{"id":21237,"date":"2022-07-21T12:27:55","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T12:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/bruce-springsteen-fans-furious-as-ticketmaster-tix-go-as-high-as-4-5k\/"},"modified":"2022-07-21T12:27:55","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T12:27:55","slug":"bruce-springsteen-fans-furious-as-ticketmaster-tix-go-as-high-as-4-5k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/bruce-springsteen-fans-furious-as-ticketmaster-tix-go-as-high-as-4-5k\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Springsteen Fans Furious as Ticketmaster Tix Go as High as $4-5K"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bruce Springsteen fans like to think of him as tougher than the rest, not pricier than the rest. So there were inevitable eruptions of anger when fans logged on for the first day of sales for the opening shows on his 2023 arena tour and found tickets going for as $4,000-5,000 for mid-range floor seats, and into the four-figures for other, less desirable tickets that remained. If these were being offered on the secondary market, offers that exorbitant might be expected\u2026 but what gave fans sticker shock was that these were face value tickets, with no middleman jacking up the price.<\/p>\n

It was an introduction for many fans to Ticketmaster’s \u201cdynamic pricing\u201d program, in which \u201cplatinum tickets\u201d \u2014 which may be placed anywhere in the arena, from the front section to the back rows \u2014 fluctuate in price, in what is said to be ongoing reaction to demand. The system lets ticket prices quickly rise to a level it’s believed resellers would get for them, keeping that extra money in-house for the artist and promoter. But as Wednesday’s ticket sales went on and went up, even some concert veterans who know and accept the idea of \u200b\u200bvariable pricing wondered: Would even scalpers<\/em> ask close to $5,000 for a good but not directly front-of-house seat?<\/p>\n

Fan ire was quickly evident in responses to an early tweet from Backstreets, the Springsteen fan magazine, which posted a screenshot of the price for one seat on for the tour’s opening night and wondered: \u201cTampa mid-floor for $4,400, anyone?\u201d (That’s an amount that included $3,819 in face value plus $569.50 in fees.) Other perturbed fans quickly joined in with screenshots of the unusually costly offers they were getting, once they’d gone through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan system and waited in an online queue.<\/p>\n

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Tampa mid-floor for $4,400 each, anyone? #catchandrelease<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cTicketmaster’s Official Platinum seat program enables market-based pricing (adjusting prices according to supply and demand) for live event tickets, similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold.\u201d pic.twitter.com\/8qyanN0OQA<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Backstreets Magazine (@backstreetsmag) July 20, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If the Verified Fan system and fast-escalating prices were designed to thwart scalpers, there was some question how successful that was. Late in the day, the seating chart for the Tulsa, Oklahoma show appeared to show about a fifth of the seats in the arena already having been turned around and put up for sale on the secondary market via Ticketmaster’s resale program, where individual sellers who want to pass on their tickets are free to set their own prices.<\/p>\n

Of course, demand will drastically outstrip supply for all of Springsteen’s one-night-stand arena dates, which count as a drastic underplay by his usual multi-nighter standards. This is not the first time in recent years that the dynamic pricing system has angered fans, who’ve watched in wonder as covetable tickets for a Harry Styles or Paul McCartney rise right before their eyes. And, let’s face it, even under the best of ticketing circumstances, complaining about ticket prices is a national pastime. Still, even given all that, few observers of the live business can remember tours in which the face value for most seats grew by 10 times or more across an arena in the course of a few hours, landing at a point where it cost $4,000 or more just to get on the floor \u2014 with tickets reportedly having maxed out at $399 when the on-sale started.<\/p>\n

Springsteen’s camp declined comment, and Ticketmaster had not responded with a comment at the time of this writing.<\/p>\n

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I went back into to presale for @springsteen<\/a> of #Boston<\/a> and pulled this cute little pair on the floor\u2026.. for $5000. Shameful #springsteen<\/a> #springsteentour2023<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/3NxqPM3R1D<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Steve Leibowitz (@StevenL57) July 20, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The only person associated with the tour to publicly respond so far has been Stevie Van Zant, who tweeted, \u201cI have nothing whatsoever to do with the price of tickets. Nothing. nada. Niente bubkis. Dick.\u201d The veteran E Street Band guitarist’s disavowal did little to dissuade fans from further demanding that he take their outrage directly to the Boss.<\/p>\n

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I have nothing whatsoever to do with the price of tickets. Nothing. nada. Niente bubkis. dick. https:\/\/t.co\/NsDJvoLMWu<\/p>\n

\u2014 \ud83d\udd49Stevie Van Zandt\u262e\ufe0f (@StevieVanZandt) July 20, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Only the first six cities on the tour went on sale Wednesday \u2014 Tampa, Orlando and Hollywood, all in Florida, followed by Tulsa, Denver and Boston. The rest will come over the next nine days, with St. Paul being next to go on sale, Thursday morning. If the system remains the same, and face-value prices go as high for the on-sales to come, that could result in a lot of fan dismay to be staggered over the course of the next week and a half.<\/p>\n

Jokes abounded on social media amid the flames. \u201cI assume when Bruce shouts ‘Is anyone alive out there?’ on the next tour,\u201d wrote @clevenbrown on Twitter, \u201cit will be more of a medical check-in on those who had to sell a kidney to be able to afford tickets.\u201d She wrote another fan, \u201cLet’s see, I can pay my mortgage for two months or I can buy a Tampa GA,\u201d as she attached a shot of a Verified Fan platinum offer to buy a standing-room ticket for $1,350 plus fees. (That would have been a relative bargain compared to the $2,147 base price another screenshot showed the same GA ticket going for in Boston.)<\/p>\n

Even John Eddie, a singer-songwriter who used to run in the same New Jersey circles as Springsteen, had some fun with it: \u201cElon Musk was going to buy Twitter but then he decided to buy a pair of Bruce tickets instead.\u201d The most arch tweet response of them all, perhaps, amid the fury, from the Twitter user @wiggenstock: \u201cDynamic pricing seems to be a really cool new feature that everybody loves.\u201d (See a sampling of other social media responses, below.)<\/p>\n

Yet it wasn’t a downer day for all<\/em> Springsteen fans. Some of those who made their way through the queue when the doors opened, and before prices skyrocketed, were pleased with the initial ticket costs. the original base price for the tickets was reported to be a not-so-out-of-line $299-399 for floor seats and a reasonable $60 for the most distant sections; Indeed, some satisfied fans who purchased upper-level seats early in the day reported being able to get out the door for less than $100, even including fees.<\/p>\n

The Ticketmaster site is transparent about exactly what’s happening with variable pricing, even if the changing costs can seem arbitrary from moment to moment. The FAQ page establishes that \u201cthese aren’t resale tickets. Platinum tickets are being sold for the very first time through Ticketmaster. The prices are adjusted according to supply and demand, similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold. The goal is to give the most passionate fans fair and safe access to the most in-demand tickets while allowing the artists and everyone involved in staging live events to price tickets closer to their fair value.\u201d The text goes on to remind buyers that these should not be confused with the VIP packages that some tours (not Springsteen’s) offer.<\/p>\n

Here’s a sampling of tweets that came in Wednesday, as fans took to social media to share the offers they didn’t feel were too good to refuse. Some waxed more about the principles of supply and demand, like one who blamed the $4,309. price he was seeing on the fans who might be willing to pay it:<\/p>\n

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You can be confused and angry at TM, the secondary market, Bruce, capitalism, the state of the world, whatever, but it is the person willing to buy this ticket who really makes it possible to begin with. Don’t buy and the price wouldn’t exist. pic.twitter.com\/UktP0Tfk1w<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Bruce Funds \u00ae (@BruceFunds) July 20, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Elon Musk was going to buy Twitter but then he decided to buy a pair of Bruce tickets instead.<\/p>\n

luv je<\/p>\n

\u2014 John Eddie (@JohnEddieMusic) July 21, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Unfortunately, ticketmaster is using the on-demand ticket pricing.
More people interested in the tickets, higher the price is. <\/p>\n

Section 300 can be $199 one minute & $699 the next. <\/p>\n

I got a ticket though\u2026for a lot of $$$$
No regrets either#springsteentour2023<\/a> #Springsteen<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Lydia\u2077\ud83e\udda9\ud83d\udc19 Part of the 90% (@The_LadyLyd) July 20, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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#BruceSpringsteen<\/a> do you know about this? #Springsteen<\/a> are you ok with this? #TheBoss<\/a>, is this the way you wanted to treat your diehard fans? to score #springsteentour2023<\/a> tickets, you have to take out a reverse mortgage? @springsteen<\/a> @backstreetsmag<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/kgbsWmZt0h<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Craig Semon (@CraigSemon) July 20, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Although many users reported being offered tickets in the lower, mid- and upper 4000s, a survey of social media users posting their screenshots turned up one would-be buyer whose platinum offer from Ticketmaster did actually hit the $5,000 mark for the Seattle show, prior to fees:<\/p>\n

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Ticketmaster, you sure are something. Hello and goodbye dynamic pricing. #Springsteen<\/a>. pic.twitter.com\/cM7uYVqjAQ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 jo arlow photography (@joarlow) July 20, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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99.9% of the people complaining that they can’t get tix or tix or too pricey have seen #Springsteen<\/a> 10x or more in their lives\u2026. #GetOverIt<\/a>. No one is a bigger fan than me, and I can’t go. Yet, the Sun will rise again tomorrow\u2026 There will be MILLIONS who cannot go. https:\/\/t.co\/EBbkpdBrPK<\/p>\n

\u2014 Tony Fontane (@TMAN1138pm) July 20, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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dynamic pricing seems to be a really cool new feature that everyone loves #ticketmaster<\/a> #springsteen<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 wigginstock (@wigginstock) July 20, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Additional reporting by Michelle Amabile Miller.<\/em><\/p>\n

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