Live Nation CEO addresses The Cure’s battle against rising ticket prices: “This is a business where we can charge a bit more”
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino has addressed the controversy surrounding the continued rise of ticket prices that has recently been spearheaded by The Cure’s Robert Smith who has been very vocal about the subject.
Ultimately, Smith’s work resulted in Ticketmaster offering fans a reimbursement of $5-10 on top of opting out of dynamic pricing options and other schemes that the Live Nation body use to drive up prices.
Speaking about the situation on The Bob Lefsetz Podcast, Rapino said: “We were proud of Ticketmaster’s side. We did a ton of work with Robert, making sure [tickets] were non-transferable, that it would be a face value [ticket] exchange and verified, doing all we could to put all the roadblocks to deliver his ticket prices to the fans.”
He continued: “There was a screenshot of a venue, which wasn’t even a Live Nation venue… that showed a ticket service fee of $20 on $20. It doesn’t matter whether we justify the service fee is a good idea or not, we have an industry where we have to build some credibly back.”
Adding: “I couldn’t defend in any version that we were going to add a $20 service fee to a $20 ticket. We made a decision that we would spend some money, give back the $10, and get it to a reasonable place for those fans. It was a fast decision, we thought it was worth the million dollars or so to send the right message”
He did, however, concede that rising ticket prices are inevitable in the current economic climate. While Smith wanted to set arena ticket prices at $20, Rapino argued that the figure was simply unrealistic and would not be sustainable.
“I think the pricing of concerts in general — there’s this fine line between, yes, we want it accessible, and it’s a fine art and there’s a price to it,” he said. “It’s a magic moment, maybe twice a year — way cheaper than Disneyland, or the Super Bowl, or the NFL or the NBA playoffs, or an expensive night out,” Rapino concluded. “So it’s really cheap overall considering.”
“This is a business where we can charge a bit more,” Rapino continued. “I’m not saying excessively, but it’s a great two-hour performance of a lifetime, that happens once every three, four years in that market. You don’t have to underprice yourself — low to middle income [people] will make their way to that arena for that special night.”
