NEWS4U FEBRUARY 2022 | ENTERTAINMENT
THE ROCK & METAL PROFS W I T H M AT T A L S C H BAC H & D R . CO U RT L E W I S
Associate professors at Owensboro Community College and Pellissippi State Community College, respectively, Alschbach and Lewis host the popular podcast The Rock & Metal Profs: The History & Philosophy of Rock & Metal. Now they're bringing their keen insights to the pages of News 4U with a monthly deep dive into some of the best bands of the rock/metal genre and thoughts on music in general.
TICKETBASTARDS In the eighties, purchasing tickets to see your
will be a processing
favorite band was an adventure, a rite of
fee of $3.30 and a
passage, and a pain in the ass. We drove to
service fee of $55.50.
the venue the night before, partied most of
Yes, we know that
the night, queued up by 6 a.m., and by 10 a.m.
Ticketmaster
we had tickets within the first few rows of the
business that needs
stage. A fair price for a memorable concert
to make money, but
experience for those willing to pull an all-
this is just a racket.
nighter. Tickets were anywhere from 16 to 25
Bridgestone
Arena
dollars on average, and it didn’t matter which
in
holds
row you were in, your tickets were always the same price - for every row.
Nashville
is
a
about 20,000 people, while the Ford Center in Evansville holds 10,000.
PICTURED LEFT TO RIGHT: MATT ALSCHBACH AND DR. COURT LEWIS
My, how things have changed. In 2019, we
around
purchased tickets to see a certain “hottest band
tickets were $10, then
in the world,” and ticket prices were enough to
they
make the Dalai Lama seethe with contempt.
$200,000/$100,000
Ticketmaster has invented “Official Platinum”
for a sold-out show. Not much room for profit.
seating, so that the front row was $1000, the
But the average ticket price in 2019 was $96.17,
2nd row was around $800, and we procured
according to Statista.com. That’s almost 2
3rd row for a paltry $600! You might think that
mil./1mil. per sold out show, then you tack on
handicap-accessible tickets would be more
service fees and concessions, and you can see
reasonable, but the cheapest accessible at
how fans are being fleeced.
would
If
make
a recent concert in Nashville was $450. No satisfaction, indeed!
But we aren’t here to condemn these online ticket services - they offer a product, and we
Ticketmaster also loves to tack on a laundry
have no choice but to pay if we want the tickets.
list of “service fees.” Let’s say you are willing
(Not having a choice is one of the reasons it’s
to fork out $375 for a front row ticket. There
so easy to fleece fans). Bands get in on the
action too by jacking up ticket prices into the many hundreds of dollars. Sure, they often offer special perks, like cheap lanyards and getting in early, but these perks do not justify a $300 tax. Yes, bands need to make money, but at some point, it’s just greed; and fans are being priced out of seeing the bands they love. The fans are the ones who made them famous, and the fans deserve better. The Rock & Metal Profs podcast is available on iTunes, Google and Spotify.
Call for Advertising Information (812) 426-6398 • FEBRUARY 2022
| 41
