Hacker News Reader

Comment by eh9 | Hacker News Reader

They’re not the heroes we deserve, but the heroes need.

I’m fascinated by the price discovery problem in concert tickets, but I’m incredibly frustrated by the lack of artist involvement in that system. I usually hate bringing up NFTs and blockchains, but if any industry would benefit from a verified seller market, it could be this one.

It’s not like Bad Bunny (the company, not Benito) is hurting from missing out on the 9X multiple on floor seats, but acts are increasingly dependent on performance revenues to make a living, and they’re largely cut out from that resale market.

View on HN

I think you're taking the wrong approach here.

The artists are not interested in "price discovery" above all else. They do not, in general, want their concerts to be attended only by those who were willing to pay the most money, but rather by their fans. The goal of a band is not to provide a return on investment, or to most efficiently extract money from the value of the band's brand or music rights or whatever, it is to entertain and be artists.

This is the reason that tickets are generally priced well below what each ticket could earn in a blind auction or whatever, not because the bands are bad at "price discovery."

I think plenty of artists are motivated by the money, and they would be happy to charge huge amounts and get huge profits if they could get away with it.

It seems to especially occur with older bands, where they go on tour mostly to get money, or they do private shows for wealthy corporates, or they sell rights to get money.

There are obvious tells that many younger artists are also very interested in profits. Some artists are wealthy enough to provide free concerts, but they don’t.

Well, yeah, but the people paying 10X are probably luckier fans. Fans who can’t afford the scalped price have a momentary chance to buy from a pool of less than 10% of tickets because the events industry still gets the bulk of allotments.

Wtf is "be artists" honestly? This is not a church choir. Top bands are commercial enterprises and are able to attract top talent (singers, musicians, audio and light engs, etc) because they get paid well.

Ticket prices are weird. I saw Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) the other night (an amazing show btw) and was literally right next to the stage. I paid $150 a week before the concert for the pleasure. The lady next to me had bought her ticket two years before and had spent $800. She said she got some memorabilia and stuff but still. Absolutely bonkers the price difference.

Is that really weird? Or is that "two years previous we made a bet on how popular these tickets will be, and priced them at $800. With a week to go, we still have some tickets: price them down so we make SOMETHING on them."?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com