Ticketmaster Sees No Problem With $5,000 Bruce Springsteen Tickets
Ticketmaster, the ubiquitous ticketing service entwined with Live Nation, saw no problem with the top tier of Bruce Springsteen tickets reaching $5,000 this month, as Variety has showed. Ticketmaster countered that most tickets go for under $200.
The classic rocker known as "The Boss" announced his 2023 arena tour with The E Street Band on July 12. You can get your tickets now by clicking here.
But as UCR reported, many fans voiced their outrage at the price of some Springsteen concert tickets, specifically Ticketmaster's Official Platinum seats. They got over $4,500 and hit $5,000 apiece, Variety said, as part of Ticketmaster's "Dynamic Pricing."
"In some instances, events on our platform may have tickets that are 'market-priced,' so ticket and fee prices may adjust over time based on demand," Ticketmaster explains on its website. "This is similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold."
This week, the company didn't dispute reports of Springsteen tickets priced through the platinum program for as high as $4–5,000. But it claimed only 1.3 percent of total tickets sold so far have gone for over $1,000, sharing some sales figures publicly.
Per Variety:
Ticketmaster says those represent only 11.2% of the overall tickets sold. By the ticketing service's calculations, that left the other 88.2% of tickets sold at fixed prices that ranged from from $59.50 to $399 before added service fees.
Ticketmaster further says that the average price of all tickets sold so far is $262, with 56% being sold for under $200 face value. … The service further broke down the percentages on the 56% of tickets it says were sold for under $200. It said that 18% were sold under $99, 27% went for between $100-150, and 11% sold for between $150-200.
"Prices and formats are consistent with industry standards for top performers," Ticketmaster added.
Earlier this year, Live Nation and Ticketmaster were sued for predatory practices. Ticketmaster merged with the concert promoter in 2010. In May, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey called for an anti-monopolistic breakup of the corporation, arguing its size and its influence created the safety issues that led to concert tragedies such as the deaths at last year's Astroworld.