As the price of groceries, gas, and Disney+ continues to rise, consumers everywhere are hoping for a reprieve. Thankfully, one of America’s most popular businessmen, Live Nation CEO Michael Rabino, is doing us one better, announcing there’s “a lot of runway” to raise concert ticket prices, too. Last week, Rapino spoke at CNBC Sport and Boardroom’s Conference, where he explained that concert tickets were “underpriced,” especially compared to sports. “I joke it’s like a badge of honor to spend [$70,000] for Knicks courtside [tickets],” Rapino said. “We have a lot of runway left. When you read about the ticket prices going up, it’s still an average concert price [of] $72. Try going to a Laker game for that, and there’s 80 of them.” Hilarious joke, sir. It is a “badge of honor” to spend more than the average yearly salary on seeing the Knicks lose. Yet, “they beat [him] up if we charge $800 for Beyonce.” It just isn’t fair.
Despite the calculations by the CEO of Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, Pollstar reports that the average ticket price in the U.S. is $136, nearly double what Rapino believes it to be. He also neglects the numerous music tours canceled due to low ticket sales, which might mean that the prices are too high. People appear to be saving their money for the Beyoncés and Taylor Swifts, which has downstream effects on celebrities and working-class artists alike.
In recent years, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have faced allegations of violating antitrust laws. The DOJ described the conglomerate as a “mob-like organization” that offers contracts that no other company can compete with. Earlier this year, the DOJ and FTC launched a public inquiry into the live music industry, which is basically comprised of two companies: Live Nation and Ticketmaster. Judging by how brazen Rapino is about the amount of runway he has to inflate prices, there’s also a lot of runway for regulating Live Nation, too.
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