Yeah, until the internet you had a harder time reselling tickets and it was far less obvious how many tickets were being resold. Maybe 25% of the tickets were being scalped but how would you know for sure? These days it’s trivial to go on the reseller sites and see a map of seats for resale and appreciate the scale of it all. Hell, Ticketmaster now lets you resell your tickets directly through them and puts them on the same ticket map as the traditional tickets when you go to buy.
I’ve seen a few articles that claimed the reason was because the bands didn’t want to get blamed by the fans for the high prices. I’m sure that wasn’t the entire reason, though. I’m certain that the flip from concerts being a way to promote album sales to being a major source of income had an effect too.
Some were sold in person at the event. But a lot were sold via the " a friend of a friend of a friend knows a guy who always has tickets" route.
Yep. I paid $30/ticket last year to attend The Damned’s 40th anniversary tour. Shirts were $20 and there was other swag that was easily bringing more money than the actual band.
The opening band (Bleached) had merchandise as well, but didn’t have anyone at their table to take my money. The lady at The Damned’s table wouldn’t sell their stuff for them, because it was like that every night and she was tired of babysitting them. She was genuinely concerned that they were missing out on an opportunity to actually make a decent living. Bleached is an amazing live act but they’re gonna starve if they don’t monetize their talents just a little bit.
Screaming guitars with the occasional runaway improv solos, rowdy but friendly crowds, beer, peculiar cigarettes, cops unwelcome and unnecessary…yes, such concerts do exist, but not so much among the arena bands.
When I was a youngster, my buddies and I saw every major act that came to town. Ticket prices were $6.50 for the likes of Kiss, Bad Company, ZZ Top, Yes, Lynyrd Skynyrd, etc.
Then, Rod Stewart was announced with ticket prices starting at $9.50. We pissed and moaned about highway robbery for weeks (though we still ponied up the cash and went).
Yeah, that was a couple years ago 
mmm
I think it was a combination of two factors. The main one is that artists didn’t want to be perceived as greedy, so the ticket prices were kept low. But once the ticket prices were raised, there wasn’t much negative fallout, so everybody raised prices very quickly.
Another factor is that, pre-internet, I don’t know how clear it was exactly how much scalpers were selling tickets for and what the price points should be.
In 1969 I saw the Rolling Stones on the tour where they were breaking in Mick Taylor. Cost: $7.50.
Oh yeah, and the opening acts were Terry Reid and B.B. King.
Sorry, just reminiscing…
I wonder too if pricing a concert “where it should be” is harder than you’d expect. If you set up a tour in advance of a new album and the album has a lukewarm reception then fewer people want to pay to see you perform it live. Maybe there’s an incentive to price it lower and fill the house than to price it “where it should be” (though you don’t really know that yet) and risk playing to half-empty venues.
I agree with a lot of the reasons listed (artists not wanting to be perceived as greedy, not so much of an easy resale route pre-internet). I think one other thing is that the business model has changed a little bit. One of the key points of touring back in the day was to promote a new album. But in the modern age, I don’t think that actual record/download sales are as lucrative as they used to be and touring has to some extent replaced the revenue stream for a lot of bands (not to mention which, a lot of the classic rock artists aren’t really recording so much these days).
In my anecdotal experience, 1990 was about when prices jumped enough for me to go from “I go to concerts all the time” to “I go to 1 or 2 concerts a year.”
In ‘91, I paid $40 to see ZZ Top, and though I enjoyed the show, I thought it was ridiculously overpriced.
I don’t remember the exact year, but there was a Springsteen show at Comiskey Park in the early to mid ‘00s that I was interested in. Tickets started at $200! So there was a big jump in there somewhere that I missed because I was already going to fewer shows. Concerts just aren’t on my list of entertainment options anymore, simply because of the cost.
While maybe not the most satisfying answer, I think “Because They Can” is probably the must accurate. Whenever a conversation arises regarding what any particular thing is “worth,” my answer is always “whatever someone is willing to pay for it.”
Ive heard a few interviews with Jimmy Koplik, who’s currently works for Live Nation, but used to run Cross Country Concerts, and he says he started charging more because of scalpers. There was money on the table and the bands and promoters weren’t getting it. The was in the 90s, and as mentioned above The Eagles were the first ones to really test that theory.
The same idea is behind the various “meet & greet” and VIP packages. For bands not charging three figures for tickets, th couple of thousand they make from the upgrades can turn a tour into a money maker.
I received an email recently offering cut price tickets to Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin Masters at the Opera House. Full price tickets for this* Led Zeppelin* cover band were $168 originally. By all accounts it is a great show but I saw the actual Led Zeppelin in 1972 for $4. At the time this was roughly the price of an album by the band. I remember years later seeing bands with my wife and wondering how it had come to pass that two tickets cost more than buying every album the band had ever released. Now one will often cover an artist’s entire discography.
The cost of a second-run movie will buy you most artists’ entire discography these days, mate. As indicated above, they’re mostly free to download, one way or another.
I still think the main thing driving ticket prices is the “because we can” factor, but income from record sales is continuing to trend toward near zero. That’s part of the dynamic. Is it 25%? 5%? I don’t know.
It’s a tough situation for a lot of artists.
Except for the few at the top of the food chain that can move product regardless, you can’t live on recording sales. So any opportunity to put yourself and your product in front of people with open wallets needs to have multiple revenue streams 'cause for the most part these days, what you pick up there is all you’re gonna get.
I know bands that broke up because they could not afford to stay together. They were good bands, too, some of them with serious following, but that following could not support them.
Honestly, I doubt most bands ever made a living on live recordings. I seem to recall that Michael Jackson was the first artist to clear $1 for himself off a CD sale. Sure, he could move 5,000,000 copies but most artists don’t. Factor in management, publicity and such and the record has always been a loss-leader for the tour.
The last concert I went to, half the idiots played with their phones all night.