Live Nation Entertainment boss Michael Rapino stated the ticketing business was “widely misunderstood” and an “easy target” for these sad with pricing points, but additionally admitted work was wanted to “build some credibility back.”
Live Nation’s Ticketmaster division is one of many firms which many blame for dynamic pricing and hidden “junk fees.” Those actions, amongst others, are the topic of latest laws being developed by the U.S. authorities – and Live Nation beforehand introduced its assist for that work.
“I do think as an industry, we probably do have to absorb a bit better and think a little smarter at what is the add-on fee,” Rapino informed the Bob Lefsetz Podcast. “I don’t think it’s justified probably at every ticket price point. At Live Nation, we’ll look at the lower-end ticket prices in the theater and clubs and say, ‘Can we scale them back and make sure [there’s] a defendable fee on a service, on a ticket price?’ It’s been too easy to add a dollar to the service fee.”
He stated that latest value will increase have been related to a 19 p.c bounce in Live Nation’s present manufacturing prices together with gas, employees and staging gear. He additionally stated round 80 p.c of service charges went to venues reasonably than Ticketmaster itself.
Citing the instance of the Cure frontman Robert Smith’s fightback towards sky-high charges, which noticed Ticketmaster paying refunds to followers, Rapino argued: “We did a ton of work with Robert, making sure
were non-transferable, that it would be a face value [ticket] exchange and verified, doing all we could to put all the roadblocks to deliver his ticket prices to the fans.” He stated of the loss related to the refunds: “It was a fast decision, we thought it was worth the million dollars or so to send the right message … It doesn’t matter whether justifying the service fee is a good idea or not – we have an industry where we have to build some credibility back.”
But whereas he accepted that prices ought to be cleaned out in smaller venues, Rapino asserted that when it got here to large-scale reveals that includes world-class artists, Live Nation operated in an business that might “charge a bit more.” “I’m not saying excessively, but it’s a great two-hour performance,” he explained. “That happens once every three, four years… You don’t have to underprice yourself.”
He added: “This is a great, great product that people will buy, as they’re gonna buy the Gucci bag. They’re gonna buy moments in life where they will step up, and spoil themselves – the big screen TV and or whatever it may be.”
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