://www.which.co.uk/policy-and-insight/article/which-cal...

Also a problem down under: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-16/dynamic-pricing-hidde...

Sadly, didn't visit any concert in UK, so couldn't include that datapoint in my anecdote.

The UK article (from March this year) says the law was about to change to require clearer pricing

Yep, it's the same here in Japan.

‘Murica!

Oh me too, I've abandoned several ticket purchases just because the entire experience was so unpleasant and required signing up for extra layers of crap along the way.

It's just part of the ongoing Sovietization of America. An illegitimate monopoly actor propped up by a decayed legal system. Are we having fun ?

Well, you're not really a fan then, huh?

Joking aside, for every you (or two you's), there's another person willing to shell out. Ticketmaster doesn't really care whether a venue is at 30% or 100% capacity so long as the artists and venue are happy, and fans keep buying tickets at a sustainable clip. Hell, they likely prefer a lower attendance so staffing costs are lower.

This is a bit like skiing now: I've accepted it's just an activity for the addicted or the rich.

This fan broke the concert habit about 10 years ago when it really started getting out of hand; I’ve only been to local, relatively small venues since. $80-100 is my cutoff.

don't forget the venue is likely also owned by ticketmaster and is all part of the game too.

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