{"id":5561,"date":"2025-09-30T00:43:55","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T00:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/live-nation-ceo-concert-tickets-underpriced-why-fans-angry\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T00:43:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T00:43:55","slug":"live-nation-ceo-concert-tickets-underpriced-why-fans-angry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/live-nation-ceo-concert-tickets-underpriced-why-fans-angry\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Nation\u2019s CEO Says Concert Tickets Are \u2018Underpriced.\u2019 His Comments Are Nothing\u00a0New\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
\n

\n\tLive Nation CEO Michael Rapino<\/strong> sparked a furor among concert fans last week when he told a CNBC host that concert tickets were underpriced \u2014 a sentiment that drew swift condemnation from both casual listeners and dedicated fans frustrated by the cost of seeing live music. While Rapino\u2019s comments caught many off guard, they echoed a line of thinking at the company that predates the pandemic and has only grown louder in recent years.<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite persistent complaints that concerts are becoming too expensive, Rapino and other Live Nation executives \u2014 including president Joe Berchtold<\/strong> and global promoter Arthur Fogel<\/strong> \u2014 have long argued the opposite: that ticket prices for many superstar acts are still too low compared with consumer demand.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\n

\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

\n
\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Market,<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
\n

\n

\t\t\t\t\tAmericans Are Paying $300-Plus or Going Into Debt for Concert Tickets, Studies\u00a0Show\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

<\/time><\/p><\/div>\n

\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"BLOND:ISH\"<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
\n

\n

\t\t\t\t\tHow Blond:ish Plans to Eliminate 42 Tons of Waste From NYC Nightlife Every Year: ‘This Is My Passion’\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

<\/time><\/p><\/div>\n

\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Beyonc\u00e9\"<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
\n

\n

\t\t\t\t\tSuspect Arrested in Theft of Beyonc\u00e9’s Unreleased Music\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

<\/time><\/p><\/div>\n

\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tSpeaking at CNBC\u2019s Game Plan conference in Los Angeles, Rapino framed live music as undervalued compared to other forms of entertainment.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMusic has been underappreciated,\u201d Rapino said. \u201cIn sports, I joke it\u2019s like a badge of honor to spend 70 grand for a Knicks courtside [seat]. They beat me up if we charge $800 for Beyonc\u00e9<\/a>.\u201d He added, \u201cWe have a lot of runway left. So when you read about ticket prices going up, the average concert price is still $72. Try going to a Lakers game for that, and there\u2019s 80 of them. The concert is underpriced and has been for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe remarks were quickly clipped, shared across social media, and met with widespread backlash. Grammy-winning songwriter, artist and producer Jack Antonoff <\/a>responded, \u201cThis breaks my heart and is a really sick way of looking at it.\u201d Fans online blasted Rapino as out of touch, pointing to steadily rising costs that have made live music less accessible.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to Billboard Boxscore, ticket prices for the top 100 tours rose more than 30% in 2024, averaging $130 per ticket \u2014 a 9% jump in a single year. Stadium shows in particular have surged, with average prices rising from $125.10 in 2023 to $140.42 in 2025.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\n

\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

\n
\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Sturgill<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
\n

\n

\t\t\t\t\tTicket Prices Are Higher Than Ever. Will Fans Keep\u00a0Paying?\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

<\/time><\/p><\/div>\n

\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s unclear how Rapino arrived at the $72 figure he cited, though it was likely calculated across all shows, including clubs and theaters, while Billboard<\/em>\u2019s data zeroes in on the top-grossing tours. But the contrast highlights a disconnect between how industry leaders frame pricing and what fans experience at the box office.<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, Rapino\u2019s position is not new. On investor calls as far back as 2021, he has argued that the real proof of underpricing comes from the booming resale market, where tickets routinely trade at multiples of their face value. Berchtold has pointed to more than a billion dollars in annual \u201cprice arbitrage\u201d on Live Nation tickets \u2014 money spent on StubHub or Ticketmaster\u2019s resale platform rather than going directly to artists and promoters.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat gap between primary and secondary markets remains central to the debate. Rapino and others contend that fans are already proving their willingness to pay more when they turn to resellers, suggesting higher face values could ultimately bring more revenue back to artists. Critics counter that such logic risks pricing out everyday fans and cementing live music as a luxury experience.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor now, Rapino\u2019s latest comments have reignited one of the industry\u2019s most heated conversations: how to keep tickets affordable for fans without the tickets getting significantly marked up on resale sites \u2014 and who ultimately gets to decide the true price of a concert ticket. For many fans, though, the idea that tickets are \u201cunderpriced\u201d rings hollow. With touring costs, service fees and secondary markups already pushing concerts out of reach, Rapino\u2019s comments feel less like an industry insight and more like a reminder that live music is becoming a luxury few can afford.<\/p>\n

\n\tLive Nation declined to comment for this article.<\/p>\n


\n \"Billboard
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino sparked a furor among concert fans last week when he told a CNBC host that concert tickets were underpriced \u2014 a sentiment that drew swift…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3107,387,17,451,3387,3952,450],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analysis","category-business","category-concerts","category-live-nation","category-michael-rapino","category-ticket-prices","category-touring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5561\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}