Why Concert Tickets Shouldn’t Cost More Than $500: Just Hear Me Out

In New Orleans, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour resale tickets averaged $1,878, with some seats starting at $1,300 just to get in the building. That is more than a month’s rent for many households. And she is not the only one. Beyoncé, Drake, and other stadium-packing artists often see resale prices hit $5,000 or even $9,000.

Live music has always been about connection. Yet in today’s market, that connection often comes with a four-figure price tag. I believe no concert ticket should ever cost more than $500. Past that number, people are not paying for music anymore, they are feeding an economic hustle that has lost its balance.

From a fan’s perspective, a $1,000 ticket usually comes with the full package: the band on stage, a big media wall, lights, visuals, pyro when it is used, smoke effects, dancers, and all the extras that make a stadium show feel larger than life. Some artists, like Beyoncé, even bring marching bands, choirs, and extended productions that feel like full-scale spectacles. The problem is not that the experience lacks value. The problem is that even with all of that, a $1,000 ticket often does not put you in a section close enough to feel it was worth the spend. By the time food, parking, and merch are added, the night can easily pass $1,500. For many loyal fans, especially those already stretching their budgets, that price is hard to justify. If the same ticket were capped at $500, people might feel more comfortable with the expense, knowing the cost respected both the craft and the fan.

Let’s put some real numbers on it. At a recent well-known concert at the Hollywood Bowl, the artist fee was about $500,000. Production added another $50,000. Throw in venue and vendor costs and you are sitting around $750,000 total. With 10,000 seats and an average ticket price of $120, the equation looks like this:

10,000 × $120 = $1.2 million gross
$1.2 million – $750,000 = $450,000 net margin

That is before a single t-shirt, hot dog, or parking spot gets sold. Everybody walked away whole. Fans got a fair price, the artists were paid, and the promoters still made money. That is what responsible pricing looks like.

Now take the same math to a stadium. Seventy thousand seats at that same $120 average ticket price looks like this:

70,000 × $120 = $8.4 million gross
$8.4 million – $750,000 = $7.65 million net margin

So if the math works at both a 10,000 seat venue and a 70,000 seat stadium, why are people being asked to pay four-figure ticket prices? They do it because they can, not because the economics demand it.

Another factor is resale. The moment a tour is announced, tickets get scooped up by brokers and pushed back online at sky-high prices. What started as a few hundred dollars suddenly shows up for $5,000 or even $9,000 a seat. Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour stop in New Orleans had an average resale price of $1,878, with some seats going for $1,300 just to get in the building. This is not just random scalpers working in the shadows. The resale culture has been fueled and normalized by the same large touring companies that run the shows and control the ticketing. It does two things. It creates a false sense of instant success, with “sold out” headlines that make the tour look like it broke records before real fans even had a fair shot. And it pushes the culture of concert-going further out of reach, turning shows into a commodity market instead of the community experience they were meant to be.

And just because it is possible does not make it healthy. The live business only works when fans, artists, and promoters all get value. Inflated ticket prices might fill seats for now, but in the long run it eats away at the culture. Loyal fans, the ones who would die to be in the front section, often cannot afford it. The only way they get that view is through a lucky VIP package or winning a contest. Meanwhile, a wealthier person can buy that same access every time without thinking twice. The people who truly keep an artist alive are often the ones left outside the gate.

There is another issue here. If fans are paying top dollar, artists should give top performance. Too often managers and artists cut corners to make sure someone comes home with a guaranteed number. Smaller stages, fewer wardrobe changes, less live band, less crew. That means bigger payouts and bigger commissions at the top, while the fans get less than they deserve. Where is the mood lighting, the showmanship, the vocals that hit you in the chest? Where is the live band getting their moment, the walk into the crowd, the raw connection that makes a night unforgettable? If you want people to pay premium, you have to give them premium. Otherwise, you are just running up the tab.

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For the Naysayers…

If you can’t afford it, maybe concerts aren’t for you.
Live music is not a Gucci bag. It is one of the oldest forms of community we have. Pricing out everyday people does not just exclude them, it damages the culture. Music was never meant to be only for the wealthy.

Why should VIPs care what the cheap seats cost?
Because the same economics that justify $5,000 VIP tickets also raise the baseline. A $100 ticket becomes $300, then $500, then more. The fan in the nosebleeds is still paying for a system that is designed to squeeze, not balance.

Production costs are insane. If you want Beyoncé-level shows, you have to pay.
True, production is expensive. But the Bowl example shows the numbers still work without breaking $500. Once tickets hit $1,500 or more, it is no longer about costs, it is about excess.

Fans still buy them, so clearly they can afford it.
That logic is shaky. People overextend every day in America, from credit cards to mortgages. Just because tickets sell out does not mean the model is healthy. It means fans are going into the red for one night. That kind of bubble always bursts.

Artists deserve it. They have worked their whole lives for this.
They do deserve to be paid. But when one show grosses $10 million before merch or sponsors, the question is not whether the artist is being taken care of. The question is whether fans are being asked to carry more than they should.

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This is not about calling out any artist. The pressure comes mostly from promoters and investors, many times rolled into the same company. But at some point we have to admit that live music is drifting into dangerous territory. Prices that go far beyond necessity are not sustainable. They are not healthy for fans, not healthy for artists, and not healthy for the craft.

And if these companies are making billions in net revenue off touring, the least they can do is reinvest some of that back into the very communities that often get priced out. What those investments could look like is a conversation for another day.

A $500 ceiling is not about limiting art. It is about protecting culture.

- JE