Like most fans, I was beyond stoked with I heard the phenomenal news that Blink 182’s big 3 of Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker and the estranged Tom Delonge are reuniting for a world tour in 2023-2024. They are playing arenas in most NFL cities in the US and Canada before hitting Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. What stings is the astronomical prices being charged due to Ticketmaster’s sinister dynamic pricing model. For those of you unfamiliar, Ticketmaster now uses an algorithm to set ticket prices, if a show is not selling well, it will reduce the price of the tickets to move the inventory. Conversely, when a sought ever show goes on sale, ie. the California Kings of Pop Punk suddenly reunite, it will algorithmically inflate the ticket prices because the greater the demand, the more they can squeeze out of well off fans. The rationale is that it discourages scalpers but it could be the end of live music for the mass audience.
After logging into the Ticketmaster site for the presale, I nearly fell off of my chair when I saw how much tickets were going for. The options were $406+ Fees for a sky balcony seat, $706+ fees for a Loge seat or a whopping $956.50 + fees for a GA floor ticket for my local show at the TD Garden in Boston. What blows my mind is that these are not resale tickets sold by scalpers, these are general Pre-sale seats sold by Ticketmaster.
The Band Responds
Something is amiss here, while the band could do more (ie. the Pearl Jam model) I don’t feel like they are to blame here. In fact, Mark and Tom both commented personally, with Mark saying: “Yes I understand that the ticketing can be frustrating. I bought tickets for two of our shows myself just to see what the experience was like. I had tickets yoinked from my cart and the whole thing crash out. Dynamic pricing. I’m not in charge of it. It’s meant to discourage scalpers. We’re trying to bring you the best possible show for the best price. This is a tour celebrating new music and the band getting back together. Thank you for your enthusiasm and I hope to see all of you at the shows.”
Tom posted- “So, this little trio has almost sold out the entire world in a few hours on the advanced ticketing opening… Jesus. Yes, I’m tripping. Adding new shows, extra dates in cities, those almost sold out completely yesterday, too… Tomorrow, the rest of the General tickets go on sale. Please try and come . Scalpers are going crazy on the ticket prices, sorry ugh… That isn’t us.”
I tend to believe them, I don’t think that they are overly greedy and the fact that they have addressed the situation shows that they do care and feel badly about being part of a system that is exploiting their greatness and their fan’s affection for obscene, Martin Shkreli like profits. So let’s call it what it is, Ticketmaster wants to pocket the difference between the initial ticket price and the inflated secondary market value.
The disappointing truth is that the upcoming tour will be played to Lawyers, Tech Bros (myself included), Corporate Executives and Rich Kids. Too many real heads will be priced out. This has been slowly happening for the last 30 years, and as an unabashed capitalist, I have dismissed it. But the recent escalation with dynamic pricing is a bridge too far. My hope is that this situation can be used to shine a spotlight on how appalling the dynamic pricing model is and that the fans and ultimately the artists, can put enough pressure on Ticketmaster to remove it for good. Otherwise a generation of fans will lose out on the experience of seeing their favorite artists live.
The important thing to focus on is how much the music means to us. Even the band is surprised at how much a Blink reunion is needed in these crazy times. We can’t let corporate greed and algorithmic shakedowns rob us of the live music experience.
