When Live Music Became a Luxury Good
Seeing your favourite artist used to be a rite of passage, but now it can cost more than a month's rent. Over the past decade, live concert prices have risen far above inflation or wage growth. What was once an occasional outing has now become a luxury good. In 2024, the average concert ticket cost $135.92 USD, up from $25.8 in 1996, which is $47.48 today. (USA Today, 2025).
At first glance, this surge in prices appears to be a result of the laws of supply and demand as fan bases grow and chase limited seats. However, under closer inspection, the rise in concert prices results from a fundamental shift in how music is monetized, the consolidation of market power, and the introduction of new pricing mechanisms.
The Decline of Recorded Music Revenues
Let's set the stage. Back in the late 20th century, recorded music sales were the backbone of the music industry, generating the bulk of an artist's income. On the other hand, live concerts were primarily a way to market and promote records and new albums. However, this system quickly collapsed with the rise of the digital revolution.
The introduction of streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music dramatically reduced the amount of revenue artists earn per song. After platform fees, artists earned roughly 0.004 cents per stream, far less than the revenue they would make per record sale, which was around 10% to 25% (Soundcamps, 2026). Despite consumption reaching record highs, most artists find it hard to make a living from music streaming revenues alone. Economically, streaming operates as a two-sided market: platforms serve both listeners and artists but capture most of the revenue surplus for themselves. Music became more accessible than ever while becoming less profitable for those who make it.
As concerts became the substitute for recorded music sales, raising ticket prices became essential to stay profitable. In 2024, the top 100 touring artists in North America generated $6.1 billion USD, a 3% increase from the previous year (Pollstar, 2024). This upward pressure on prices is also because live performances can’t be automated. Although performances have made strides towards efficiency through automation of immersive visual effects, sound, and lighting-enhancement, the limits of automation are still present. A live concert requires the same number of hours and musicians as it did decades ago, while wages, venue rent and production costs have all increased over time. This is what economists refer to as Baumol’s Cost Disease, affecting industries where productivity cannot increase at the same rate as rising costs and inflation. As artists continue to rely on concerts for income, fans have to bear the rising costs.
Ticketing Platforms and the Rise of Market Power
The modern concert economy’s defining moment is the monopolization of ticketing power. Founded in 1976, Ticketmaster was a trailblazer in making the ticketing process more efficient by introducing computerized ticketing systems. Under Former CEO Fred Rosen, Ticketmaster offered venues financial incentives to use its ticketing services exclusively, shutting out competitors. Over time, Ticketmaster raised service fees and acquired rival platforms such as Ticketron, allowing them to control more than 80% of the market (The New York Times, 2025). The consolidation culminated in 2009 when Ticketmaster merged with Live Nation to form Live Nation Entertainment. This was a significant turning point in the music industry as Live Nation Entertainment became vertically integrated. Not only did it control ticketing, but also promotion, artist management and venue partnerships. This “flywheel” business model allows the firm to extract revenue at every stage of the process without relying on external suppliers. In May 2024, the US Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit in the Southern District of New York for Live Nation Entertainment for maintaining an unlawful monopoly through “exclusive venue contracts, bundling, and retaliatory conduct (Reuters, 2024).” If successful, Live Nation will be forced to sell Ticketmaster.
After Live Nation Entertainment weakened its competition, prices stopped being disciplined by the market. Ticket fees (often hidden until checkout) began averaging 27% of ticket face value (U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2018). These fees serve as a form of price obfuscation, making it hard for consumers to compare costs across ticketing platforms and thereby reducing backlash against price hikes.
Demand for concerts is highly inelastic for fans, as seeing their favourite artists live offers a unique experience that cannot be fully substituted. Tours are limited in time and carry emotional weight for devoted fans worldwide. When demand is this inelastic, firms maximize profit not by increasing output, but by raising prices until consumers reach their breaking point. Fans are increasingly frustrated by rising prices that neither reflect rising costs nor even demand, but are a flaw in the economy.
Resale Markets and Dynamic Pricing
If primary ticket prices spark outrage, the secondary market pours fuel on the fire. StubHub was one of the first and most popular online ticket resale platforms. Resale prices on the site often range from 15% to 122% above face value, and in 2024, average prices more than doubled the original ticket cost (CBC, 2024).
Let's take one of the best culturally relevant examples, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, where tickets originally priced at $210 USD resold for over $3,800 USD (Business Insider, 2024). In the ticket resale model, sellers set the resale prices, but platforms also profit handsomely. StubHub collects approximately 31% of each transaction by charging both buyers and sellers (TickPick, 2023). The surplus again flows to intermediaries, and artists don't get any profit from the inflated price. After widespread backlash over rising resale costs, in 2024, the UK said it would “make it illegal to resell tickets for concerts, theatre, comedy, sports and other live events for more than their original face value (CBC, 2024).”
Artists, frustrated by missing out on resale profits from markets like StubHub, introduced dynamic pricing as a corrective measure. Ticket prices now fluctuate with demand, theoretically allowing artists to capture value that would otherwise go to scalpers. In practice, dynamic pricing functions as algorithmic price discrimination, setting prices based on consumer behaviour and demand signals. Nevertheless, dynamic prices fail to account for automated ticket-buying bots that purchase underpriced tickets early and resell them when demand is high.
The Cost of Pricing Fans Out
By the end of this transformation, the consequences are clear. Live music has become less accessible and transformed into a luxury good. Concert prices did not rise simply because demand increased but because the monetization of music shifted, competition eroded, and fans tested their devotion by determining the maximum price they would pay.
The story of live music isn’t over yet; there's an encore. The unfair factors driving prices up are drawing scrutiny from regulators, artists, and fans. Live music offers something unique: a collective experience. As long as that value exists, so does the incentive to design systems that sustain it. With that being said, it’s time to scavenge for some “reasonably” priced Bruno Mars tickets. Wish me luck!
Sources:
ASCAP. (n.d.). Music and money: Recording artist royalties. ASCAP. https://www.ascap.com/help/music-business-101/money-recording
Business Insider. (2024). Average Resale Price for Taylor Swift Eras Tour Ticket Was $3,801 https://www.businessinsider.com/resale-price-taylor-swift-eras-tour-reputation-ticket-pitchfork-report-2023-8
CBC. (2024). U.K. government moves to ban inflated resale of tickets for entertainment and sports events. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/ticket-scalping-ban-government-britain-9.6984915
Pollstar. (2024). 2024 business analysis. https://news.pollstar.com/2024/12/13/2024bizanalysis/
Reuters. (2024). The Live Nation litigation minefield: lessons from a legal crossroads for the live entertainment industry and beyond. https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/live-nation-litigation-minefield-lessons-legal-crossroads-live-entertainment--pracin-2025-12-03/
Soundcamps. (2026). Spotify royalties calculator https://soundcamps.com/spotify-royalties-calculator/
The New York Times. (2025). U.S. Sues Ticketmaster Over Claims of Illegal Resale Tactics https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/business/ticketmaster-ftc-suit.html
The U.S. Department of Justice. (2025). Justice Department Sues Live Nation-Ticketmaster for Monopolizing Markets Across the Live Concert Industry https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-live-nation-ticketmaster-monopolizing-markets-across-live-concert
TickPick. (2023). Stubhub Fees - The Truth About Buyer and Seller Fees https://www.tickpick.com/blog/stubhub-buyer-seller-fees/
U.S. Government Accountability Office. (2018). Event Ticket Sales: Market Characteristics and Consumer Protection Issues https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-18-347
USA Today. (2025). Concert ticket prices surge as demand for live music skyrockets https://www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2025/04/04/concert-ticket-prices-surge/82676231007/