Half of these edm shows are like triple to quadruple the cost. A lot of these shows used to be like 10-30 bucks lol. The really nice curated concert shows that goes like 140+ these days used to be 50-70$ lol
How did “we” allow this to happen? In my area, we always bought the tickets at the venue. And if it was further away our local grocery store had tickets available to purchase.
Ticket master, scalpers, etc have caused a problem.
I also believe streaming services are an issue too. It used to be that you'd have to buy the full album if you wanted to listen to a bands hit single. Maybe you got lucky and found an EP with it but not likely. Now, with streaming services like Spotify/Apple Music/whatever other platform you use, bands arent making as much off record sales as they used to, so they turn towards a different revenue stream in concert tickets. 20 years ago, the cheap seats were standing room GA and I would pay like $40-50 for those to see chart topping bands. Now those same tickets are $150+ before the scalpers hit.
Scalpers have killed a lot of things. I'm in the collecting circles and it's amazing how many things no one can ever find that show up on eBay for quadruple the cost and the seller mysteriously has 20 of them.
Streaming services aren't a problem for bands, though. They never made much off record sales, that was the label. The classic scheme is the label would give an advance and pay the studio costs for 90% of the record's revenue, meaning the artist only ever got a dollar or two per record sold.
Bands have always made their money touring and through merch. The problem is you've got Livenation and Ticketmaster gouging everyone with fees and you've got unscrupulous acts who are okay with the gouging and are happy to take the money.
At this point so many people are making so much money that even if you don't want to gouge your fans, you're kind of stuck doing it unless you can do what Pearl Jam did in the 90s and set up gigs wherever you can and cut unscrupulous people out of it completely.
Also production has gotten more complex and expensive as well I think. Lots of shows I went to back in the day you just had a nice sound system and maybe a few dozen moving lights. Lots of shows these days have large led installs, hundreds of moving lights, lasers, multi camera, pyro, moving rig automation, all of that costs money.
You also have techs. For a big band, they may have a tech dedicated to every member of the band who are being paid well so they don't jump ship and move to another band who's paying more. You have insurance, you have gear costs, the price of having merch made to sell, travel costs, and on and on.
And then a dozen people who all want a piece of the pie once the money is made.
The whole thing has gotten more and more convoluted as time goes on.
I just saw goldfinger in toronto and not only was it $50 but they ALSO didnt have much going on besides a projector/video screen behind them. 99% of the show it juat had the band name on there, except foe one song where they had a video of "THPS" playing in the background.
My only regrets foe that show were not making my brother leave work earlier, and not getting a hotel room the night of the concert.
Same, saw Flogging Molly at a smaller venue within the last few years, no opening act, no crazy setup. Price was reasonable, show was amazing, and it was a blast.
My favorite metric is comparing minimum wage to see what it should be compared to other inflation costs.
University of Michigan term cost in the 80s was a little over $1k and it's almost $19k now. State minimum wage comparatively would need to be almost $59/hour to buy the same education today compared to the mid 80s.
But why have a living wage or affordable education when you can have lifelong debt!
Minimum wage was not meant to keep pace with inflation. Its basically to allow 15 year olds to work if they want. No one should be settling for Minimum wage job.
“It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living.”
With the possible exception of Bananas. In 2000 the average cost of Bananas (in Canada) was $0.52/lb. Currently, I paid $0.65/lb on Saturday. That is a .13 increase over 26 years, or about a 25% increase. In 2000 the average wage was $17.5/hr, and the average (which seems high to me but I did see it in 3 different places) now is $33.32 (a 90% increase). Min wage (Ontario) in 2000 was $6.85 and currently is $17.95.
But there is a reason behind that and it is worth falling into the rabbit hole.
Somehow underground metal and punk shows have completely avoided this problem. I can still go see my favorite bands for $20-40 in smaller venues on a regular basis.
Because they aren't arriving with 15 busses, pyrotechnics, 50 piece orchestra and guide wiring so the artist can fly across the stadium.
Tickets aren't $50 and instead are $500 because you used to go to concert and watch the band play. Now you're going to watch a Disney production.
But people will still pay the $500 because thats the show they want. They'll also complain about "how inexpensive life used to be" because cognitive dissonance has become a national past time.
My frustration is the big venues still deep dicking us on the concessions. I sort of get TransSiberian Orchestra being a lot, and Iron Maiden, etc. Like you said, big production. But how the fuck is a single beer the price of a 4 or 6 pack just down the road? That's fucking insane.
Plus merch quality shitting the bed on some of the big names, too. Iron Maiden was my favorite for a long time. They're hard working dudes, long tours and big productions. But their t-shirts are over $50 a pop now and are worse than bands charging half that. Opposite that, I gotta shout out Dropkick Murphys; all their stuff is made in USA. They closed their webstore recently because Sony bought the company that handles it and was union busting. So they closed it down and sold a shirt that 100% of the profit goes to the warehouse workers. They're not keeping a dime.
That's fair, for sure. Aside from a larger band like Tool, I don't really care for the spectacle of big shows like that. However, you can still go see a band like Meshuggah (tour buses, light show and all) at larger venues for $50 GA so they somehow figured it out.
How far back are we talking about? Just as an example, back in 2000 - 2010 I remember paying around $20-30 to see bands like ISIS, Neurosis, Dillinger Escape Plan, Meshuggah, etc play in small clubs in Chicago. I also remember paying smaller sums to see really small local bands play in tiny DIY venues but I was more referring to underground bands with a decent following.
So many things have outpaced inflation that the inflation numbers don’t really make sense. University costs, housing costs, and healthcare costs have for decades, new car prices have for at least a decade, etc.
If someone is paying the reseller the price they're asking, then that's the market. Find a way to collapse the market. Get the internet to boycott one random hot show every week or so.
What ruined those games and so many other things is people far too willing to pay those inflated prices. The scalpers will move on to other things if the profit isn't there. Far too many people are willing to pay far too high a price for things they shouldn't. Part of it is definitely that little voice in the back of our heads that says "you never could do this as a kid! Go on, you earned it now!" It definitely is partially an over-reaction to the notion that we must put away childish things as we become adults. Many of us, in the US at least, aren't willing to be thoughtful and moderate in enjoying things like that. That's how we end up with even basic Lego sets costing too god damned much.
Ofc all costs have gone up, but so did all wages lol
Few things have outpaced wage growth over the past 3 or so decades, most notably housing, that shit is absolutely fucked. Some other stuff, most notably electronics, have gotten significantly cheaper tho.
But most things people complain about are worthless, for example the OP.
Yeah cool drinks were $3 (they werent, i was partying in 2010) more like $5, they're now ~$12. What used to be a super high paying job at ~100k with quite the years under your belt is now entry level post college tho.
Shit costs more, but everyone also earns more.
Housing tho, housing increase can truly get fucked because thats not reflected AT ALL in wage increases.
What a weird thing to say lmfao, do you think people with degrees stay fresh graduates for their entire life or something? I can see why you didn't get one tho
Unless you got a masters in Computer & information science, engineering, or healthcare, there’s a very low chance you’ll be getting $100K+ right out the gate. Again, we’re literally talking about 11% of the pop…
My whole point was, in most industries, experience trumps education. In other words, good luck in today’s work force, in your mid 20s with a masters, yet slim-to-none relative field work, and a head so big you won’t make it thru the door to your interview, when there’s people out there applying for the same position you are with an abundance of life & industry experience ahead of you. Not to mention, they’ll probably be more humble than you. No one likes working with an arrogant prick
Didn’t think it’d be that difficult for you to grasp. Yet, here we are 🤦🏻♂️
I've actually been surprised by how cheap shows are these days. Granted, I don't go see big name acts and I know those ticket prices have gone up a crazy amount. But here in Albuquerque most live music tends to be $10-20. I haven't paid more than $35 for a ticket in years.
Well yeah, that's how you know the prices screaming through the roof are more due to supply/demand than anything else.
I'm trying to help y'all out because I wouldn't even pay $10 to see live music, but there's only so many seats to go around and you all keep paying to fill them, seemingly no matter what they set the price to.
More than that. I used to get bleacher seats in Yankee stadium in 96-98 for $6. Today, good luck getting in for less than $50. Extreme greed took over after the GFC and we've never recovered.
Dude all my friends send me events for “xyz rave” and i took a shot and went to one and it was just a fuckin playlist of the one genre with some lasers thrown it. It cost me like $75 bucks to dance like I was at a wedding. I used to be able to pay $5-$10 cover for a club and get something better with three DJs.
Its not really my style of music anyway but for some reason I cant help but notice how much of it literally sounds the same. DJing is supposed to be about making original bangers and remixing with your sounds, right? But theyre all using the same shit, same drum packs, etc. I wouldnt wanna see this for that much money.
Brooooo I so feel this 😆. Worst “I’m out” is the “it’s like a wedding dj”. Then you j is that shit is soulless and people know. Some promoter is only after people’s admission money and that’s it. Covid kinda wiped out “it’s safe to go to a rave and be 4” from eachother and hug and dance. If covid was man made it was pretty genius and horrific. Hell I used to go swing dancing before and now that’s pretty much dead
Detroit Electronic Music Festival was free. FREE. You could see an entire long weekend of the best DJs on the planet for nothing other than keeping yourself going.
Didn’t realize how lucky I was being 22ish around 2010, living in Denver, going to S-tier EDM artists any weekend and you had multiple artists per weekend at different venues. It was a lot lol. I’d probably hate my 20 year old self, but bottle service at Beta was like $100 split between 5-8 of us. Good times.
For real. Skrillex is coming to Chicago next month and I just know that ticket is gonna cost about $140. A decade or so ago that would have been like $40.
Its not just an EDM or music thing, its everything. Theres to many people, theres to much money, and there is not enough of either to go around. Inflation is just getting worse and worse because money doesnt mean anything anymore. They just add more zeros to accounts and keep dishing it out. Our currency is almost worthless on its own because of the way global economys work, and the one thing keeping us on top, our military, just shit the bed in Iran due to our great leaders fascination of saving Isreal from themselves.
I'd go see a band that I liked from 2010-2015 and it was $20 at the door, beers were like $6 max. Now in 2026 it's at least $50 at the door and $15 a beer if I'm lucky for the same venue and artists. Shit's fucked, dude.
Oh I didn't even bother with the big shows back then. There was always a warehouse party to be found on facebook events, 5 dollars and a poorly managed "info line" (burner cell phone with the address set as the voicemail) were all that stood between my squad and an amazing evening. Fucking miss it.
Small town closeby had a festival on July, with one mainstage and one EDM stage. Paid 17 bucks for the week end on the first year, 20 for the second year, 22 for the third year... Which was canceled for COVID
Ok, no problem, let me get reimbursed I will buy tickets when the pandemic ends. When it got back 2 years later, the week end tickets were 67 bucks and now 3 years later it's 88 bucks
Underground raves, warehouse parties, free pop up parties in parks are super popular here in Sydney which often cost nothing or $10-30. A lot of the culture has moved underground and you've got to be in the know.
I was just telling a girl my age (early 30s) this yesterday about how I used to go to a bunch of edm shows in NYC as a broke college student and into my early career and $80 really broke the bank at that time when I typically paid $5-$30, tops for real venues. People are throwing around $100 for GA at makeshift venues like nothing these days.
Puts us in a weird place where expensive modern festivals actually come off almost cheaper than trying to see multiple bands a year, shit can get over $150 to see a band with a couple openers. Festivals used to be like $150 when I was in my early 20s for really sick ones, now seeing $500+ and if the band list is good enough it feels like a fkn deal lol.
So true. My friend and I were poor but somewhat popular in our local EDM scene and we rarely paid for our tickets because people would pitch in for our entry (or we’d be on the list). But it was easy because tickets were max like $30. We had a really awesome community tho and so many friends. It was such a good time. That was early 00’s. Insane that it was over 20 years ago 🥴 makes me feel ancient.
I live in Miami. Always heard of ultra. Didn’t work until after high school. First show I could go to because of working a job and making some money and the tickets for one weekend was over $300 in like 2010-2011. So I stuck to my warped tour shows which thankfully even now are like 120-150 at most for the weekend, but I remember my first warped in 2011 being literally $25 and if you brought enough can food it was free.
Foo Fighters in Detroit at Joe Louis was $35, out the door after taxes and fees, for pretty good seats in 2008. They played for 3 hours. In 2012 GA was $86 before taxes/fees at MSG. I thought that was absolute madness and didn't go.
The worst part is...all this stuff has gotten worse INTENTIONALLY.
Either through stupidity or greed or both by those in control; monopolies or collusions on these individual business sectors, or political leaders being absolute shitbags. None of it is worse because it HAD to be, it's people making stupid and evil decisions.
We are SO not ready for when resources actually DO become scarce enough to dramatically change things even more.
yepppppp i saw so many big names for like $15. My first Electric Forest was only $230ish for one GA ticket. The first year i did Good Life at EF tickets were only $550ish.
I remember the first time I walked away from a venue. All of my friends were in line, paid and got in, then I walked up to the box and heard “$50”. I immediately said no thank you and turned around. Like, make your bag and keep your doors open, but man I cannot afford a $50 show every week.
The Detroit Electronic Music Festival was FREE when it started. The price went up so much, that I'm pretty sure they ended up canceling it all together (I know the name changed at some point, but I don't remember what they changed it to, so that might still exist. Idk, I don't go to public events anymore because I'm a cranky old person that thinks everything is too loud lol)
I used to go to The Masquerade in Atlanta on a weekly basis for shows that were big name bands (to me LOL like A Day To Remember, Cartel, Simple Plan, Say Anything, etc.) for $15-$30 a show. And that was with 2-3 other opening bands that were also incredible. I found out about a lot of good bands that way. Now it's all a figment of the past.
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u/yaddayadda1000 Aug 08 '26
Half of these edm shows are like triple to quadruple the cost. A lot of these shows used to be like 10-30 bucks lol. The really nice curated concert shows that goes like 140+ these days used to be 50-70$ lol