Originally Posted by
DonFan
Music columnist Bob Lefsetz agrees with us about the outrageous prices for concert tix these days. Here is part of today's column:
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Do you remember the Christmas Club? That's where you opened an account at the bank, and deposited fifty cents, maybe even a dollar or five, each week, so you'd have enough money for Christmas presents at the end of the year. So you wouldn't find yourself peering into store windows BROKE!
Soon we're gonna need Concert Clubs. Savings accounts for concerts. I mean who can afford to go more than once a year? Not many, that's why we've got to put the ducats on sale LIGHT YEARS before the show takes place.
Used to be that concert tickets were not much more expensive than movie tickets. Now, they're a monthly car payment. Instead of live music being a regular habit, it's like going on vacation, a once a year event, that you look forward to that doesn't always deliver. Wouldn't it be better to go to multiple shows, and get immersed in the live experience?
OF COURSE NOT! BECAUSE I NEED MY @#$%ING MONEY!
LiveNation, AEG, the agents and promoters are going to make concertgoing such an exclusive privilege that the only ones able to go are themselves. The regular public is not only being priced out, they're being insulted. And with fewer great acts to see, and the people with the bread wanting to be up close and personal, who is going to go anymore?
It's not only Celine Dion, putting her shows on sale over a YEAR in advance. Springsteen sold next summer's shows before winter had technically started. Now, in today's "New York Times", there's an advertisement for James Taylor's Tanglewood shows IN JULY!
Promoters want to block out all competing events. They want to get your bread before you blow it on dinner or a dress. Before some other crusty act decides to tour this summer, or a new act arrives and steals JT's thunder. We need an edict. That you can't put tickets on sale more than two months out. Certainly not more than three.
Is anybody in it for the long term? Does anybody care about the fan? Is money the only thing that matters? Are we going to take every dollar from the table before everybody else in order to insure that WE'RE rich?
Don't tell me everybody's fine with it. They're not. TicketMaster is as hated as the major labels. As stated above, concertgoing is no longer a casual event, but planned way in advance, like going to college. Amazing that in the name of greed, no one's looking to the future.
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'I must be leaving soon... its your world now'
