In the past few weeks Cardiff has been blessed with a number of world famous acts all announcing that they will soon be coming to perform in the capital. When one checks the TicketMaster website, the list of blockbuster names coming to Cardiff is astonishing; from the ‘first lady of music’ Beyonce to The Streets to recent Grammy award sweeping artist Harry Styles to countless more (especially at the Y Plas & the Great Hall) - we are truly spoilt for choice. But, as any fan of music will no doubt ask themselves when they finally get to the front of the virtual queue to book, why are the tickets so expensive? Who has made them this expensive and why have they been allowed to do so?

To many, the first point of call would be to point the finger squarely at the platforms who sell them, the most famous of which being TicketMaster (subsidiary of LiveNation). Although this can largely be right (as many Swifties would agree I’m sure!), with LiveNation owning or being in an exclusive agreement with a quite frankly stupendous amount of music venues (estimated at 70% of music venues by CNBC in January 2023) - making it almost impossible for many artists to perform without them. It is important to note that people, artists and labels alike use these services for a reason - convenience.

The simple fact of the matter is that these companies are largely universal at this point, across many countries, languages, and genres; and using them is simple and effective. On top of that, the fact that these platforms can initially advertise the cost of tickets at a much lower rate than their true cost (making up this gap by adding on fees during the buying process) - means that they can be blamed instead of artists, as many don’t want to take the heat of advertising their baseline tickets at a huge price. On top of that, TicketMaster was forced to admit only in 2019 that they had indeed helped artists “scalp” tickets - the practice of allocating tickets to be resold at a higher price on the ‘resale’ market. Truly squeezing every last penny out of each consumer.

So what does this mean for the average joe? Well according to Time Magazine in 2022, concert tickets have almost tripled since the mid 90s. Add that to the current cost of living crisis where each pound stretches thinner and thinner for most of us, it is no wonder why consumers are being priced out.

But what about the artists themselves? Well in the past few months the likes of Easy Life, Little Simz and more have cancelled their US tours due to the sheer financial burden it would give. Although there are artists like the 1975 who vow to keep their concert tickets low enough to be accessible to fans of all backgrounds, it is important to note that they are a financial juggernaut (on top of having pricey merchandise as covered in their concert review last Gair Rhydd issue), and for many artists, who are already feeling the holes in their pockets, they have no choice but to raise ticket prices.

Therefore, ticket prices are not a quick solution issue, to make them affordable again will take solutions from all parties involved. Unfortunately though it appears many of the big players who could help solve this, actually have zero incentive to do anything.

TicketMaster was forced to admit only in 2019 that they had indeed helped artists “scalp” tickets