this post was submitted on 23 May 2024
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Fantastic insight but your last part is no different than anything else for sale. Inequality has always existed and the gap is currently growing for everything, not just tickets. It's as obvious as saying not everyone that wants a Ferrari can have one.
In the context of the article though, it seems that greed has kept a company like Ticketmaster from doing anything about the bots and scalpers(for instance, halting online sales and selling at brick and mortars in locations where concerts occur). They don't need to because they still sell all their tickets, regardless of whether it's to a bot, scalper or legitimate fan.
Perhaps treat tickets like Sudafed. Show your ID to purchase a limited number of tickets and enter the info into a list so he can't keep looping around or heading to another sales location. It's exploitable(like anything) but much less so than the current system.
Yes, you’re not wrong. I think massive inequality is an issue in general.
But tickets are optional, it isn't like food.
Everyone must buy food, one doesn't need to go to a concert.
So by going to the concert, they're saying these prices are fine.
Who's "they"?
Because it certainly isn't the entire fandom.
Someone will always pay more, because they have more to spend. Just because the show sold out doesn't mean an accurate representation of the fandom are the ticket holders.
The prices are not fine for most fans, but there are enough that pay anyway. The majority get punished by the "free market" that they're locked out of. It's not as if there's a cheaper alternative Taylor Swift concert the market can move to.
There's also the fact these are limited time affairs, so even if people aren't fine with it, they don't have a choice if they want to see their favorite artist in their prime.
Also, the idea that if it's not food, it's okay for it to be price gouged is ridiculous. You can take any economic theories you like and blow them out your ass, because the fundamental point is we want a fairer world where the poor are not consistently and routinely fucked over by greed and the wealthy that get to buy special treatment at everyone else's expense. It is not unreasonable to want a world where the poor get to enjoy things at a reasonable cost.
You might as well just say that not everyone needs to fly when we have buses and trains and boats, so why don't airlines just make all the seats first class?
You can try to artificially restrict the prices by limiting access, and maybe you’ll have some success, but as long as there are people out there who are willing to pay more for the tickets, you’re going to be fighting against the market. There’s always going to be someone who finds a way to take advantage. And lowering the prices artificially is directly contrary to the interests of every party involved in creating the show. Maybe the artist is happy with what they make and want to increase access to their show, but the venue, the crew, the label, and the ticket sellers are all going to want to make more if possible.
As I mentioned, the fact that you have scalpers selling for profit on basically every show implies the prices are already artificially low. The way I see it, the only true solution to this issue is fixing the inequality that allows some people to massively out-compete others on price. You can’t really make it cheaper by addressing scarcity in this specific scenario. Only so many people can see the popular artist live. Maybe better simulations of a live show could help. Taylor Swift is doing that to some extent with the theater version.